Amazon.com Review
"How nature is interpreted is not 'natural,'" argues sociologist and author Gary Fine. "Nature is a cultural creation...." Interested in how humans make meaning out of nature through culturally grounded images and interpretations, Fine has coined a new phrase for his study--"naturework." But if it's all so much mind play, what is the point of this deconstructionist preening? In his introduction, Fine parades lengthily phrased, teasingly conceptual theories, positing them against the range of contemporary environmentalist thinking.
His three-year study of mushrooms and the people who love them (the Minnesota Mycological Society) utilizes his own field observation, interviews, surveys, and document analysis. He covers such topics as the history of mushroom collection and the mythology they have inspired ("The fact that mushrooms can literally appear overnight makes them seem a gift from the divine"). Indeed, the writing becomes engaging when Fine risks relinquishing his academic pose and offers simple statements tied to experience. His account of a foray on a crisp day in autumn is quite wonderful--the extrapolations are more grounded; the speculations more attuned to a layperson's curiosity. Reports and stories of the mushroom collectors themselves illustrate our human moral-and-meaning-making apparatus.
"Mushroomers place faith in the judgments and advice of peers," Fine notes, "and under some circumstances, risk their lives, without little worry. Much trust and confidence in the competence of others characterize the mushrooming community. Yet this community also depends on competition in finding mushrooms, and this leads to secrecy. How is secrecy compatible with the equally visible trust?" Fine's book is, above all else, an astonishing tenacity of focus. --Hollis Giammatteo
Review
As with the best of good sociology, we are quickly persuaded [in
Morel Tales] that by studying seemingly esoteric behavior, mushroom hunting, we can learn about basic social processes. Examining the odd can lead to confrontation with what is central to human experience...Fine argues and illustrates with rich data that there is no nature without culture and no culture without particular social groups acting within concrete situations...A well-crafted sociological study,
Morel Tales weaves together a well-developed grounded theory with interesting ethnographic description. .. Next time someone asks me 'What's so special about the way sociologists approach the world? What do sociologists have to offer?' I will recommend
Morel Tales.
--Robert Bogdan (
Contemporary Sociology )
A delightful ethnographic analysis of the culture of field mycologists (mushroomers) as a paradigm of the customs of naturalists in general (birdwatchers, ramblers, botany clubs, etc.)...This book is strongly recommended to all introspective naturalists, particularly field mycologists and their professional colleagues, and should be a priority acquisition for any library...with a natural history collection.
--Royall T. Moore (
Society for General Microbiology Quarterly [UK] )
This book is first and foremost an eminently readable ethnography about the everyday lives of hobbyist mushroomers, the social world framing these lives, and the mentality of these enthusiasts as it springs from their leisure passion...[T]his study constitutes a rare contribution to the sociology of science, a field where ethnographic research is rare and the role of amateurs consistently ignored.
--Robert A. Stebbins (
Canadian Journal of Sociology )
If traipsing about in the woods looking for fungi is your idea of a great time, then Gary Alan Fine's
Morel Tales: The Culture of Mushrooming is the book for you...Dr. Fine presents the experiences and perspectives of several mycolophiles in their own words. From encounters with wild animals to tales of valuable mushroom findings along with some blunders, these pages provide insights into the popularity of the mushrooming pastime...I thoroughly enjoyed
Morel Tales and can recommend it to both amateur and professional mycologists.
--Stephen S. Daggett (
American Biology Teacher )
