3rd Book Club Meeting: The Mushroom at The End of the World by Anna Tsing

Join us Saturday, January 7th at 7pm at Southern Brewing & Winery for our third meeting! We'll be discussing The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins by Chinese American Anthropologist Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing.

"Matsutake is the most valuable mushroom in the world—and 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."

You can purchase a copy at Bookshop.org. E-book or audio book are also available through the Hillsborough County Public Library. If you have any trouble getting a copy, let us know! And reading the entire book is encouraged but not mandatory. ;)

Grab a drink (or a soda) and come hang out with us. We'll be meeting on the outside patio!