The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Book Review: simply excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
This easy to read book says it all. Having worked in agriculture for over 30 years I thought that I knew a great deal about the subject matter. But this exceptionally well written treat opened up new areas for me. I loved taking a rest and reading it.Book Review: A Required Read for Everyone
Summary: 5 Stars
This is such an incredible book. The information in this book is important and informative. Everyone should read it to gain some understanding of where our food come from. I think our condition, how our food is produced, needs a revolution. Book Review: A Classic on Food and Our Culture
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the best books I have read lately. Somewhere between an expose, history lesson, and memoir, the book provokes many thoughts as to where his past and future meals come from and their effects on the world. Reading it made me contemplate buying a place in the country and raising my own food. Particularly pertinent at this time of increased ethanol production and consumption, that section is equally informative in explaining how we are awash in a big government subsidized tidal wave of corn. Book Review: You Don't Know What It Is, Do You, Mr Jones?
Summary: 4 Stars
Well...I found this book by Michael Pollan to be quite a thought provoker. While it won't necesaarily change your life, it well might - and how many books can you really say that about? I will say this is a book you all should read. If you have the interest, enthusiam and curiosity about food to come to this forum you have the perfect raw material to consume this very well written book.
I don't want to spoil the book by providing too much rehashing of the narrative. But the big theme is that food has become a very "industrialized" industry and does not much resemble nature in it's original state. This has multiple implications including nutrition, pollution, ethics and TASTE.
Pollan explores some alternatives to the "industrial" approach including an extended look at the "organic" food business and an interesting, albeit impractical, look at being a "hunter/gatherer".
Overall this book demands you give a higher level of THOUGHT into what you are eating and raises your awareness. It is not a preachy book filled with PETA ranting or other condemnations typical of the genre. He is pretty balanced in his views.
This may have hit me more in a personal "perfect storm" kind of way. I live and travel massively through Asia and the Middle East and I've been reading lots of books lately about America having lost its way somewhere - still driving 4 ton SUVs with $135 oil and whistling past the global warming graveyard. With this election coming up it's hard not to look at our position and feel a touch of despair - reviled around the world, in debt beyond belief (as individuals and as a country) and largely unaware (or suspicious) of the progress other countries are making at warp speed. I combine that with the personal introspection of making more money in a week than my father ever made in a year and feeling somehow unsatisifed still and I start to wonder - where is this all going? And then I read this book and had to factor my food into the equation! It all seems like going back to simpler values and lifestyle might not be a bad direction. Maybe it's typical "mid life" stuff for this 46 year old. I still love the US and have an unshakable confidence in it - but we are capable of much better than we have been achieving of late.
Sorry to inject my personal musings into a book review - but they did impact my experience of the book. In any event - this is a book well worth reading...I guess that's my main point!
Book Review: Look Out!
Summary: 4 Stars
Reading this book might change the way you view the world and the food we consume. If you are not ready for a shift in your thinking, you are not ready for this book. I would have given it 5 stars but the writing style lags a little. The content, however, makes up for it.
Yikes! What hath modern man wrought???