whitwein's review
I was looking for a book about mushrooms and the first hour and half is all about the author unlearning human exceptionalism and just repeated himself SO MUCH.
babayagaschickenlegs's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.25
teetering between 4 and 4.5 stars 🤷♀️
i love anti-anthropocentrism! 👏✨🍄
i’ll say i did like the first section of the book, a general look at fungi, a bit better than the second, which dives into matsutake specifically. it almost felt like two different books, and i was definitely skimming toward the end, but overall i enjoyed it nonetheless. this book would definitely be interesting in conversation with theory about the Human/Man (i.e., Sylvia Wynter)
i love anti-anthropocentrism! 👏✨🍄
i’ll say i did like the first section of the book, a general look at fungi, a bit better than the second, which dives into matsutake specifically. it almost felt like two different books, and i was definitely skimming toward the end, but overall i enjoyed it nonetheless. this book would definitely be interesting in conversation with theory about the Human/Man (i.e., Sylvia Wynter)
emilyctrigg's review
3.0
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced audio copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.
What a mushroom lives for is about the matsutake mushroom and the impact it has had on the mushroom trade in general, as well as the communities that forage for this mushroom.
Parts of this book were really interesting. I enjoyed the parts about the communities that build their lives around foraging for the matsutake, but these parts of he book didn't make up nearly as much of the book as I wanted them to.
Honestly, my biggest problem with this title was the author's attitude about plants, animals, and fungi. He calls the matsutake "a world maker" and seems to genuinely believe that all plants/animals/fungi have agency. Obviously, different types of intelligence exist, but plants and fungi don't have brains! It was so weird to me that he was basically saying that we should think about fungi and plants on the same level as people. It was really off-putting and it felt preachy. This book was meant to be able the matsutake and their impact on the world. But really it was about Hathaway telling us how we are wrong in thinking that fungi are less important than people.
What a mushroom lives for is about the matsutake mushroom and the impact it has had on the mushroom trade in general, as well as the communities that forage for this mushroom.
Parts of this book were really interesting. I enjoyed the parts about the communities that build their lives around foraging for the matsutake, but these parts of he book didn't make up nearly as much of the book as I wanted them to.
Honestly, my biggest problem with this title was the author's attitude about plants, animals, and fungi. He calls the matsutake "a world maker" and seems to genuinely believe that all plants/animals/fungi have agency. Obviously, different types of intelligence exist, but plants and fungi don't have brains! It was so weird to me that he was basically saying that we should think about fungi and plants on the same level as people. It was really off-putting and it felt preachy. This book was meant to be able the matsutake and their impact on the world. But really it was about Hathaway telling us how we are wrong in thinking that fungi are less important than people.
brookeonbooks's review
3.0
This book is intended for an academic audience, and was quite dry. The first half of the book is builds a foundation about the problems with a human centric world where animals, plants, and mushrooms are not viewed as having agency. The second half of the book examines the world building power of mushrooms, mainly matsutake mushrooms in creating wealth in China. There was lots of interesting information presented in the book, but at the end I was not convinced of the author’s central premise: that mushrooms have agency.