What a Mushroom Lives For: Matsutake and the Worlds They Make

by Michael J. Hathaway

How the prized matsutake mushroom is remaking human communities in China--and providing new ways to understand human and more-than-human worlds



What a Mushroom Lives For pushes today's mushroom renaissance in compelling new directions. For centuries, Western science has promoted a human- and animal-centric framework of what counts as action, agency, movement, and behavior. But, as Michael Hathaway shows, the world-making capacities of mushrooms radically challenge this orthodoxy by revealing the lively dynamism of all forms of life.

The book tells the fascinating story of one particularly prized species, the matsutake, and the astonishing ways it is silently yet powerfully shaping worlds, from the Tibetan plateau to the mushrooms' final destination in Japan. Many Tibetan and Yi people have dedicated their lives to picking and selling this mushroom--a delicacy that drives a multibillion-dollar global trade network and that still grows only in the wild, despite scientists' intensive efforts to cultivate it in urban labs. But this is far from a simple story of humans exploiting a passive, edible commodity. Rather, the book reveals the complex, symbiotic ways that mushrooms, plants, humans, and other animals interact. It explores how the world looks to the mushrooms, as well as to the people who have grown rich harvesting them.

A surprise-filled journey into science and human culture, this exciting and provocative book shows how fungi shape our planet and our lives in strange, diverse, and often unimaginable ways.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Science, Audiobook, Food, Ecology

270 pages, Hardcover

Published April 26, 2022

Reviews

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had an sudden urge to learn more about mushrooms the other day and decided to pick this one up due to the title. An interesting audiobook for someone who knows nearly nothing about mushrooms in general, especially not Matsutake. Didn't love the narration but an alright audiobook overall

[Annemarie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an arc for the audiobook from NetGalley.

I love mushrooms. A lot. I just did a drawing challenge in March painting a mushroom every day, and looked into each and every one of them for fun. For most mushrooms I could only find a little information, not nearly as much as I would have liked. So seeing this book, a whole book about Matsutake mushrooms sounded amazing. Especially since I live in an area where Matsutake are both prized and grown/foraged.

This book is not that. It is not an in-depth informational book about Matsutake Mushrooms. This book is something different entirely. It is an anthropological view into mushrooms and how they are seen in science/around the world.

The actual biological information about Matsutake was not the main topic of this book, and was not even close to the amount I had expected/hoped for.

In fact, this book read a bit like an auto-biography of the authors one path into learning about mushrooms as a whole, in a human-centric world. A lot of the views the author described as common were once that I did not have, nor were they what I learned in biology. I'm guessing this is both a case of different geographical area = different education, and me being a different generation. "Recent studies" were studies in the past few years, but also in 1997, 25 years ago. As I am 28, I would not consider 1997 recent... And yes, this book is a 2022 release, so it's not a case of the book being old.

The author focuses a lot on the Western view of fungi and how he wants to change it, and looks at it different. He talks about people viewing animals as having no autonomy/thoughts/feelings, which is something I think anyone with a pet would disagree with. Once we get to plants and microbes, this sentiment starts to make more sense, because this is a lot more common.

Personally, I don't think you can ever fully understand how another being/lifeform functions, because just because it's different from humans doesn't mean it's not just as complex. Just because we don't know what and how animals/trees/fungi think and work, doesn't mean they don't. This might be a controversial take.

The author partly tries to argue against the western worldview, but also occasionally falls into the same traps in other parts of the book. He uses linguistic reasons, where he mentions we rarely call animals by their gender even if we know their gender, and instead use "it", with the exception being pets.
I'm not sure I agree with that. I don't think using gendered terms when you know an animal is uncommon, whether it's a pet or not. An example would be birds, where the colouration often shows the gender, which makes more people use the terms. (Again, this might just be in the area I grew up in, language changes/evolves/is different everywhere).
Linguistic aspects in other languages than English were not discussed, despite China and Japan having quite a large role in this book.

He comments on the Eastern view several times, always in contrast with the Western view. Personally, I think blanket statements about what *humans* think, and then stating that, well, actually not all humans, actually a lot of people think differently felt weird. I can't really explain well what I mean, but I felt that while the author clearly agrees more with the Eastern view, his treatment of it in this book often came across as rather dismissive.

