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An original and magical map of our world and its riches, formed of the stories of the small-scale harvests of seven natural objectsIn 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, edible birds’ nests, civet coffee, sea silk, vicuña fiber, vegetable ivory, and guano–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 overharvesting? How do local microeconomies survive in a hyperconnected 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.
Edward Posnett was born in London and studied at Cambridge and Oxford before working in the City in financial investigations. Shortly after leaving financial services, he learnt about the Icelandic tradition of eiderdown harvesting in which farmers offer protection to wild sea ducks in return for their valuable lightweight down. Enchanted by its promise of symbiosis and cooperation, he travelled to Iceland and wrote an account of the trade, 'Eiderdown', which won The Bodley Head/Financial Times Essay Prize. His first book, Harvest, builds on this essay, introducing the reader to small harvests around the globe through the stories of seven wondrous objects that can be held in the hand. He lives in Philadelphia and is a keen linguist, swimmer and amateur potter.
