International products appear on our supermarket shelves as if by magic, but how do they really get there? Here Edward Posnett journeys to some of the most far-flung locales on the planet to bring us seven wonders of the natural world—eiderdown, vicuña fiber, sea silk, vegetable ivory, civet coffee, guano, and edible birds' nests—that promise ways of using nature without damaging it. To the rest of the world these materials are mere commodities, but to their harvesters they are imbued with tradition, folklore, and ritual. Blending history, travel writing, and interviews, Posnett sets these human stories against our changing economic and ecological landscape, to reach informed conclusions about capitalism, global market forces, and overharvesting.