Lichens: Pour une résistance minimale

by Vincent Zonca, Emanuele Coccia

Recouvrant près de 8 % des terres émergées, le lichen est un être vivant qui devrait nous être familier. Pourtant, il est si discret qu'il en paraît insignifiant, invisible. Or, plus nous nous en approchons, plus se révèlent ses beautés, ses mystères, son étrange pouvoir d'attraction. Entre autres mi-algue et mi-champignon, il pourrait bien révolutionner notre conception du vivant et remodeler nos imaginaires.... C'est du moins la proposition stimulante de cet essai, le premier consacré au lichen en dehors des ouvrages spécialisés. Fruit de plusieurs années d'enquête menée sur plusieurs continents, il propose une réflexion originale, buissonnière et, comme son objet, « symbiotique », mêlant avec jubilation les cultures et les savoirs. Biologie, poésie, littérature, philosophie, écologie ou encore arts plastiques... Et si le lichen était au coeur de nos questionnements les plus actuels et les plus urgents ? Il permet en tout cas de penser une écologie qui ne repose plus sur les oppositions entre nature et culture, ville et campagne, compétition et coopération. Dans le mot lichen se lit le mot lien. Symbole de résistance ou force venue d'en bas ?. Vous ne verrez plus le lichen, ni notre monde, de la même façon..

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

Published January 20, 2021

Reviews

[Daniel Brigham-Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bear in mind, when buying this book, that there is very little science involved in its narrative. It is almost entirely thoughts on philosophy and poetry that relate, sometimes quite loosely, to lichen. Maybe this book is more than two stars, but I was expecting to learn about the biology and ecology of lichen (and I didn't).

[Saphira Bloom-Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I hoped existed, that gave me great hopes for the treasures it would contain (and lived up to it!!), a book that makes me happy to be alive and around to read it. My book is now stripey blue and white and my highlighter has travelled miles along its words.

It's a book that defies categorisation, part philosophy, part art, part history, part literature, part science, part poetry. To be sipped not sculled, it's like a literary port :)

It is also a beautiful compilation and reference guide for lichen thinkers and artists. I often lamented the lack of lichen art and literature but there is tonnes, especially in other languages. Extracts from other texts are included all throughout but Zonca adds his own insights, too. A perfect medley.

I cannot overstate how much I loved this book. If I could give it ten stars I would.

[John Oswald · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extraordinary book. I've been taking close-up images of lichen with my iPhone for years - something about seeing universes in tiny things makes me really happy and centred. I tried once to read a proper work of botany about lichen but given my woeful scientific knowledge and background it proved too difficult. So this book was a revelation - a socio-cultural-literary-philosophical account of the cultural history and future of lichen! It's practically the book I'd have wanted to write myself. It belongs to that rather recent trend towards blending genres and fighting against the urge to categorise in neat boxes of knowledge that unfortunately characterises natural history. Think: Braiding Sweetgrass, Entangled Life. Zonca's book depicts the history of our perception and understanding of lichen, from parasites and disease through to our much more enlightened recent understanding as symbiosis, cooperation and - in short - an entirely new and much more hopeful way of understanding nature itself, with massive implications for how we ourselves live. This was practically a hymn to how I've felt and experienced lichen on a deeply personal level - a symbol for a different worldview and a metaphor for better living. I was practically cheering every chapter along as Zonca brought together such a wide array of thinkers, poets, scientists and commentators. So tiny, so ignored and yet so critical for the future of our understanding of how we live. Lichen are truly remarkable, as is this book.

[Sierra Mathews · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I was expecting actual scientific information, there is little science in this book. Its full of fluffy philosophical thoughts and soooo many quotes. The amount of excerpts in this book is crazy, not much original content.

[Kristina Watts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading for the scientific information, I skipped a lot of the literature quotations. Which was most of the book. When it did contain actual fact, it was very interesting.