It's worth a re-read of like the first 15-20%. A quick, fun read, but has that same feel (to me) of GG&S where it talks about microbiology life form evolution u

It's worth a re-read of like the first 15-20%. A quick, fun read, but has that same feel (to me) of GG&S where it talks about microbiology life form evolution underwater, high acidity, low light, high temperature, etc. In that regard, it's like a precursor to GG&S which is "smarts + politics forward" vs a lighthearted approach to "which multi-cell organism has the right conditions to evolve limbs" (and presumably intelligence). ...or just chill out and accept that a world full of mushroom and fungus is just as intelligent and terraforming as humans can be.