4 comments about Food Science (Food Science Texts Series).

1. As a prescribed book at varsity, I was very glad I didn't waste my sparce finances on this one. Good for your first aquaintance with food science, but very quickly outgrown.



2. Excellent textbook for students.



3. Conceptually this book became a truly essential consult book and invaluable reference for all those involved in a real Food Engineering.
   
   In twenty four chapters Potter clasps the main themes concerned with this passionate science: conservation and processing foods through the heat, refrigeration. Dehydration and concentration of aliments.
   
   An invaluable guide and continuous learning process around the accurate temperature to preserve fruits, cereals, fishes, fruits, vegetables, beverages and all kind of meats.
   
   Go for this. It will be very helpful for Industrial and Chemical Engineers and obviously for Pre Grade students.



4. This book was nominated for the referencebook for my Masters of Food Science and technology to the "Principles of food science" subject/course. Contents of this book is very informative and useful for a beginner in food science. It helped me lot to get a good grade of my course work.

4 comments about Biochemistry I (Cliffs Quick Review).

1. When I wanted to start reading Lenninger Priciple's of Biochemistry it felt like a bucket of cold water... there were many things that I could not understand; hence, I went for something simple and concise, something that gives me enough background (in a short amount of time) info to somehow figure out what Lenninger tried to explain. For that purpose, this book is very good. Do not expect to be a master biochemist after you read this book, this is just an INTRODUCTION and OUTLINE of the main ideas... only the concepts that are used most often appear! Although obvious, the bad part of the download version is that you have to be attached to a computer =(



2. When I wanted to start reading Lenninger Priciple's of Biochemistry it felt like a bucket of cold water... there were many things that I could not understand; hence, I went for something simple and concise, something that gives me enough background (in a short amount of time) info to somehow figure out what Lenninger tried to explain. For that purpose, this book is very good. In fact, I am reading it again in some chemistry class that I have because the class is boring. However, do not expect to be a master biochemist after you read this book, this is just an INTRODUCTION and OUTLINE of the main ideas... only the concepts that are used most often appear! Another feature that I like is that it is pocket size, meaning that I can carry it around easily!



3. When I wanted to start reading Lenninger Priciple's of Biochemistry it felt like a bucket of cold water... there were many things that I could not understand; hence, I went for something simple and concise, something that gives me enough background (in a short amount of time) info to somehow figure out what Lenninger tried to explain. For that purpose, this book is very good. In fact, I am reading it again in some chemistry class that I have because the class is boring. However, do not expect to be a master biochemist after you read this book, this is just an INTRODUCTION and OUTLINE of the main ideas... only the concepts that are used most often appear! Another feature that I like is that it is pocket size, meaning that I can carry it around easily!



4. it states that pH>7 is acidic and pH<7 is basic in chapter two. This is obviously wrong and was missed in the editing. There are also small errors throughout the book but as whole it delivers the information in a concise form. This is more of a review book though, so a textbook on biochemistry will be needed to fully understand what is going on. The most impressive parts of this book have to be little pieces of information that helps to understand "why", which are usually not directly addressed in biochem text books. The example that comes to mind is the solvent levelling effect. I have only seen it glanced over in biochemistry textbooks, but it is important and helps reinforce acid/base concepts.

5 comments about Buffalo for the Broken Heart: Restoring Life to a Black Hills Ranch.

1. I loved this book. A few years ago I drove across the U.S. and was awestruck by South Dakota; something I really didn't expect. I was captivated by the beautiful, often stark, surroundings and always wondered how the people ranching there lived their lives. This story of one man's journey into ranching was really interesting, personal and just a very nice, casual read. He tells honestly of his hardships, loneliness and all about the bison he cared for, which was quite fascinating. I actually sent him a note telling him how much I enjoyed the book; the first time I was ever compelled to do this, which he kindly responded to. I don't think you'll be disappointed in this book if you're at all interested in animals, wilderness or "finding yourself."



