Among Us

An emerging mushroom

Very bright gelatinous fungus

At the end of this post I reviewed the book Kingdom Fungi. Since starting to read it a month ago I haven't been able to step outside without seeing fungi everywhere. When my daughter and I were walking in the woods two weekends ago we saw several different varieties. We even saw puffball mushrooms at several stages of maturity and I was able to tear open the immature ones and show her how the inside ripened and got hollow. We then found a mature one and I showed her how a gentle tap would release spores through the hole in the top. I explained that they probably released the spores when they were hit with raindrops and the small concussions poofed out the spores. It was cool. I thought I might get away from them when I was up north last weekend. It was cold after all, below freezing for much of the time, not exactly mushroom weather. But I was so wrong, there were still fungi everywhere. I saw many many more mushrooms than I saw deer.  I finally had to start taking pictures of them.

Same log, different fungus.

I've walked in the woods a lot in my life, and I've seen a lot of mushrooms. It wasn't until I learned about them that I really began to see them though. Everywhere lots were rotting, there was a fungus. If it was moist and dark and there were old leaves, there was fungus. Standing trees that were dead or dying, more fungus. Open sandy patches where nothing would grow? Lichen, fungus and green algae living a pleasant symbiotic life together. Each providing for the other. There were traditional gilled mushrooms, rubbery gelatinous growths, hard woody protruding fungus with growth rings like trees. Trees with grotesque bulges from the effects of a fungal invasion. They were everywhere and for the first time, I understood them. At least a bit.

Lichen, fungus and bacteria living in harmony.

This is why I learn about things. About everything. The more you know about things, the more you see them and understand them. It's not just fungus, it's trees and insects and the weather and man made things. My engineering background lets me look at bridges and see why they were built like they were. I wish I knew more about architecture so when I look at the exposed structures in the airport I could figure out not only what they were trying to accomplish structurally, but artistically. Knowing more about art will make trips to the museum better. Learning to play the violin has made watching the orchestra at the ballet as much fun as watching the dancers. I love being able to answer questions when my kids ask them. I also love knowing that if I don't know the answer, I can say so and we can go off together and learn about it.

Different Lichen, same harmony.

The more you know about the word, the more you see in the world. Neil DeGrasse Tyson recently wrote in a discussion on Reddit -"My view is that if your philosophy is not unsettled daily then you are blind to all the universe has to offer." Now, he's a really smart guy. He's certainly learned more and understands more than I can ever hope to, and he's amazed by the world on a daily basis. I don't think you can ever learn so much that you know enough to be bored by the world. It's the contrary, the more you know, the more amazing everything is. By learning constantly I'm able to keep that sense of wonder alive and by keeping it alive I'm hopefully going to be able to pass it on to my children. Hopefully. If nothing else, I'll be able to tell them all about the fungus that is among us.

Books I've finished this week :
World War Z, Max Brooks

More fungus.

You Can't Go Home Again, Thomas Wolfe
WWZ is a great fun book that will give you the heebie jeebies. It's structured as a series of interviews of the survivors of the zombie apocalypse. He 'interviews' enough people from enough different backgrounds that you're bound to love some, hate others, and feel great sympathy with more than a few. It's really quite brilliantly written. Highly recommended.

Beautiful petite fungus.

You Can't Go Home is written by Thomas Wolfe who lived from 1900 to 1938, not to be confused with Tom Wolfe who is also a writer, but was born in 1931 and is still kicking around.  You Can't Go Home Again is considered his most popular and influential book. It's a combination of autobiographical fiction and personal philosophy and good story telling. It's a fascinating read. It discusses the Great Depression and the early beginnings of Nazi Germany and the events and people in between. Ranging from the rich to the incredibly down trodden and the experiences of a writer during it all. The book is structured about the author writing a successful book and the backlash of the town he grew up in about the autobiographical bits. Parts of the book nearly slip into a stream of consciousness philosophical tirade. They can be hard to read but there are some true nuggets of brilliant writing in them. The rest of the book, the story, is outstanding. If one could separate the story from the philosophy and publish them separately then both of them would be fantastic on their own. Together they are remarkable, but occasionally difficult. Give yourself a block of time for this one, it's almost 600 pages and parts of it don't exactly fly by. I think it's a book worth reading though, and should be mandatory if you're interested in writing anything for public consumption.

Fungus reaching for great heights.

Another short week of posting this week. We're headed off on an adventure for a few days. I'll return with stories of dinosaurs and drill rigs and giraffes and Thanksgiving Dinner.

Not a fungus, but caused by one.