Looking at the Matsutake itself, this book focused on China and Tibet, and the Matsutake there. While it talked about the popularity of Matsutake in Japan, there was very little discussion about the Matsutake grown in Japan. (Even though it's kinda a big deal). Also thought it was quite funny how there was a mention that Matsutake weren't that good to eat, so they must have medicinal qualities, while Matsutake are literally seen as a delicatessen in Japan. I mean, these mushrooms are super expensive, but gosh, they're delicious. Matsutake broth, Matsutake rice, I love it.

If you are interested in how the world looks at/thinks about mushrooms, and how that view is slowly changing, this is the book for you. It's more about humans and their thoughts and views than it's about the mushrooms. (Although of course the views are centred around mushrooms, mostly). I studies Japanese language and culture, but my speciality was anthropology (with a linguistics second), so a lot of this book matches my interests. I was still disappointed I didn't learn as much about mushrooms as I wanted.

I did learn a lot about how humans apparently look at the world around them, even if I personally can't say that I agree with most of it. Maybe it's because I'm autistic. Maybe it's because I've been living in Japan for over 6 years now, and my "Western" worldview has become more "Eastern" (no, I never actually thought that way). Maybe it's because I'm not from North America, and am from Europe. Maybe it's because I was raised in a way where nature was respected and something I learned a lot about, both because I wanted to and because the people around me knew a lot. Maybe it's because I grew up in an area where this worldview was already shifted, and so my education was different from that of the author. I can think of maybe possible reasons though I can't pinpoint which one it is.

I also learned a lot about the Jin Chinese and how the popularity of mushrooms influenced the way they lived. All of this clearly shows the anthropological way the author looked at mushrooms. I don't mind that, but it's not what I was looking for when I picked this book up.

One thing I did really enjoy was finding out that the pokemon Paras and Parasect are actually based on real life zombie mushrooms that infiltrate a caterpillar and slowly take over it's body. I mean, that's a cool titbit.

I had hoped/expected to learn about Matsutake mushrooms and instead I learned about the people working with the mushrooms, and how the world views fungi. I also got to follow the journey of the author on his path to learn about the impact mushrooms have on the world. It was interesting at times, slightly boring at others. I would have liked more facts/information about the Mushrooms and less generalisations about how people see things.

Now, I am obviously not a scientist. I have some background in Anthropology and Linguistics on University level, and a rather large interest in science and biology, though mostly as a hobbyist (though my high school classes were all science related). I can't talk about scientific studies into mushrooms up to this point, because I haven't read enough of them to know if what the author talked about was/is an actual problem. My judgement is instead based on my own views, and the views of the people I know/around me, and what I learned in high school, so anecdotal and shouldn't be taken for hard facts.

As for the audiobook, it was fine. The narrator spoke clearly, though the pronunciation of Japanese names bothered me a bit. I can't talk about the Chinese names, because I don't speak Chinese. The narration was at times rather dry, but that might be because of the subject matter and the type of book this is.

I struggled writing this review, because I find it hard to explain exactly what bothered me about this book. Not enough information about Matsutake. Generalisations. A worldview I couldn't connect with, which made the arguments to this "new" worldview feel rather like stating the obvious.

[John Stepper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I took four months to finish this short book, I wound up really enjoying it. The authors obvious passion and curiosity and compassion (for the people he interviewed) proved infectious.

The book made me reflect on and rethink my naturally human-centric outline on life and the planet. And made me love and respect our fungal cousins all the more. :-)

[J.A. Ironside · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio ARC provided by NetGalley


Audio review: Didn't entirely gel with the narration which made it harder to listen to and absorb the facts but I think that's more of a me thing.

Review: Fascinating look at how fungi - and one prized mushroom in particular - have been silently shaping societies, the natural world, economies and many other things. The author invites us to reconsider our place as 'nature's master' in the scheme of things and step aside from our assumed position as the pinnacle of nature and instead consider ourselves as part of it, no more or less important than any other aspect. This then gives us a unique perspective as we consider mycological networks and how interconnected all life truly is. A really interesting book that sets out theories and backs them up with well considered evidence.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an audiobook ARC for me to review.

What a Mushroom Lives for is a book that starts discussing the wide limitations of scholaship on fungi and the author's personal views on the subject, then proceeds to apply those opinions on observing how the Matsutake mushroom has become a part of the lives Tibetan and Yi people.

