Strange Harvests: The Hidden Histories of Seven Natural Objects

An intriguing exploration of the possibility of a more mutually beneficial relationship with nature through the stories of seven uncommon objects

Edward Posnett takes the reader to some of the most far-flung locales on the globe to learn about seven fascinating natural objects--eiderdown, vicuña fiber, sea silk, vegetable ivory, civet coffee, guano, and edible birds' nests--that present the prospect of understanding how to use nature without damaging it.

Strange Harvests follows the journey of these objects from the wildest parts of the planet, including Iceland, Indonesia, and Peru, to its most populated urban centers, drawing on the voices of the people, and little-known communities, who harvest, process, and trade them--from gatherers and shearers to entrepreneurs.

Blending interviews, history, and travel writing, Strange Harvests sets these human stories against the backdrop of rapid changes in our economic and ecological landscape, telling larger stories of capitalism, trade, cultural identity, and what happens when such objects are overharvested, or come into contact with global market forces.

Posnett examines the meaning of these seven objects in our own hyperconnected era, one characterized by a host of urgent questions: environmental degradation, climate change, loss of tradition, and the wholesale commodification of the natural world and our place within it.

Harvest by Edward Posnett review – the hidden histories of seven natural objects | Science and nature books | The Guardian