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The Mushroom at the End of the World
The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins | Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
Matsutake is the most valuable mushroom in the worldand a weed that grows in human-disturbed forests across the northern hemisphere. Through its ability to nurture trees, matsutake helps forests to grow in daunting places. It is also an edible delicacy in Japan, where it sometimes commands astronomical prices. In all its contradictions, matsutake offers insights into areas far beyond just mushrooms and addresses a crucial question: what manages to live in the ruins we have made? A tale of diversity within our damaged landscapes, The Mushroom at the End of the World follows one of the strangest commodity chains of our times to explore the unexpected corners of capitalism. Here, we witness the varied and peculiar worlds of matsutake commerce: the worlds of Japanese gourmets, capitalist traders, Hmong jungle fighters, industrial forests, Yi Chinese goat herders, Finnish nature guides, and more. These companions also lead us into fungal ecologies and forest histories to better understand the promise of cohabitation in a time of massive human destruction. By investigating one of the world's most sought-after fungi, The Mushroom at the End of the World presents an original examination into the relation between capitalist destruction and collaborative survival within multispecies landscapes, the prerequisite for continuing life on earth.
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review
iread2much
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Panpan

This book force feeds academic theories with little evidence beyond the authors‘ opinions. I wanted a close look at the Matsutake mushroom, instead I got many long theory papers without proper citations.
Read for a biased look at the social & cultural world of Matsutake & for even more bias around the science. Some basic mushroom biology is included
1/5 Skim this book if you want to learn about Matsutake mushrooms; read for academic theory

iread2much To be clear, I am an academic, so I am used to reading academic papers (I‘m in science and we don‘t use theory as much, but I do occasionally publish in social science) but I don‘t like when people don‘t cite things properly if they are writing with academic materials and I really don‘t like when people make huge assumptions without the data (or citations to the data) to back it up (edited) 4mo
dabbe #fanofthepan! 🤩🤩🤩 #alohaloy 🖤🐾🖤 4mo
Leftcoastzen Oh dear.🐶 4mo
AnnCrystal 💕🐶💝. 4mo
31 likes4 comments
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AbstractMonica
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Starting this one. So many fascinating things so far.

11 likes3 stack adds
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Caterina
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Spring break = reading for fun instead of for grad school (might be my new favorite book, I'm only 20 pages in but wow) and drinking a homemade mocha (with homemade whipped cream and aeropress espresso) provided by my partner 😍🥰

readordierachel Sounds lovely! 3y
34 likes1 stack add1 comment