This is certainly a great title to read, if you're interested in unconventional anthropological work. The author has some quite interesting views on non-human (and non-animal) agency. However, he dedicates too mch space to them, which makes this sections of the book feel inflated, and this makes the other sections (which actually focus on the title mushroom) feel a bit bare. I also noticed that the book's vocabulary can get a advanced, which makes it a bit inaccessible at times. I'm happy that I happy that I had the opportunity to read it and might check out the other titles in this series (which are written by other scientists) in the future.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating topic! This reads like an extended academic essay. The author is very defensive of his theory. The narrator is sort of dry, but that seems appropriate for this tome. A lot to ponder. My husband and I listened together and we're glad we did. It sparked interesting conversation and we were able to clarify points for each other. My thanks to NetGalley for gifting this audiobook to me in exchange for an honest review.

[Michelle Deng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going into the book, I had no idea what even counts as fungi! This book changed my perspective on viewing the world, I am now unable to unsee all the fungi that lives in every corners of my life. Truly a new perspective on mycelium world making and agency of all life that challenges human supremacy. I appreciate the different fields this book drew from, pulling away from the competition driven field of biology. Despite my field of study being mainly in language and neuropsychology, this book has made me more curious about ecology and mycology. I will attempt to learn more about this field in future reading.

[Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

A disappointing slog.


My thoughts, in no particular order:

1) For all this book claims to be about matsutake, I can't say I came away having learned much of anything about them. The author spends next to no time discussing the mushrooms themselves. I've learned that they smell a bit like cinnamon, but that's it. Given the emphasis on Japan's demand for matsutake as a driving force for the economies in Yunnan, it would have been nice to see a chapter devoted to Japan's relationship with matsutake, how they are sold or prepared, and/or what about them appeals so much to Japanese consumers (since the Chinese families who harvest them for export seem not to value their taste highly).

2) In no way did this book merit a foreword, preface, AND introduction. Just an introduction would have done. All three chapters contain the exact same material. The author spends more time telling you what this book is going to do than actually doing anything (and then fails to deliver on those promises).

3) Related: this author has the worst case of in-this-essay-I-will I have ever read in published nonfiction. Additionally, each chapter includes a conclusion in which the author tells you what he talked about in the chapter with all the grace and enthusiasm of a sixth grader writing their first five paragraph essay.

4) This book is comprised of the foreword, preface, introduction, and seven chapters of content. Matsutake aren't discussed at all until chapter 4. Don't expect to hear about them until the book is already more than half over. You get less than 100 pages of matsutake-focused content.

5) The author spends an inordinate amount of time being bothered that humans don't consider themselves to be equal to other animals.

6) It's not overt, but in places this was giving the vibe of framing the Yi mushroom hunters and their communities as primitive. I didn't vibe with that.

7) Overall this felt like an excuse for the author to pontificate about "world-making" more than anything else, and that's just not what the book was marketed as being about. I'm so put off by his clumsy execution and self-importance that not only do I not plan to read any more of his work, I will also be avoiding the work of his colleagues. A shame because otherwise I might have picked Anna Tsing's book up.

If you want to read a book about mushrooms that's actually good and delivers on its promises, pick up Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life instead.

[Ryan Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book is not exactly chock-full of deep mycology, I'm sure that wasn't the author's purpose. Michael Hathaway is an anthropologist, not a biologist. This book offers insights into human understandings and our culture's limitations that come with viewing the world through an entrenched perspective that centers and privileges humanity and views other forms of life as resources, nuisances, or passive beings. If you want an accessible book that explains the biology of mycorrhizal relationships, say, I recommend something like Jeff Lowenfels Teaming with Fungi. If, instead, you want to interrogate your own learned prejudices that limit your understanding of the natural world and you want to see the activity of fungi in a different way, this is a really great book.

[Renée Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a Mushroom Lives For is the second book in a trilogy from the Matsutake Worlds Research Group, a group of academics exploring the cultural and economic dimensions of matsutake markets and trade.

In this book, Michael Hathaway builds on some of the concepts initially introduced by Anna Tsing in her 2015 book The Mushroom at the End of the World. There, Tsing follows southeast asian matsutake foraging communities in the Pacific Northwest. The book can be described as an ethnography. It also explores the transformative capacity of encounters, collaboration as contamination, mushroom forests as anti plantations and pericapitalist spaces, the nature of patches, assemblages, and translations in matsutake ecology, commerce, and anthropological science. It's a powerful expedition and invoked a sense of awe.

