by Adam Leith Gollner ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2008
A fresh, juicy and highly satisfying treat.
Admitting that he has gone “off the deep end trying to get to the core,” Gourmet and Bon Appetit contributor Gollner offers an informative, enlightening account of fruits and their role in human life.
Fruits are produced by as many as 500,000 plant species, all intent on dispersing their seeds, notes the author. A staple of prehistoric diets, they were regarded as delicacies in 16th-century European courts, provided the only safe drink (fruit booze) in early America and were part of Einstein’s formula for joy: “A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin.” Drawing on interviews and travels from Hawaii to Brazil to Asia, Gollner explores a mind-boggling array of fruits—including Rudolph Hass’s avocadoes, Ah Bing’s cherries and the foreign-weirdo-turned-megafruit kiwi—and the way people use them. He brings us into the worlds of growers, wholesalers, marketers, agricultural officials, smugglers and branders (the “Delicious” apple), as well as fruit hunters who seek out rare fruits worldwide—one monomaniacal and semi-demented adventurer still makes trips down the Amazon in a wheelchair—and fruitarians who report transcendental experiences and regular bowel movements. “Every time we eat a fruit, we’re tasting forgotten histories,” he writes, recounting how fruits have fueled wars, inspired religious worship, led to group sex and caused such public sensations as the frenzy among aristocrats when pineapples first arrived in Britain and the outbreak of pear mania in 19th-century America. Gollner’s narrative tends to ramble, but it’s quite pleasant. He notes that fruits today are taken for granted, always available and mediocre. Supermarkets offer few varieties and sell low-grade fruits (waxed to a high sheen for longer shelf life) year round at little or no profit. But big-store produce sections will improve in the future, he believes, as innovative growers focus on flavor and shoppers pay more attention to seasonality.
A fresh, juicy and highly satisfying treat.Pub Date: May 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-7432-9694-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2008
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by Carlo Rovelli ; translated by Simon Carnell & Erica Segre ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2016
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
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Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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by Carlo Rovelli ; translated by Simon Carnell
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by Carlo Rovelli ; translated by Marion Lignana Rosenberg
BOOK REVIEW
by Carlo Rovelli ; translated by Erica Segre & Simon Carnell
by Rebecca Henderson ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2020
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.
A well-constructed critique of an economic system that, by the author’s account, is a driver of the world’s destruction.
Harvard Business School professor Henderson vigorously questions the bromide that “management’s only duty is to maximize shareholder value,” a notion advanced by Milton Friedman and accepted uncritically in business schools ever since. By that logic, writes the author, there is no reason why corporations should not fish out the oceans, raise drug prices, militate against public education (since it costs tax money), and otherwise behave ruinously and anti-socially. Many do, even though an alternative theory of business organization argues that corporations and society should enjoy a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit, which includes corporate investment in what economists call public goods. Given that the history of humankind is “the story of our increasing ability to cooperate at larger and larger scales,” one would hope that in the face of environmental degradation and other threats, we might adopt the symbiotic model rather than the winner-take-all one. Problems abound, of course, including that of the “free rider,” the corporation that takes the benefits from collaborative agreements but does none of the work. Henderson examines case studies such as a large food company that emphasized environmentally responsible production and in turn built “purpose-led, sustainable living brands” and otherwise led the way in increasing shareholder value by reducing risk while building demand. The author argues that the “short-termism” that dominates corporate thinking needs to be adjusted to a longer view even though the larger problem might be better characterized as “failure of information.” Henderson closes with a set of prescriptions for bringing a more equitable economics to the personal level, one that, among other things, asks us to step outside routine—eat less meat, drive less—and become active in forcing corporations (and politicians) to be better citizens.
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5417-3015-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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