2. This book is full of thrilling ideas - that the grass and the prairie birds and insects remember and revert to the way they lived together when bison shaped the land; that individual humans can really help heal the land. This story was riveting and that is unusual for me to say about non-fiction. The science was good and the personal drama seemed genuine. This is my favorite book of the year so far.



3. These are tough days for those of us who care about wild places. Our society is embarked on a blind crusade to fragment, pave and develop landscapes at all possible speed. Our environmental movement is stuck in the mud, beset with clashing personalities, fighting the wrong battles, and spending more time squabbling with its natural allies than fighting real foes. Into this scene comes a book with a plan. Dan O'Briens' proposal to return the native fauna to his ranch in the west isn't new, but his novel advances the idea with force, grace, and even a certain magic. He makes a strong case for an alternative set of values, one that reminds me of Aldo Leopolds' Ecological Land Ethic. O'Brien makes a case that by being responsible stewards of the land we will save not just ecological communities, but also our own souls. It is a much needed message of hope. A friend lent me the book saying only "I think you will like it". Like it I did. Dan O'Brien gets it like few people do, and his writing complements the power of his ideas. This guy is flying under the radar, but I'm glad to have stumbled across this book.



4. As I've been involved in agriculture my whole life, I tense up when I start reading generalizations about the industry. But this author has lived it himself and presents alternatives and kindly criticism in a very non judgmental way. It was interesting, provocative, and exciting to see someone so passionate about their calling in life. A great read for entertainment or to make you think.



5. I picked this up a few days ago during a stop in South Dakota on my way from Wyoming back to Chicago. It's been a pleasure having it around to share my trip with. The only downside is that I'm almost finished, and I'm dying to know what's happened to the people, the land, and (naturally) to the buffalo herd since the book was published in 2001.
   It's clear how much he loves his subject and there were times reading his descriptions of the Great Plains that it was all I could do to get back in the car and keep heading East. It's hard to explain why landscape that can be so harsh and unforgiving can be so easy to love, but Mr. O'Brien does it a fair turn. If you're thinking of heading out to South Dakota and you have any interest in what life is like for the people who struggle to survive there, then this book is a good place to start.

5 comments about An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms.

1. This is was excellent and easy to read and follow. I really enjoyed this book.



2. What I was looking for:
   A book with lots of detailed pictures of palm trees and cultivation tips.
   
   What I got:
   An exhaustive list of palm trees with a short text accompanying each and a set of pictures that look amateurish and are not enough representative of each species.



3. I purchased this book looking for information on a particular palm. I was well pleased with the information. The book is easy to read and supplies useful information to the amatuer or professional palm person.



4. Very nice and representative fotos. Good description of genera, however it is related more to North-America than to the world.



5. The book gives a perfect overview of all palms, families and their characteristics. It is a good tool for identification and cultivation.

5 comments about The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine.

1. A very thorough account of the collectivization of farms in Ukraine and the resulting starvation of the families who grew the food that got shipped elsewhere by order of the communist authorities. It's a more heady and academic read than I would like, but certainly worthwhile as a history of that time and place.



2. This book shows just how bad things can get when the realities of economics are ignored. When people have no incentive to produce, they will not produce. This is a message that I wish were better understood by those who persist in thinking that we can solve poverty by giving out handouts.



3. Years ago I attended a 2 yr. technical school, which required taking a speech class in addition to electronics classes. The text of my 15 minute speech was extracts from 'Harvest of Sorrow.' I knew the speech was having an effect of sorts, for a class full of fidgety post teen guys slowly moved their attention from hand held games and car magazines to me, with their mouths hanging open. I finished my speech and left, thinking nothing more of it.
   The next day, a teacher from another class approached me, saying, "Do you know that you are now famous? The speech teacher raved on and on at our lunch after the class, saying that you had the entire class riveted to the floor with that subject! He said that after 14 years of teaching speech, your effort forced him to give his first 100% grade for a speech!"
   It strikes one to think that there is so much WW II stuff on the History Channel that it is now called the Hitler Channel, but they will barely give one hour a month for a far greater demon (Stalin) and a far worse system (Communism.) Why?