Hathway takes this a step further in his book. What a Mushroom Lives For drops down to the level of a matsutake mushroom, and considers its umwelt, or an organisms' sensed environment. Few have ever explored this. Here, Hathway proposes the world-making model, presenting a case for matsutake literally making its world via interactions with its environment (like many fungi). He also presents the perspective that the mushroom must also be constructing meaning. Tsing undertook a human ethnography. Hathway asks what a multi species ethnography might look like. Different cultures have different constructs of meaning making, depending on their worldview, language, and sense of cosmological place. How does this look for fungi?

In this way, Hathway presents a bold eco-anthropological model. It is academically provocative and important. He does this while still maintaining to speak to and maintain relevance to a reader who is new to the subject matter. He opens chapters with basic explanations about fungal biology and ecology and minimizes jargon. Throughout the text I wondered if the impact would be realized and if it would be skipped over. Could a casual reader consider it another "wow fungi" book?

This book can be read alone or before Tsing's. However I think it has more impact if they are read sequentially. I would recommend it for anyone interested in mycology, ecology, anthropology, and sensory biology and interspecies relationships.

[Bill Leach · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps the largest theme in this book is the importance of viewing the world equally from the point-of-view of all organisms. Unfortunately, while the author returns to this idea frequently, he doesn't demonstrate any really new insights.

The author describes mycorrhizal fungi, noting that plants send about a quarter of the sugar created to the fungi.

Hathaway complains that agency - used as action of organisms to create an effect - has been eliminated from much of science. Also, that science has always treated one organism as active while the other is passive. He states that this causes science to ignore mutualism and coevolution.

Jakob von Uexkull proposed the idea of the umwelt where each organism has its own world of perception, capability and action. The author champions this view, but believes it must extend to relationships between organisms.

The author tries to show that matsutake have a world of their own with pines and oaks as partners and predators such as nematodes and the Candy Cane plant. Human use of the mushroom is possibly transient.

The author visits the Yi in Yunnan and describes their way of life. A major source of wealth is the matsutake trade, although many other mushrooms are also collected. Most mushrooms are dried, but the matsutake are sold fresh. Insects attack all mushrooms early. The Yi had tied using pesticide to control them, but the Japanese demand pesticide free mushrooms. The Yi had tried various experiments to control insects, but without apparent success.

Hathaway visits the Tibetians. Historically, they depended on barley and the farming of Yaks. The matsutake trade has enriched them, raising their status compared to the Han. Notable expenditures have been on single family dwellings - "Matsutake Houses" - and trucking. The dependency on yaks has declined; as one Tibetan said, "I sometimes think that the yak are jealous of the matsutake, we give so much care to them."

Hathaway concludes by taking a final run at the idea of world-making to understand fungi, but his collection of ideas seems no different from traditional science.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recently I did a research paper where the topic was mycorrhizal mushrooms and their relationship with trees; in particular symbiotic relationships that are either endomycorrhizal or ectomycorrhizal. What a Mushroom Lives for touches on this type of information, but really didn't go into depth. I had already read Suzanne Simard's Finding the Mother Tree, Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass and Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life; so I didn't learn anything new about mycorrhizal symbiosis in What a Mushroom Lives for.

But ... I wasn't familiar with Matsutake mushrooms, and that is what this book is about. The book is laid out in a unique way, the author was trying to prove different concepts about the Matsutake mushroom. Because of the chapter structure, there was some overlap in ideas (and some repetition).

The book (I was approved for the audiobook and any drawings or graphs from the book were not reviewed) was VERY wordy. For example, the audio book is nearly 9 hours. I noticed that the introduction and preface to the book was almost 19% of the book ... before the words "Chapter 1".

So ... if you are interested in how the matsutake mushroom has impacted the lives of yaks, this is the book for you!

It seems that matsutake mushrooms are in many parts of the world, but this book mostly concentrates on how they are imported from China to Japan. This mushroom is very desirable to the Japanese, in a similar way that the rest of the world is crazy about truffles.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this audiobook in exchange for an honest review; and also to Michael J. Hathaway the author, to Christopher Grove the narrator and to Tantor Audio the publisher.

