Fungal Biology in the Origin and Emergence of Life

'In a wonderful introduction to this wide and exciting subject, and ensuring accessibility to non-specialist readers, key features of fungal biology are introduced, as is current thinking on the beginnings of the solar system, the formation of the Earth and its Moon, and the possible origins of the building blocks of life, including panspermia, the ET origin of life on earth. Central in this thought provoking book is a consideration of the definition of what is life, from the philosophical to the rigidly scientific. This definition is key to deciding on what was LUCA, the last universal common ancestor. Current views on this are well reviewed, critically analysed and dissected. A fascinating read, a myco-centric version of the origin of the eukaryotes, firmly dismissing the animal biased theories.' J. L. Faull, Birkbeck, University of London