We should know more about fungi. They have killed us, saved us and served us since before written records began. Find out more about fungi in:
Slayers, Saviors, Servants and Sex. An Exposé of Kingdom Fungi
If there was a monster weighing over a hundred tonnes rampaging through the forests of Michigan eating the trees, you should know about it, right? I mean, it’s not like it’s a new arrival. It’s been there for the past fifteen hundred years. So why don’t you know about it? What are they hiding from you?
Maybe they don’t want you to know that the beast has a body of hair‑fine filaments and worm‑like strands that extends over fifteen hectares, thrusting across the forest floor and reaching up to tear the life‑wood out of the unsuspecting trees. No, maybe they don’t want you to know about that. Could keep you awake at night.
I can understand. Trust me. I sympathize. You might lie there worrying that your legs could fall off.
What? They haven’t told you about that either? Not a word? About the terrible thing that ‘... consumed the people with a loathsome rot, so that their limbs were loosened and fell off before death...’ [genuine eye-witness sound-bite].
Unbelievable, isn’t it? Silence in official circles at a time like this? Doesn’t surprise me, though. Everybody knows about animals. Everybody knows about plants. But answer me this: who knows about fungi, eh? You don’t know because they are keeping quiet.
The Fifth Kingdom, that’s what fungi are. More like a Fifth Column if you ask me – they’re all around us, but nobody knows about them.
How many fungi can you name? Two? Three? A dozen? I’m willing to bet that it won’t be a large number. Yet there are more fungi on this planet than any other type of organism.
And they’ve been here longer than anything else, too.
We wouldn’t be here if the fungi hadn’t helped along the evolutionary way. Now we depend on them absolutely, day in, day out, for our very existence and our everyday pleasures.
So why are we so ignorant about them? Is it a Government Conspiracy?
Well, maybe, maybe not, but I don’t care, I’m going to blow the whistle; even if the black-clad agents of the Fungal Bureau of Investigation do come hammering down my door.
It’s time the truth was told. It’s time the warning was given.
Don’t turn your back on the mushrooms ...
In the following pages you will find these chapters:
One: Toxins ‑ kill the primates, rule the world. Or: Don’t turn your back on a fungus!
Two: Blights, rusts, bunts and mycoses. Tales of fungal diseases
Three: Decay and degradation, a fungal speciality
Four: Joining forces - fungal co-operative ventures
Five: Fungi in medicine ‑ antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals
Six: Turning the tables. Using fungi to control other pests
Eight: The old Kingdom in time and space
Nine: Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it. But why?
Ten: The cavalry is coming. Fungi to the rescue
Enjoy!
... and if you like word games then I have a special treat for you in Chapter 11 (which is only available online)11 WORDSEARCHES THAT YOU CAN DOWNLOAD AND PRINT and TEN SETS OF ANAGRAM PUZZLES BASED ON PHRASES IN THE TEXT The Wordsearches are really quite easy; but the Anagram Puzzles are FIENDISHLY DIFFICULT Are you open to a real challenge? |
Taken from Slayers, Saviors, Servants, and Sex: An Exposé of Kingdom Fungi by David Moore; published by Springer-Verlag, New York: 2001, ISBN-13: 978-0387950983
Copyright © David Moore 2016