[Anastasia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not quite what I expected or was looking for. For the right person I think this book would be a hit but for me it was a little too dense and academic feeling.

The first few chapters of the book focused on the much larger picture of mushrooms and how they shaped our landscape from the days of the primordial earth to today. The second part focused more specifically on the Matsutake mushroom and how it economically effected different regions as demand for it grew from the Japanese demand for it.

Throughout the book there are peppered some very interesting facts and ideas about mushrooms, how they evolved and also shaped evolution. These little nuggets while enjoying weren't enough for me. The book was just dry and perhaps more vast in scope than I was expecting. I listened to the audio version at 2x the speed, because I just wanted to be able to get through it. It came off as a lecture I really wanted to enjoy but overall was disappointed by. Now in the rights hands this book is probably a delightful read but for me it was not.

If this had not been a free ARC (thank you NetGalley and Tantor Audio) which I wanted to be able to review I probably would not have finished it. I can't say I will be recommending the book to others though I would discuss and bring up ideas from this book with others.

[Sam Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

With thanks to NetGalley, Micheal J Hathaway, and the publishers for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A wonderful book full of interesting ideas. The writing is engaging and light, though I can see it being skimmed by someone who isn’t as interested in the content as others.

I have always liked mushrooms and been interested in them generally but this is a very narrow line of interest. Hathaway has a knack for making scientific/anthropological/philosophical discussions interesting without dumbing it down.

I don’t necessarily agree with everything the author says, the concepts they argue for, or the interpretations of certain things - but it was interesting and entertaining.

It certainly isn’t a scientific/biological investigation into the internal workings of the Matsutake mushroom but rather uses the matsutake as a fulcrum with which to discuss the idea of reorganising our relationship and perception of non human entities.

An excellent addition to any interesting collection.

I enjoyed the narration by Christopher Grove, they gave an excellent performance and to my civilian ears did a great job of the scientific and LOTE pronunciation. (My standard disclaimer applies, I listen to almost all audiobooks at increased playback speed, but always listen to a portion at regular speed to get a feel for the narrator)

[Chantal Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a former student who has dabbled in more-than-human geography, I very much enjoyed Hathaway's deep exploration of the world co-created by the Matsutake fungi - and I hope curious readers who don't have the same academic background will enjoy it equally.

The book is a pleasing balance of the author's firsthand experience and his extensive research of a story of humans and nonhumans spanning great distances of time and space (while the book mainly focuses on a region of China, other places are visited too). Hathaway throws in plenty of references to other academics and writers, but not in a lofty, opaque way (as some academics or philosophers are wont to do).

While I didn't hear anything that blew my mind, 'What A Mushroom Lives For' is a highly accessible illustration of what it means to recognise the agency of other beings. It's also a story I would never have known about otherwise, and one that was meticulously, even lovingly told - a book for the deeply curious. My one criticism was the synopsis that was provided at the beginning of each chapter/section - they always took some of the anticipation away, were jarring, and came across far too much like scientific article abstracts that give all the important bits away.

(With thanks to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review)

[Cecily Winter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This study focuses on a radically different approach to the effects of non-human agency in our world--specifically that of fungi.
The first half of the narrative deals mainly with the fungal biology of what has been coined "the worldwide wood." This is the network of environments being shaped and re-shaped since this planet's origin by the peculiar capabilities of fungus, most of which is subterranean and therefore hidden from our sight. Of course, the fruiting caps of mushrooms are a mainstay of many cuisines, a form of nourishment that we must share with many other animals and insects. But though we rarely consider our reliance on yeast, fermentation, and decomposition (imagine if nothing decayed!), we all owe a huge debt to fungus.
The second half of the book focuses on a world-shaping mushroom called matsutake, a delicacy in Japan, which has created niche business opportunities for many rural people in China and Tibet as well as a broad swathe of people across the world.
Mr. Hathaway's study is an eye-opener on the field of non-human world-building. He is persuasive in his admiration for the lowly mushroom, and the book is well worth a read for anyone interested in ecology, biology, or rural economics.

