Strange Harvests: The Hidden Histories of Seven Natural Objects - Edward Posnett

Category: Adults, History, Science
Language: English
Keywords: Food Natural Products Sociology Travel

Written by Edward Posnett
Read by Roy McMillan
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Books on Tape
Release date: August 6, 2019
Duration: 08:43:05

An original and magical map of our world and its riches, formed of the stories of the small-scale harvests of seven natural objects

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, vicuña 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 uncommon products from some of the most remote areas of 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 over harvesting?

How do local micro-economies survive in a hyper-connected world? Is it possible for us to live together with different species? Strange Harvests makes us see the world with wonder, curiosity, and new concern.

“Roy McMillan’s narration of this unusual travelogue is terrific. It’s as if a learned British professor is sharing stories about unusual objects found in far-flung places while retaining a measure of awe at his luck to study such things. …. As McMillan communicates how each harvest is exploited or sustained, the listener just hangs onto every word. Edward Posnett is actually a former financial investigator rather than a professor, but all the rest of it fits. McMillan captures both the author’s wonder at and concern for the environment and the harvesters, while employing perfect pacing, and rolling through multiple foreign words without hesitation.”—Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award