4. This was the first thorough Western documentation of what happened in the Communists' collectivization famines in the Ukraine and just how many people died - 10 to 15 million, more than died in the Holocaust. This is one of the more important conservative books of our time, because it documents in copious detail one of the worst crimes in history, one which the Left has continually sought to cover up or downplay.
   
   Ukrainian peasants were murdered, starved or deported to slave labor and death in order to turn their rich farmland into collectives. As Ukrainians they ran up against the supposedly internationalist but really Russian nationalist Communist regime, and as peasants they were officially regarded as a uselessly reactionary class unreceptive to revolution, by the proletariat-favoring Party.
   
   Nearly every aspect of the Holocaust 10 years later, is on display here - starving people to weaken them, looting their wealth before killing them, waves of deportation over several years, and shipping them in boxcars to concentration camps with no hope of return. It gives rise to this stunning question: did Hitler model the tactics of the Final Solution on this?
   
   That this work wasn't done in the West for nearly half a century is itself criminal, allowing the left to argue for coexistence with a "peaceful" and "progressive" Soviet Union. And the academic silence tells you all you need to know about the state of today's academy. Conquest documents the willing burial of the facts by Western liberals, most importantly New York Times writer Walter Duranty who knew about it but didn't publish it, meanwhile continuing to glorify the Socialist Revolution in print.
   
   When you read about this, you'll wonder, "Why haven't I heard about this before?" Good question.



5. The black earth
   Was sown with bones
   And watered with blood
   For a harvest of sorrow
   On the land of Rus.
   - _The Armament of Igor_.
   
   _The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivizaton and the Terror-Famine_, first published in 1986, by historian Robert Conquest is an excellent accounting of the horrors of the Soviet state unleashed upon the Russian peasantry by the Soviet Communist Party between 1929 and 1933. Robert Conquest is a British historian who early on joined the Communist Party and fought in World War II; however, after seeing firsthand the horrors of Soviet communism he became an anti-communist. In this book a detailed accounting of the more than 14.5 million deaths (more than the total number of deaths from all countries involved in World War I) that resulted directly from policies sanctioned by the Soviet Communist Party is detailed. Such policies as dekulakization, collectivization, and the "terror-famine" in the Ukraine had drastic consequences for those living under this oppressive and horrendous regime. Further, many Western intellectuals turned a blind eye to these atrocities because of their support for this horrendous and ungodly ideology. Even today many continue to deny such crimes occurred among the communists, while at the same time a repeated accounting is made of Nazi and fascist crimes. For those who believe that Soviet communism was a just and noble endeavor, a book like this is certainly sobering. Through painstaking research, Robert Conquest unveils the horrors behind Soviet communism.
   
   Conquest begins by noting the importance of Ukrainian nationalism, feared by the Soviets, and comparing the atrocities of communism to those of the other totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century, Nazism and fascism. To begin with, the Soviets long regarded the peasants as backwards and reactionary, clinging to their traditions and religion, and thus "counter-revolutionary" and a threat to human progress. Such hatred for the peasant goes all the way back to Karl Marx, the founding father of Soviet communism. Lenin also denigrated the peasant as a threat to the creation of the Soviet state. Conquest traces the development of Ukrainian nationalism as it contrasted with Leninism and Soviet communism. For example, as Engels commented, "Now you ask me whether I have no sympathy whatever for the small Slav peoples, and remnants of peoples . . . In fact, I have damned little sympathy for them." During the years 1917 - 21, the revolution broke out sponsored by the Bolsheviks. At the same time the peasant war and famine broke out. Repeated famines were common in the history of the Soviet regime, showing the utter failure of the Soviet economic system to provide food for its people. Such famine was so bad at times that many Russians even had to resort to cannibalism in their efforts to stay alive. Further, during this time and following, the Soviet state began a series of purges against "counter-revolutionaries", those who stood in the way, the religious, and those who did not sufficiently truckle to the powers that be. The NKVD and secret police were formed to rid the state of dissenters. The League of Militant Godless, a band of militant atheists, formed which sought to purge the state of religious and ransacked the Orthodox churches. At the same time, purges were made of kulaks (and suspected kulaks), largely middle-class peasants who could afford to hire labor or lenders. Frequently the individuals accused of being kulaks were very poor, and hardly the rich exploiters they were portrayed to be. Indeed, the accusations and railings of individuals such as Josef Stalin against the kulak bear an eerie resemblance to those of Hitler. At the same time, the free peasantry was abolished and the land was laid to waste. So inefficient were the Soviet agricultural methods that millions starved. In particular, children faced a horrific fate under the Soviet regime and frequently starved or were left to die as orphans. All the while massive purges continued and the state officially denied any problems existed (afterall the Soviet state was supposed to be a utopia). Conquest sums up the death toll as follows:
   
