I love Winter a lot. Especially around the Holidays & the first part of the year when I can just go into hibernation mode and focus on not focusing. I guess maybe I’m a bit boring but this time of year I’m happiest crashed on the couch with dogs, a cup of good tea and a book (this is between all the eating and drinking, of course). So, anyway, I’ve been mentioning some of my favorite books related to organic/sustainable farming in past blogs. I thought it might be fun (and easy, for me) to do a quick re-cap of some of the highlights out there.
THE BOTANY OF DESIRE by Michael Pollan. This is essentially a life history of four plants and the fascinating fruit they bear: Apples, Tulips, Potatoes and Marijuana. Even folks who aren’t so interested in plants and gardening will be amazed by this book. It’s always a great pleasure, I think, to find a book that is both educational and entertaining. This is that.
THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA by Michael Pollan. Talk about a wake up call. This is one of those books that EVERYONE who eats food should read. Very, very, very few consumers have any clue about exactly where the food they eat comes from. And we really, really, really need to. And the book is extremely well written and entertaining. What more do you need in a book?
THE BUZZ ABOUT BEES by Juergen Tautz.
I’ve got a whole stack of books on honeybees. This one is the best. A great summary of all the very latest research on bee life history combined with way-beyond-amazing photos. Read this and you’ll never look at a honeybee the same way ever again. I promise.
THE ONE STRAW REVOLUTION by Masanobu Fukuoka.
There’s no other book out there like it (please let me know if I’m wrong). It’s about one man’s awakening to the concept of “Do-Nothing Farming.” I’m not even going to try and explain what it’s about. Just get it. It’s not the easiest book to find – check out used books at Amazon for the best deal.
MOBY DICK by Herman Melville.
This is my favorite book of all time. I recently read writer David Wroblewski’s summary of it: “I love it because it is too long, and it goes on and on about whales.” I couldn’t have put it even close to any better.
There it is. And writing this makes me want to re-read all of them, immediately. But I know there are all sorts of other cool books out there. And probably, like you, I find most of my favorite books through the recommendations of a friend. Anybody out there have something great for me to read?
Tony the Bee-Man
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Have you also read Fruitless Fall? I saw the author speak about it a few months ago, and it seemed a bit alarmist but perhaps worth reading, about Colony Collapse Disorder.
I loved Pollan’s follow-up to Omnivore’s D., In Defense of Food. He says he felt like he’d left us, at the end of the previous book, afraid to love food and he wanted to reverse that impression. It’s full of funny little tips and anecdotes (“Don’t eat anything your grandmother would not recognize as food.”; “Shop at the edges of the grocery store and not the center aisles.” “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”) and such. Loved it.
Cheers, T.
Just to let you know that The One-Straw Revolution will be much easier to come by soon—NYRB Classics will be reissuing it this spring with a new introduction by Frances Moore Lappé. Cheers!
Farming With The Wild by Dan Imhoff is another great book with examples of how farms and previously “wild” areas can be, and have been, turned around (even in the worst case scenarios). An inspiration to any and all.
Excellent! Thanks for the recomends. It’s great to see that books like these are being written and read in these crazy days. And it’s extemely great to hear “The One-Straw Revolution” will be back in print — I’m gonna see if I can pre-order it right now…
tony