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nickedkins's review against another edition
4.0
The structure is unlike anything else I've read; the chapters vary pretty widely in tone, length, and subject, and there is a worldview in there, but it emerges gradually through glimpses rather than through argument. This patchiness is a major theme of the book, given how the mushrooms grow and how economies spring up around them, so the approach is appropriate. The only drawback is that it dissipates any momentum that builds and makes it quite a difficult book to read.
That said, I would appreciate more of this type of book being written, and it's a refreshing contrast to something like [b:Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind|23692271|Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind|Yuval Noah Harari|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420585954s/23692271.jpg|18962767] or [b:Outliers: The Story of Success|3228917|Outliers The Story of Success|Malcolm Gladwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1344266315s/3228917.jpg|3364437], which can feel a bit too polished.
That said, I would appreciate more of this type of book being written, and it's a refreshing contrast to something like [b:Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind|23692271|Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind|Yuval Noah Harari|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420585954s/23692271.jpg|18962767] or [b:Outliers: The Story of Success|3228917|Outliers The Story of Success|Malcolm Gladwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1344266315s/3228917.jpg|3364437], which can feel a bit too polished.
jn0el's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
Great book! Much of it was over my head
seaweed's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
5.0
THE book to bridge the gap between marxism, ecology and the current state of the world. it is about mushrooms, yes, but also about people, history and the material conditions that got it here. extremely worthwhile and readable
sanjubee's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely loved this book! It was assigned for a class on assemblage theory and was by far the most compelling text on the syllabus for me. Tsing's work is incredibly accessible even while working with complex topics. I was very inspired by her writing style and it even made me more excited to think through assemblage about other topics.
kalarcon's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
4.0
this book made me reconsider my place in the ecosystems and environments i'm a part of, tsing really makes you consider how entangled everything is. the way she writes abt pickers and others involved in the matsutake world helped chipped away at the idea of how omnipotent/unbreakable capitalism can feel in my mind, about how people can find/create alternative ways of being that free them from the constraints of capitalism, even if they are at some points still involved in its processes.
martinvaino's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
thebooknerdscorner's review against another edition
2.0
A deep dive into the matsutake mushroom and how it refuses to surrender despite human's best efforts to destroy its natural habitat.
I'm not going to lie about this one: I'm pretty sure I didn't understand like half of what this book was talking about. I had to read this for one of my classes, and I understand how it ties into globalization at the very least. I found certain sections to be really interesting, especially the interludes that were written in a bit more of a flowery language compared to the scientific deep dive of the rest of the book. I knew nothing about the matsutake mushroom before reading this book, so I feel like I still absorbed many new facts about it, despite not understanding the mass majority of the book.
Overall, I found some of Tsing's thoughts to be very astute and interesting, but I was mostly bored as I read this book. It probably would have taken me many months to get through if I didn't read it for class. If one is really into science, economics, and globalization, I'm sure that this would have been a more invigorating read. But for me though, most of it flew over my poor head. Oh well.
I'm not going to lie about this one: I'm pretty sure I didn't understand like half of what this book was talking about. I had to read this for one of my classes, and I understand how it ties into globalization at the very least. I found certain sections to be really interesting, especially the interludes that were written in a bit more of a flowery language compared to the scientific deep dive of the rest of the book. I knew nothing about the matsutake mushroom before reading this book, so I feel like I still absorbed many new facts about it, despite not understanding the mass majority of the book.
Overall, I found some of Tsing's thoughts to be very astute and interesting, but I was mostly bored as I read this book. It probably would have taken me many months to get through if I didn't read it for class. If one is really into science, economics, and globalization, I'm sure that this would have been a more invigorating read. But for me though, most of it flew over my poor head. Oh well.