A global exploration of how we harvest and exploit the world's natural bounty - from edible birds' nests to sea silk - Strange Harvests is perfect for readers of Robert Macfarlane and Andrea Wulf
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.
Edward Posnett has written an exceptional first book;
Harvest is a subtle, fascinating braiding of travel,
cultural and natural history, ethnography and economic
analysis; a modern-day Wunderkammer with echoes of Pico
Iyer as well as Sir Thomas Browne.
Clear-eyed but never blithe, Posnett records the destructiveness of
market rapacity as well as rare, hopeful examples of human and
more-than-human harmony. It is a pleasure and an education to
journey with him in these pages -- Robert Macfarlane
A truly remarkable debut, weird, inquisitive and swarming with
memorable characters -- John Carey * Sunday Times *
A beautiful exploration of our fraught connections with other
species. With seemingly boundless curiosity, Posnett invites us on
journeys through the surprising webs created by international
trade. Uniting these stories from around the world are essential
questions for our time: Is a balance between humans and the rest of
nature possible? Or do we inevitably destroy what we harvest and
desire? Full of surprise, delight, and horror, these lively tales
illuminate and captivate -- David George Haskell, author of The
Songs of Trees and The Forest Unseen
Harvest opens a wondrous cabinet of curiosities. Posnett
engages the reader sensually, intellectually, and poetically. The
great gift of this book is that it inspires us to look with new
depth into the varied stuff of life, and with this widened
perspective, attempt to act with care, grace, intelligence, and
joy. An original and bracing read. -- Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of
Mozart's Starling
Posnett moves from one example to another with moral precision,
wryness and a refusal to be discouraged. Stories build subtly and
sometimes with sudden drama; all are entangled in complex
political, cultural and ecological circumstances -- Jake Kerridge *
Guardian *
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