Strange Harvests: The Hidden Histories of Seven Natural Objects (R)

Hardcover

An intriguing exploration of the possibility of a more mutually beneficial relationship with nature through the stories of the small-scale harvests of seven uncommon products

In this beguiling book, Edward Posnett journeys to some of the most far-flung locales on the planet to bring us seven wonders of the natural world – eiderdown, vicua fiber, sea silk, vegetable ivory, civet coffee, guano, and edible birds’ nests – that promise ways of using nature without damaging it. To the rest of the world these materials are mere commodities, but to their harvesters they are imbued with myth, tradition, folklore and ritual, and form part of a shared identity and history.

Strange Harvests follows the journeys of these objects from some of the remotest areas in the world to its most populated urban centers, drawing on the voices of the people and little-known communities who harvest, process, and trade them. Blending history, travel writing, and interviews, Posnett sets these human stories against our changing economic and ecological landscape. What do they tell us about capitalism, global market forces and overharvesting? How do local micro-economies survive in a hyper-connected world?

Strange Harvests makes us see the world with wonder, curiosity, and new concern. It is an original and magical map of our world and its riches.