   Peasant dead: 1930 - 37 11 million
   Arrested in this period dying in camps later 3.5 million
   TOTAL 14.5 million.
   
   The record of the West in responding to these atrocities was equally horrendous, particularly among intellectuals who frequently harbored communist sympathies. In particular, individuals such as Sidney and Beatrice Webb and Walter Duranty denied such occurrences. Further, the reports of such individuals (which could be likely classified as nothing more than official propaganda for the Soviet state) were accorded places of prominence among leading Western sources. However, others did catch on to the evils of the Soviet regime and began speaking out against it as well as providing aid. Following this, Conquest attempts to assign responsibilities for such atrocities. Certainly, we cannot forget these horrors and a full accounting must be made, even and especially if such an accounting happens to undermine one of our most favored ideologies. Conquest ends by discussing the aftermath of such terror and the Soviet Union up to the present time. This book was written before the fall of the USSR.
   
   This book is to be highly recommended for those who want to know the truth about Soviet Communism. The official Soviet line denied such atrocities occurred under their regime. The twentieth century is likely to be remembered as an era of totalitarian regimes, and the Soviet Union remains one of the worst such regimes ever known to man. Nevertheless, there exist those who continue to deny that such things ever occurred because of their support for such an ideology. Indeed, Conquest himself has been much vilified by a largely pro-Communist Left that refuses to face up to its own atrocities while at the same time preaching constantly about the horrors of "right wing fascism". That is why a proper accounting such as that made in this book is all the more important.

4 comments about Training Thoroughbred Horses.

1. If you are just starting out in this business, you should read this book. Preston Burch gives you a simple, direct and enlightening understanding of thoroughbred horses. This book may have been published almost 50 years ago but in every advancement man has made we constantly find ourselves going back to old knowledge and wisdom.



2. If every owner had a trainer like Preston Burch, there would be a lot more owners.

   This is a cornerstone book for a racing library. There is a large amount of fundamental training information in this simply written little book.

   The sections on conditioning schedules are invaluable. The degree of conditioning Burch afforded his horses is probably unmatched today.

   Read this book, and then end it to your trainer (if he can read).




3. Impossible that present day horses would beat any horse trained by Preston Burch. Just read the exercise prescriptions in this book and be blown away. I certainly was. Here is carefully controlled training by a trainer understanding that his horses are participating in an athletic event. This is a book about conditioning equine athletes and also contains every other aspect of training and caring for thoroughbred race horses in a well written book by an individual who apparently understood the great care required. I held off reading this fearing it was dated, but what a pleasant surprise to find the extreme if succinct comprehensiveness here, every aspect is covered by a fellow who tried to do everything correctly. This is Ivers before Ivers, and one does wonder whatever happened to trainers like Max Hirsch and Preston Burch.



4. The author writes from legendary experience as a thoroughbred trainer. Of course with any knowledge presented it can not possibly include every little detail regarding the subject but certain it can only enhance the experience one can acquire as a trainer.
   
   Be that as it may, my motive behind purchasing this material was not that of becoming a trainer, but rather to become an outstanding horseplayer. To me, the more a horseplayer can learn about the horses including important details about how thoroughbreds are trained, the better.
   
