| Product Summary | | Format: Hardcover | | ISBN: 9781594200823 | | Publisher: Penguin Group USA | | Publish Date: 4/11/2006 | | Buy.com Sku: 31306188 | | Item#: R4TM2G | | Dimensions (in Inches) 9.5H x 6.75L x 1.75T | | Pages: 464 |
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| | | Pollan writes about the ecology of the food humans eat and why--what it is, in fact, that we are eating. Discussing industrial farming, organic food, and what it is like to hunt and gather food, this is a surprisingly honest and self-aware account of the evolution of the modern diet.
Annotation:
With an intense, yet elegant, examination of the agricultural origins of four meals from three different pathways, Michael Pollan, bestselling author of THE BOTANY OF DESIRE, explores how the American diet affects the planet. Tracing the mind-boggling path of corn from seed to plate, Pollan analyzes industrial agriculture with a fast food meal in mind. Then he looks at the pastoral ("organic") food chain by working on a small Virginia farm where the attitude is dramatically different, and the meal entirely homegrown. Finally, Pollan investigates the hunter-gatherer lifestyle by foraging and hunting, to turn out a meal directly from the original sources of what we eat. His book is a tour de force that is not only thought-provoking, but timely. Named one of the 10 Best Books of 2006 by The New York Times, as well as a 2006 Publishers Weekly Book of the Year.
| Praise| "Mr. Pollan...wants us at least to know what it is we are eating, where it came from and how it got to our table. He also wants us to be aware of the choices we make and to take responsibility for them. It's an admirable goal, well met in THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA." - Moira Hodgson 04/14/2006 "[Pollan's] supermeticulous reporting is the book's strength--you're not likely to get a better explanation of exactly where your food comes from." - David Kamp 04/23/2006 |
| Author Bio| Michael Pollan | | Michael Pollan was born in 1955 and grew up in Syosset, on Long Island, New York. He was educated at Bennington College, Oxford University, and Columbia University, where he received his Master's degree in English in 1981. He first gained prominence as a journalist, writing for New York Times Magazine beginning in 1987, and later becoming an executive editor at Harper's. His first book, SECOND NATURE, published in 1991, is a witty chronicle of his trials and tribulations starting out as a gardener in New England, and quickly became known as a seminal text in the gardening genre. Following two more award-winning gardening-related titles, Pollan broke into the big time with THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA in 2006. This tremendously arresting and insightful analysis of the ecology of eating caused ripples big enough to mark a culture shift within multiple industries, pushing the move towards organic whole foods and spawning a slew of similar titles by imitators. Pollan's own follow-up, IN DEFENSE OF FOOD, became an instant bestseller, cementing his place among the most relevant and prominent non-fiction writers of the early 21st century. |
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