The Nature of Crops: How We Came to Eat the Plants We Do
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.25 (615 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1780645090 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 184 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-12-27 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Formally a cocoa breeder, he worked on the world chocolate gene bank at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. The research for this work has relied heavily upon consultations with strawberry pathologists, rhubarb tasters, chocolate scientists and coffee geneticists, better known to the author as friends. He has made regular appearances on BBC Scotland’s Beechgrove Potting Shed. . John Warren is Director of Education at Aberystwyth University. He has an acad
"Glorious in breadth and fascinating in depth, all the short stories means that The Nature of Crops can be read and reread in the room where Sterculius is King." (New Scientist)"Written by a natural storyteller, this book is a 'must'.a very readable book, packed with interesting and useful information, exploring and clearly explaining the cool science behind the development of the plants that sustain us." (Dr. It would be easy to see Stephen Fry asking, 'What product, controlled by the Mafia in America in the 1920s and 1930s, would later launch Marilyn Monroe's career?'
Arranged into recurrent themes in plant domestication, this book documents the history and biology of over 50 crops, including cereals, spices, legumes, fruits and cash crops such as chocolate, tobacco and rubber.In The Nature of Crops, John Warren reveals:* Why the Egyptians worshipped onions;* Why red-flowering runner beans provide fewer beans than white-flowering;* The inherent dangers of being a pineapple worker; and* Why a bird will always beat you in a chilli pepper eating competition!. Have you ever wondered why we eat wheat, rice, potatoes and cassava? Why we routinely domesticate foodstuffs with the power to kill us, or why we chose almonds over acorns? Answering all these questions and more in a readable and friendly style, this book takes you on a journey through our history with crop plants
lyndonbrecht said Full of dry British humor and wonderful bits of information, this book shows crops to be of many natures--wonderful variety.. I think this is a wonderful book, but I suspect that readers will have opinions all over the map. For one thing, this book has long paragraphs with little to relive the eye--maps and some illustrations would help. The text is dense and the print is not so easy to read. It's not academic in the sense of usin. I was not overly impressed with this book. It I was not overly impressed with this book. It was somewhat disorganised and the author seemed to obsessed with sex. Plants didn't reproduce, they "had sex". He was also remarkably ignorant about beans — particularly Scarlet Runners. I doubt if he's ever grown them.. Mr S. said Five Stars. Fantastic book for botanists, foodies, allotment growers