   This book offers exactly the information desired about training. I truly recommend others reviewing this material and also let me know what you think about the information, perhaps we can dialogue about the sport of training thoroughbreds. All the best! --- Stanley Pall

2 comments about Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill.

1. Word of the day: "cornification." Cornification, in a nutshell, is the takeover of a diverse landscape by one mighty plant: corn. The "Effects of Cornification" graphic on page 17 of Dan Imhoff's new book shows the results: the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone, factory livestock farms, obesity, immigration problems, food deserts (that's "deserts" not desserts"), the emptying of our rural communities, etc., etc. One look at the "cornification" graphic and a message comes through loud and clear: what the government tells farmers to raise has ramifications far beyond Renville County, Minnesota. Imhoff's book, Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill, is full of these kinds of eye-opening, mind-expanding graphics. His message isn't new, but the way he presents it is fresh and important. The phrase "must-read" is much abused (I've thought that ever since someone used "must-read" and the book The Bridges of Madison County in the same sentence). But if you are interested in how U.S. farm policy affects our environment, our communities and what we eat, and you want to do something about reforming the system, then Food Fight, is, yes, a must-read.
   
   Imhoff's book provides a valuable service in a year when a new federal Farm Bill is being written up. It's time to take the development of ag policy out of the hands of large agribusiness and narrowly-focused commodity groups. But creating a Farm Bill that's accountable to society requires an informed public.
   
   That's where Food Fight comes in--it makes a dense topic quite accessible. In a succinct, clear, USA Today-type format, Imhoff's chapters relate information that anyone who reads newspaper investigative pieces or watches PBS regularly probably has an inkling of: federal farm policy in this country is dysfunctional and expensive, as well as harmful to the environment, human health and our communities.
   
   Imhoff, who is the writing/publishing force behind such books as Farming and the Fate of Wild Nature and Farming with the Wild, knows the power of images. He's summarized studies, media reports and sleep-inducing statistics in brief, easy to digest graphics. He's read the think-tank white papers and plowed through the USDA data, so you don't have to. And then he's put it all in context.
   
   Don't let the readability of this book fool you into thinking this is lightweight material; these are some heavy topics Imhoff is addressing: "...nearly 40 million Americans, 12 percent of all households, confront food insecurity, meaning that they often experience hunger or need to skip meals to get by. Many are children," reads one sentence above a heartbreaking photo of a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk.
   
   This isn't all graphics, charts and photos. Imhoff also uses clearly-written text to explain complicated issues like the history of U.S. farm programs, how New Zealand reformed its system and what can be done here, now, to reform ours. With chapter titles like, "Why the Farm Bill Matters," "What Is The Farm Bill?" and "Where It All Started," this book lives up to its "Citizen's Guide" claim.
   
   Glancing over Food Fight's facts and figures, I was surprised at how many of them I was familiar with. But the sheer weight of their overall impact had not struck me before. Having all of this information put together into one cohesive piece provides a powerful tool for action. As I was reading the book, I was also chagrined at how I've become numbed to the ludicrousness of federal ag policy. Over the years, I've read about the major corporations that receive the lion's share of crop subsidies, but it wasn't until I saw Imhoff's top 20 "Subsidy Recipients" list that the sheer criminality of it struck home.
   
   For example, J.G. Boswell Company received over $17 million in USDA ag subsidies between 1994 and 2004. Boswell grows cotton in the bottom of what was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. Sixty percent of U.S. cotton is dumped on the world market at cut-rate prices, threatening the livelihood of farmers all over the planet. I've met a few of those Third-World farmers and they don't want a handout. All they want is to be able to sell their crop at a fair price. But they can't because our tax money is subsidizing behemoths like Boswell. Free market agriculture? Give me a break. I know a West African farmer (Ear to the Ground No. 20) that could teach us a thing or two about the free market.
   
   Food Fight is a quick read and that's good; the 2007 Farm Bill deliberations are upon us and may be wrapped up as early as this fall. Read this book and call your Senators and Representatives armed with facts, figures...and a lot of righteous citizen anger.



