‘An exceptional initial book; Harvest is definitely a subtle, exciting braiding of travel, social and natural history … It is a satisfaction and an education to journey with him in these pages’ Robert Macfarlane

Inside a centuries-old tradition, farmers in northwestern Iceland scour remote coastal plains for the down of nesting eider ducks.

High in the vast cave in Borneo, men perched atop rickety ladders gather swiftlets’ nests, a delicacy believed to be a cure for almost anything.

Eiderdown and edible approximately Harvest: The Hidden Histories of Seven Organic Objects parrots’ nests: both are luxury products, ultimately destined for the super-rich. To the rest of the world these components are mere commodities but to the harvesters all of them are imbued with misconception, tradition, folklore and ritual, and form element of a shared identification and history.

These objects are two of the seven natural wonders whose stories Harvest tells: eiderdown, vicuña wool, sea silk, vegetable ivory, civet coffee, guano and edible birds’ nests. Harvest comes after their journey in the wildest parts of the planet, traversing Iceland, Indonesia, and Peru, to its urban centres, sketching on the voices from the gatherers, shearers and business owners who harvest, process and trade them.

Blending interviews, history and travel composing, Harvest sets these human tales against our changing financial and ecological landscaping. What do they reveal about capitalism, global marketplace causes and overharvesting? So how exactly does a local micro-economy survive in a hyper-connected world?

Harvest makes us start to see the globe with wonder, attention and new concern. It really is a genuine and magical new map of the world and its riches.