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In Search of Mycotopia

Citizen Science, Fungi Fanatics, and the Untapped Potential of Mushrooms

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In Search of Mycotopia

By: Doug Bierend
Narrated by: René Ruiz
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About this listen

From ecology to fermentation, in pop culture and in medicine - mushrooms are everywhere and In Search of Mycotopia is a listener's expert guide through the weird, wonderful world of fungi and the amazing modern mycological movement.

The book introduces us to an incredible, essential, and oft-overlooked kingdom of life - fungi - and all the potential it holds for our future, through the work and research being done by an unforgettable community of mushroom-mad citizen scientists and microbe devotees. This entertaining and mind-expanding journey will captivate listeners who are curious about the hidden worlds and networks that make up our planet.

Author Doug Bierend uncovers a vanguard of mycologists; growers, independent researchers, ecologists, entrepreneurs, and amateur enthusiasts exploring and advocating for fungi’s capacity to improve and heal. From decontaminating landscapes and waterways to achieving food security, In Search of Mycotopia demonstrates how humans can work with fungi to better live with nature—and with one another.

©2021 Doug Bierend (P)2021 Chelsea Green Publishing Biological Sciences Biology Ecology Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Ecosystem

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Critic reviews

"The author’s sharp ear for dialogue imbues his word portraits with vivid detail.... Mushrooms are having a moment. [A] natural sequel for the many readers who enjoyed Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life." (Library Journal)

"Comprehensive and enthusiastic.... This fascinating, informative look into a unique subculture and the fungi at its center is a real treat." (Publishers Weekly)

"Nothing is impossible if you bring mushrooms into your life, and this book is a great way to begin your journey." (Tradd Cotter, author of Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation)

All stars
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really good book if you can get over the way the narrator says fungi. other than that it was thoroughly enjoyable💚🇬🇧🌱

fascinating stuff!

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Well written and well researched, with a great approach to mycology, ecology, humanity and politics. I wasn't super keen on the narrator, but that's just personal preference - they were clear and understandable, and didn't affect my enjoyment of the book much.

Great Book

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New to mycology and eager to learn more though this was very easy to get bored of. Gave at chapter 6.

Not what I was expecting

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The subject-matter is fascinating, & need-to-know for everyone, but the (perhaps partly would-be) sensibilities of the author drag this book down. A theme that is returned to again, and again (& again, & again..), is the correlation of wonderful bio-diversity and wonderful societal diversity. This flabby metaphor does not work at either end - who wants either more pathogenic varieties or greater diversity in racist tropes? Granted, the accent in his metaphor is on cooperation, but criminal gangs also cooperate. More deeply, no biological metaphor is a good one for understanding human behavior, since no mechanistic metaphor can capture the choices of a free will. It is exactly our ability to rise above our conceptions of our biological natures that allows us to do better than Trumpian 'grabbing women by..'
If we think of ourselves as machines, biological or otherwise, we deny responsibility for our actions - or 'bad bulldozer, naughty nuke'?
Still, he conveys important and useful information in an affable enough way.
Well worth a listen.

Well worth a listen - but occasionally dreary..

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There are soo many really interesting parts to this book but I have stopped to write this review because it suddenly went all feminist? Talking about how great it was there were more women than men now at Kew Gardens and stuff? I'm sorry I'm all for equality but I thought I was listening to a book about mycology! For The Love Of Fungi, Stop Making Things About Gender!

Soo many great bits but weird feminist undertones?

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I thought it would be a book about interesting cases and the role of citizen science and so-called applied mycology. And the book does talk a bit about these topics, but there is far too much politics and even some left-wing propaganda. And the author uncritically endorses some very strange and completely unscientific hypotheses and theories. There is too much fashionable mumbo-jumbo like 'scientific colonialism', 'non-binary', 'queer science' etc. Some chapters are better, some facts and people are really interesting. But overall the book was a disappointment to me.

Radical left argle-bargle

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