2. No one goes to the grocery store thinking that the government legislates what they buy or eat. But in fact, the government plays an enormously influential role on what products and foods are grown and produced, as well as distributed in your local grocery. The legislation known as the Farm Bill (some call it the Food Bill) has greatly altered the way that farms operate, thereby changing the landscape of food choice, nutrition, biodiversity in our country as well as other poorer countries, quality of life for farmers and eaters, as well as a multitude of other issues. Interestingly, this is legislation that not many citizens know about or realize has such far-reaching implications. This book is simple to read but clearly lays out many of the prominent issues that the Bill deals with and why the allocation of money and priorities in the Bill are so important for us to confront and influence, as eaters and as citizens.
   
   Here is an example of an outcome of the Farm Bill's mismanagement and where we are now: (with some knowledge also gleaned from Michael Pollan's excellent book The Omnivore's Dilemma)
   You may think that the US grows a lot of corn and that's a good thing- did you know that most of the corn is not edible by humans and b/c of subsidies by the government to grow it big and cheap, most corn actually gets processed into byproducts: animal feed (forcing cows, who are physically designed to eat grass, to eat corn), processed sugars (corn syrup replaced sugar in many foods simply b/c it is cheaper and it's subsidized) or gets dumped onto poorer countries, driving those country's economics beserk b/c of our subsidization policy?
   
   CHeck this book out if only so that you can be better informed about how the government has their hands in your meal. The Bill is up for re-legislation this year in 2007 so we have to get involved fast!

5 comments about The Egg and I.

1. What can you say about a book like this that hasn't already been said! I just love it - having read it firstly many years ago. This is life at its hardest, a struggle to make ends meet in difficult circumstances and a story of bravery and optimism that inspires and reassures us even today when we have things so much better. You can never quite look at an egg again without thinking of Betty MacDonnald.



2. I was so disappointed after reading the first page of this book on
   the amazon website. I couldn't believe my eyes. This is the same author who wrote all those Mrs. Pigglewiggle books I loved while I was growing up? Did I ever actually read "The Egg and I"? I'm thinking not. I don't think I could have then and I don't think I could now. MacDonald's bigotry toward Native Americans right from page one made me catch my breath! I stopped reading immediately. What an unpleasant jolt!



3. The Egg and I is a funny, well-written, and entertaining memoir by a very intelligent, perceptive, and candid woman. "Ma and Pa Kettle" are names which still float around the pop culture ether, and this is the book that introduced them to the world...and the reason why I initially decided to read it.
   
   MacDonald is a very talented writer, with an uncommon gift for description and evocation, but not a genius. The book is a bit choppy, anachronistic, and abrupt in places, and the segues between vignettes could have been handled more organically. And while she has a definite facility with words, some of her sentences are oddly and conspicuously dissonant.
   
   Technically, however, you'll have no trouble digesting this morsel. But you MAY have some difficulty with MacDonald's strong and uncensored opinions, which she gives freely and does not shy away from.
   
   WAIT! Doesn't the zeitgeist CHAMPION strong, articulate, self-assured female authors with their own points of view?
   
   Evidently not, when what they say goes against the grain of modern "enlightened" values. Not when they are politically incorrect. MacDonald, for example, does not care for Indians. FOR SHAME! My God, how DARE she write that she does not like Indians! She mustn't say THAT...even if that is exactly what she thinks, and she thinks that based on the fact that she was CONSTANTLY exposed to them, and saw first-hand their habits, culture, and way of life.
   
   I appreciate her honesty, myself. If tight-asses today have a problem with her, and will, consequently, not read her book, their loss. There's always a bagatelle by Kate Chopin (or Dave Eggers) available for those people.
   
   I would not hesitate for a SECOND to recommend this book, and think it would be great for young girls to read, as they could perhaps identify strongly with MacDonald herself, whereas I just enjoyed the quality of the writing, the depiction of the Kettles, and the one huge laugh that occurs about midway through the book. (You'll know it when you come across it.)



