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sylvieleggatt's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
4.0
'There are other ways of making worlds. Anthropologists have become interested, for example, in how subsistence hunters recognize other living beings as "persons," that is, protagonists of stories. Indeed, how could it be otherwise? Yet expectations of progress block this insight: talking animals are for children and primitives. Their voices silent, we imagine well-being without them. We trample over them for our advancement; we forget that collaborative survival requires cross-species coordinations. To enlarge what is possible, we need other kinds of stories including adventures of landscapes.'
mushrooms are anti-capitalist
mushrooms are anti-capitalist
mandameow's review against another edition
5.0
A fascinating meandering tale incorporating science, history, sociopolitical economics, and the wonder of fungi.
fleural's review against another edition
informative
3.75
Some arguments fall short or are self-contradictory, some questionable points are asserted/mentioned, and there is definitely a clear all-too-academic perspective (although the writer is openly self-aware of this). Overall though, it’s worth the (critical) read, and also a decent illustration of “science in translation.”
robwcote's review against another edition
3.0
As an ethnographic exercise, this book works very well. I was always interested to learn about the relationships of different cultures with the matsutake mushroom. But this book tries to go further and make larger claims about capitalism and science, and the arguments are unfortunately often quite flimsy.
It's frustrating, because I am quite sympathetic to the points being made. I think I would tend to agree with the larger ideas, more often than not. I just wish they were better articulated.
Perhaps, rather than making pronouncements about how the rise and evolution of capitalism and its associated technologies have created direct harm on the natural world (I'm especially thinking of a particular line about UPCs here), the framing could be more about the rise of such capitalist tools coinciding closely with the hastening decline of the natural world in modern times. Correlation does not necessarily imply causality, and the language used in this book too often didn't appear interested in preserving that distinction.
It's frustrating, because I am quite sympathetic to the points being made. I think I would tend to agree with the larger ideas, more often than not. I just wish they were better articulated.
Perhaps, rather than making pronouncements about how the rise and evolution of capitalism and its associated technologies have created direct harm on the natural world (I'm especially thinking of a particular line about UPCs here), the framing could be more about the rise of such capitalist tools coinciding closely with the hastening decline of the natural world in modern times. Correlation does not necessarily imply causality, and the language used in this book too often didn't appear interested in preserving that distinction.
mxae's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Wonderfully weird and inspiring. The kind of science bookm yuwt makes you think and learn and form new connections.
sarah_loves_books22's review against another edition
3.0
The author goes all over the place and I found myself wishing that either it was a podcast instead so I could hear the voices of the mushroom pickers or that Tsing gave more details in her writing so I could better engage with her ideas.
elisazanoni3's review against another edition
2.0
The concepts are truly interesting and made me reflect on capitalism's methods of expropriation and where can we find new ways of living communally.
However, the stye of writing - how Tsing goes from one level to the other, from one topic to another one - made the reading quite complicated and in some parts even boring because couldn't follow.
It may also be that I'm too stupid to comprehend it.
However, the stye of writing - how Tsing goes from one level to the other, from one topic to another one - made the reading quite complicated and in some parts even boring because couldn't follow.
It may also be that I'm too stupid to comprehend it.