WITHOUT THE GUIDANCE, teaching, and patient assistance of many experts, scholars, researchers, and enthusiasts this book would have been inconceivable. In particular I would like to thank Ralph Abraham, Andrew Adamatzky, Phil Ayres, Albert-László Barabási, Eben Bayer, Kevin Beiler, Luis Beltran, Michael Beug, Martin Bidartondo, Lynne Boddy, Ulf Büntgen, Duncan Cameron, Keith Clay, Yves Couder, Bryn Dentinger, Julie Deslippe, Katie Field, Emmanuel Fort, Mark Fricker, Maria Giovanna Galliani, Lucy Gilbert, Rufino Gonzales, Trevor Goward, Christian Gronau, Omar Hernandez, Allen Herre, David Hibbett, Stephan Imhof, David Johnson, Toby Kiers, Callum Kingwell, Natuschka Lee, Charles Lefevre, Egbert Leigh, David Luke, Scott Mangan, Michael Marder, Peter McCoy, Dennis McKenna, Pål Axel Olsson, Stefan Olsson, Magnus Rath, Alan Rayner, David Read, Dan Revillini, Marcus Roper, Jan Sapp, Carolina Sarmiento, Justin Schaffer, Jason Scott, Marc-André Selosse, Jason Slot, Sameh Soliman, Toby Spribille, Paul Stamets, Michael Stusser, Anna Tsing, Raskal Turbeville, Ben Turner, Milton Wainwright, Håkan Wallander, Joe Wright, and Camilo Zalamea.
My agent, Jessica Woollard, and my editors, Will Hammond at Bodley Head and Hilary Redmon at Random House, have provided a steady stream of encouragement, clear vision, and wise council for which I’m immensely grateful. At Bodley Head/Vintage I’ve been lucky to work with Graham Coster, Suzanne Dean, Sophie Painter, and Joe Pickering, and at Random House I have had an excellent team in Karla Eoff, Lucas Heinrich, Tim O’Brian, Simon Sullivan, Molly Turpin, and Ada Yonenaka. Collin Elder experimented with ink made from the shaggy ink cap mushroom and produced a beautiful set of fungal illustrations. For their help with various pieces of translation I thank Xavier Buxton, Simi Freund, Julia Hart, Pete Riley, and Anna Westermeier. Pam Smart provided valuable help with transcription, and Chris Morris from “Spores for Thought” collected spore prints. Christian Ziegler joined me in the forest in Panama and was able to photograph the strange magic of mycoheterotrophic plants.
I am enormously grateful to those who read parts or all of the book at various stages of its growth: Leo Amiel, Angelika Cawdor, Nadia Chaney, Monique Charlesworth, Libby Davy, Tom Evans, Charles Foster, Simi Freund, Stephan Harding, Ian Henderson, Johnny Lifschutz, Robert Macfarlane, Barnaby Martin, Uta Paszkowski, Jeremy Prynne, Jill Purce, Pete Riley, Erin Robinsong, Nicholas Rosenstock, Will Sapp, Emma Sayer, Cosmo Sheldrake, Rupert Sheldrake, Sara Sjölund, Teddy St. Aubyn, Erik Verbruggen, and Flora Wallace. I could not have done without their insight and sensitivity.
For many kinds of humor, care, and inspiration along the way I thank David Abram, Mileece Abson, Matthew Barley, Fawn Baron, Finn Beames, Gerry Brady, Dean Broderick, Caroline Casey, Udavi Cruz-Márquez, Mike de Danann Datura, Andréa de Keijzer, Lindy Dufferin, Sara Perl Egendorf, Zac Embree, Amanda Feilding, Johnny Flynn, Viktor Frankel, Dana Frederick, Charlie Gilmour, Stephan Harding, Lucy Hinton, Rick Ingrasci, James Keay, Oliver Kelhammer, Erica Kohn, Natalie Lawrence, Sam Lee, Andy Letcher, Jane Longman, Luis Eduardo Luna, Vahakn Matossian, Sean Matteson, Tom Fortes Mayer, Evan McGown, Zayn Mohammed, Mark Morey, Viktoria Mullova, Misha Mullov-Abbado, Charlie Murphy, Dan Nicholson, Richard Perl, John Preston, Anthony Ramsay, Vilma Ramsay, Paul Raphael, Steve Rooke, Gryphon Rower-Upjohn, Matt Segall, Rupinder Sidhu, Wayne Silby, Paulo Roberto Silva e Souza, Joel Solomon, Anne Stillman, Peggy Taylor, Robert Temple, Jeremy Thres, Mark Vonesch, Flora Wallace, Andrew Weil, Khari Wendell-McClelland, Kate Whitley, Heather Wolf, and Jon Young. I am indebted to many wonderful teachers and mentors who have helped me over the years, in particular Patricia Fara, William Foster, Howard Griffiths, David Hanke, Nick Jardine, Mike Majerus, Oliver Rackham, Fergus Read, Simon Schaffer, Ed Tanner, and Louis Vause.
I am grateful for the support of several institutions: Clare College, Cambridge, and the Cambridge Department of Plant Sciences and Department of History and Philosophy of Science, where I spent several exciting years; the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for its support while I lived in Panama and for its ongoing care of the Barro Colorado Nature Monument; and Hollyhock, British Columbia, for providing me with a beautiful place to work through the winter.
Countless hours of music have helped me to think and feel my way through this book. Of particular importance have been the sounds of the Aka people, Johann Sebastian Bach, William Byrd, Miles Davis, João Gilberto, Billie Holiday, Charles Mingus, Thelonius Monk, Moondog, Bud Powell, Thomas Tallis, Fats Waller, and Teddy Wilson. The two places that have most guided the emergence of this book are Hampstead Heath and Cortes Island. To these places, and to all those who inhabit and protect them, I owe more than I can say. Above all, for their inspiration, love, wit, wisdom, generosity, and endless patience I am grateful to Erin Robinsong, Cosmo Sheldrake, and my parents, Jill Purce and Rupert Sheldrake.