4. When I stumbled across this one on vacation, I didn't know a thing about the book. I didn't know this author wrote Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle -- I needed a book one night and I had a very early edition. I would have been even more interested, if I had known.
   
   So, going in blind, I was blown away by how funny this book is. She's just funny. Her life for those first two years of marriage must have been dismal, but she tells them funny. Most women aren't such good sports about unmet expectations. Like Erma Bombeck did later, she throws in a lot of grumping dialog, which adds to the joy of her style.
   
   If you are horrified -- horrified! -- by reading fiction that makes no allowances for your racial sensibilities, then bypass this one, because she had some odd encounters with Indians and she's *not* a fan of Pacific Northwest Native American culture. (putting it mildly) Personally, I would recommend you read those sections, give her a quick raspberry, and move on -- sort of like watching old "I Love Lucy" episodes.
   
   I found the book authentic, interesting, and funny. I kept rooting for the baby in the book, who seemed to be left alone for long stretches while wood-gathering, water-carrying, hen-tending, and other ranch chores went on. Of course, I just got back from vacation with someone whose mother *tied him to the porch* while she did chores -- it wasn't easy being a baby in the bad old days.



5. I don't know if people reading the book when it was first published knew the full story, but having read the introduction by Betty's daughter gave the book a different feel. Betty's first husband was an alcoholic and abusive. She left the marraige after 4 years. She never directly discusses these issues, but her unhappiness comes through in her observation about those around her. When her idealized view of what she imagined country life to be doesn't materialize she becomes bitter. I wondered if the people she knew read the book and were surprised at what Betty really thought of them. She obviously feels herself superior to all the local women since she is interested in reading more than doing handwork such as quilting and embroidery. Her descriptions of the people she meets are humerous until you realize that she is critical of every person she comes in contact with and she generalizes her low opinions to all members of the group. Mrs Kettle is fat and lazy and sloppy and Mrs Hicks is too prim and clean and efficient, so all of the local women are either stupid and lazy or obsessed with housework and drudgery. She meets a few Native Americans who drink too much, so all Native Americans are dirty alcoholics. No one ever meets with her approval and as the book goes on you feel that her humerous observations have become relentless mockery. Even when people are showing her kindness and generosity she can only find fault and mock them. I keep waiting for her to find the good in these people and find some kind of joy in her situation, but it doesn't happen. It may be the result of being isolated and coming to the realization that she had married too young to a man she really didn't know, apparently out of fear that no one would ever marry her which was a great concern for a teenager in the 1930's. She was out on a ranch in the mountains of Washington State with no electricity, no running water, no other comforts and expected to do the manual labor that women were expected to do. She hates chickens, which is not good for an egg rancher, hates canning, hates Nature, hates everything. The descriptions of the local scenery is vivid and stunning, but even then she feels intimidated and threatened by the mountains that surround her. Fortunately she had the courage to leave and find a life more suitable for her and her children and happiness in another marriage, but this book is the work of an unhappy woman who cannot take joy in anything around her.

5 comments about World Hunger: Twelve Myths.

1. Over the years, many myths have emerged about the subject of world hunger. People think that if this or that should happen, hunger will disappear, and no longer will westerners have to look at pictures of starving babies in Africa. This book explodes many of those myths.

   Some people think that population (or overpopulation) is the problem. Others think that there simply isn't enough food available, or that nature, with her floods and droughts, is the culprit. Still others think that the solution lies with free trade, or letting the market provide, or with the Green Revolution, with its heavy emphasis on pesticides and other chemicals. Other possibilities are that the poor are simply too hungry to revolt, or that the US should increase its stingy foreign aid budget.

   The authors place the blame elsewhere. All over the world, there has been a huge concentration of land in fewer and fewer hands, forcing poor and middle-class peasants off the land (in the US, witness the decline of the family farmer). Structural adjustment programs from places like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (part of the requirements when asking for a loan) require a country to reorient its agriculture toward items that are easily exportable rather than items that can feed their people. Another requirement is the removal of internal tariffs and other barriers to the import of grain and other foodstuffs. It results in a flood of cheaper (usually American) agricultural products reaching the market, driving local farmers out of business. The countries that one thinks of when hearing "famine" actually produce enough food to feed their people. The only problem is that much of it has to go overseas to help pay the foreign debt.