[Rin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good book for a novice. Easy to digest but has some interesting information.
If you’re looking for a book that is biology based, this is not the one. This book is from an anthropological point of view and discusses topics like “the human umwelt” and “toadstool kicking.” The first half of the book was more interesting to me personally, although i didn’t agree with all or even a lot of what the author was saying, i thought it was interesting to ponder on. The second half of the book talks about matsutake in Tibet and China and how mushroom foraging became a part of their culture as well as a significant source of wealth for the mountain people. It wasn’t in depth because it was only 2 chapters and I feel like i still don’t have a full understanding on why these specific mushrooms are so valued. Personally, i have not tried matsutake mushrooms, so when the author writes a whole book on them and describes them as “not that good,” as a reader, im forced to believe him. I guess i don’t get the point of this book but i don’t regret reading it.

[Xylia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I enjoyed this book for the exact reason that some people disliked it. I didn’t know anything about Michael Hathaway or this book prior to borrowing it from the library and had assumed that it would be heavily based in biology. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I’d be learning about fungi from a cultural anthropological perspective.

Hathaway uses fungi to bolster his argument for a posthumanist approach to the world in general, which I found really interesting. He argues against human exceptionalism and even animal and plantcentricity in academic research, as well as in the broader Western cultural context.

I really enjoyed chapters one to three, as they were more focused on fungi as social, agentic beings. Chapter three, which was about how fungi experience temporality, perceive the world around them, and communicate was particularly awesome!

[Dyslexicology · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love mushrooms and I wanted to love this book more than I did. It was such a slow read for me as I just couldn’t get into it. I love the premise of looking at mushrooms from an anthropological perspective but I felt it didn’t really reach that point for me. It read as a research paper in lots of sections. My favourite part was the section about communities picking Matsutake how they rely on it, and the chain of distribution but didn’t feel I learnt anything new in other sections. The writing style wasn’t one I gelled with and the use of “as you learned in chapter 1/chapter 2/earlier” was so repetitive, it disturbed the flow for me. Glad I finished it but won’t rush to buy the other 2 in this series.

[Elena Gaillard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always looking for new and interesting books on aspects of natural history, and a friend of mine has a degree in mycology (she studies fungi). And, as an orchid grower, I know that orchids in the wild depend on multiple species of fungi to provide nutrition to their tiny seeds through a complex symbiosis.
Seeing this in a bookstore, I flipped through and took a chance. Fascinating stuff! The book is a look at the varied roles fungi play in past and present ecosystems, but, per the title, mostly an in-depth examination of how one particular edible mushroom (that can't be cultivated) has become so valued that it's become the main livelihood of many people in Yunnan.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Alfredo Salkeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little scattered, but a decent read if you’re in the mood to nerd out about mushrooms. I learned a good deal about how fungi enabled plants to escape the ocean, how our mycophobic culture influences science, and how matsutake changed the Tibetan economy. If you’re looking for a fun book to turn your traditional human-centered view of ecology on its head, I would recommend Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire. It has a similar flavor to this book.

[gracie :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

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)

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received an audio copy for review from Netgalley

I love reading books about mushrooms, but this one seemed to go over my head. I think because it was such a broad overview of Matsutake mushrooms and the world around them. I just didn't seem to follow everything he was talking about, but I did get some good facts here and there.

[Palswd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very well-written and the ethnography is somewhat interesting. The author's arguments for fungal agency, however, makes little sense from a scientific perspective of view (you may argue that this is precisely his point). Also, it seems to me that for the most part he is just rewording what is well-known by ecologists into anthropomorphic terms.

[ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

just read anna tsing’s the mushroom at the end of the world if you’re interested in the intersection of globalization, commodity chains and non human actors. would have thought this book was interesting if i hadn’t read anna’s first and tbh i think i liked anna’s better bc this one reads like one long essay.

[Kristen Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version of “What A Mushroom Lives For”, which was a deep dive into a specific species of mushroom, the matsutake. For the right audience, I think they would enjoy digging into this particular fungi, however, I was wanting broader text within the world of mushrooms.

[雅雯 张 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book precisely because it’s not just about mushrooms. It touches upon many philosophical questions such as agency and centrism, which really expands my view. 10/10 recommendation for people who are looking for some discussion besides mushroom biography.

[Simon Salter · Rating 5 out of 5]

perfect read for a newbie into mushrooms

Cleverly takes a complicated kingdom simplifies it with Brillaint story telling. Finished this awesome read with a greater responsibility to our close ancestors! 🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