   This book is excellent. It presents a potentially complex subject in a clear, easy to understand manner. It contains a list of addresses to contact for more information, and is a great activism reference.




2. World Hunger: Twelve Myths clearly identifies the root causes of hunger as stemming from inequity and lack of true democracy, dispelling entirely the common belief that inadaquate food production is to blame. In their plain spoken and positive eloquence, the authors overwhelmingly succeed in conveying otherwise dauntingly complex global social and economic dynamics that contribute to world hunger and how each must be changed to honestly address the plight of the poor.

   World Hunger: 12 Myths should have a permanent home in school curricula, libraries, and in the hands of people of all ages wishing to better understand and improve the world in which they live.




3. 
   This book is only 270 pages including about 75 pages of notes and references and tries to cover a massive issue.Not only is the solution to hunger a huge problem but is different all over the world,even different issues within a single country or area.Therefore it will require the wisdom of Methusala and the strength of Goliath to make inroads.
   The world abounds in theories and agendas of how to end hunger and all efforts are hampered by power structures,politics and on top of all that,injustice.
   The authors tackle what they claim are generally accepted myths about hunger.They are:
   1 There's Simply Not Enough Food.
   2 Nature's to Blame.
   3 Too Many Mouths to Feed.
   4 Food vs. Our Enviroment.
   5 The Green Revolution is the Answer.
   6 Justice vs.Production.
   7 The Free Market is the Answer.
   8 Free Trade is the Answer.
   9 Too Hungry to Revolt.
   10 More US Aid will Help The Hungry.
   11 We Benefit From Their Hunger.
   12 Food vs. Freedom
   Overall an excellent effort to dispel many commonly accepted myths.



4. A friend of me, who lives in Europe, lent this book to me, some months ago.I'm an agronomist and I live in Brazil.As an agronomist, I found this book so bad, that I didn't read all of it.
   On chapter 5, this book claims that "Green Revolution" wasn't an answer.In fact the "Green Revolution" gave food fo billions of people in the world.Today, because of modern agronomy there's more per capita food than any other time in world history.
   On chapter 7, this book is against free market, as a good solution.Well even recognizing the failures of free market, I should tell you that any other possiblity is far worse.We must remember that Lenin, Stalin,Hitler and Mao Tse-Tung killed more than 100,000,000 people, by hungry.And any of these marxist was using "free market" to produce all this famine.
   In fact,modern agronomy ( mecanization, fertilizers, bigger farms, transgenic seeds,etc.) gave to the mankind better and cheaper food.
   Another fact is that old agriculture produces food at a very high price and low quality also.If we return to agriculture from about 100 years ago, the majority of world population will be sentenced to death by famine.
   Claiming absurds about agriculture, this book can be used as a fertilizer.



5. This book - World Hunger - explodes12 provisional myths about world hunger, ranging from defeatist reflexes such as that food shortages are unavoidable to similarly silly notions like food supply is a zero-sum game, i.e., for me to eat you must starve and vice-versa. The authors explain each myth well and support their explanations with fine scholarship.
   
   Beyond the description of the myths is an excellent demonstration of "what we can do", and how. What we can do is change to avoid the myths. An "essential ingredient" for change is "moral courage." As on how we can change, the book provides an invaluable 10-page "Resource Guide" to get us started.
   
   This is a very good guide for anyone interested in human welfare. For researchers and policy-makers, I recommend studying the "Notes" (pp.179-246).
   
   Amavilah, Author
   Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies http://www.amazon.com/Modeling-Income-Determinants-Embedded-Economies/dp/1600210465/102-0646972-1335324?SubscriptionId=1NNRF7QZ418V218YP1R2

1 comments about Principles and Practices of Winemaking.

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