The End Of Food

The End of Food follows on Paul Roberts' End of Oil. Ok, so this guy seems to be finding a lot of ends of things, so isn't this just an exaggeration? Sadly, no.With the same comprehensive, reportorial style as his fantastic The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Perilous New World, Roberts delivers a compelling and chilling view of where things are headed in the world of the food all of us eat every day. Nuances, details, linkages and causalities are all explored dispassionately and fairly.You might think of this book as just another apocalyptic view of the world. There are plenty of dark views to be had on the bookshelf, to be sure. But End of Food is as complete, solid and factual as End of Oil.I read End of Oil when it came out in 2005. Many of its observations, predictions, and revelations, were dismissed by many as overblown and sensational. Some were difficult to understand and accept. But three and a half years later, his observations are widely accepted.End of Food has the same quality -- one can hardly complete this book without having a deep and important understanding of one of the most basic elements of the human race. This is a must-read book for anyone who would like to peek into the future -- and take some actions now that will benefit not just the environment, but your health and well being.Roberts has done it again.

This is a most thoght-provoking book. I was introduced to it through an interview with the author on NPR and was intrigued because he had written The End of Oil a few years ago and was pretty much spot on about what has transpired. Food - its production, consumption, history, etc. - is so well-covered in this book that I can never, ever think about food in the same light, or not think about it for that matter.

The author writes clearly about a potential major global problem.The book is not the last word on the subject of world food supplies but provides a comprehensive base for further study.

Excellent work. Very informative and nicely written. Easy to read, fun to pursue and very enlightening.I learned a tremendous amount about our food system and how it works which makes it easier to understand some of the difficulties we are encountering.Highly recommended to anyone with an interest. That would be any of us as we all eat, don't we.

Robert's "End of Food" includes a lot of good information, but there are probably 200 places where a good editor would've challenged the author to reword or tighten up the manuscript. I wonder whether his editor even read the book carefully, or whether he/she knew enough about the subject to properly edit it. A few examples of the issues I'm talking about:At the beginning of the book Roberts lays out a ridiculously simplified, linear reductionist theory of the role meat consumption played in man's history (except that he rolls it out as fact rather than no small amount of speculation).There are a number of factual inaccuracies that should've been caught or at least reworded. Example: He states that meat is easier to digest than plant foods, which in many cases is simply wrong. Cooked rice, for example, is half-digested before it's even in the stomach.Three times Roberts refers to soil as dirt. In 45 years I've never heard a farmer (or any agricultural specialist) refer to soil (in a field)as "dirt". This carelessness on Robert's part is enough to make thoughtful readers question whether he's been shoddy in other areas too. There are at least a dozen places where he refers to animal manure as poop, which is just plain silly, and makes Roberts sound like a goofball. Imagine if physicians referred to a laceration as a "Bo-Bo" in a medical report, not once, but 12 times? Could you take him seriously?Roberts is very very loose with his date references. Sometimes he's wrong. On p. 118 he states "By the late 1960s the U.S. was in deep economic trouble......having lost it manufacturing lead to low-cost rivals like Japan...." But in fact in the late 60s very little U.S. manufacturing had shifted to Japan. Roberts is only about 15 years off there.Then, on page 152 he writes, "...by the late 1980s....African output faltered;...The timing couldn't have been worse. Just as Africans were producing fewer bushels [in the late 80s], a new glut of grain , unleashed by Butz's "fence row to fence row" policy, sent prices plummeting". The problem with this is that Butz's fence row policy was implemented in 1971, almost 20 years before the African output faltered, which is many years too much lapsed time to have had a meaningful direct effect.Finally, what possible reason is there for a 26 page prologue in a general interest book such as this? 26 pages! Where was Robert's editor? If a writer's proposing a 26 page prologue, there's at least a chapter missing in the body of the book.All in all I enjoyed the book, although it's not nearly as well-written as Pollan's food books.

A dense great read that points to the shortcomings in the food system and the many alternate polyag systems that could replace it if the intransigence of the entrenched rich corporate farming system can be overcome.

I have purchased more than 2 dozen copies of this title and given them to friends, politicians and food industry people. A balanced and often scary analysis of the global food system. From water, to industrialization to disease to hunger and obesity Roberts covers it all. Exceptionally well written. No time for reading ---- get the audio book! Just read it!

The accuracy of the facts should be read by all who eat, and depend solely on “the food chain!”We read this in 2010, changed our habits and pardon the pun “Started to grow!”The predictions in the Eulogy, again pardon the alarming pun, especially about the probability of a world Asian pandemic, i did not want to consider. When this did happen, i bought the book. To read again, and put it in our children’s to read, at home schooling.They now are growing, with us, and helping to preserve:)

I bought this boook having an interest in where our food comes from how its produced, and the logistics involved in getting it to the supermarket and onto our plates. there is so much talk about striggling to feed the world's 7 billion population and growing, with a large proportion of those people in poverty in the developing world whose access to food is heavily restricted by border controls and corrupt governments who spend the money intended of food aid on other things for themselves, without thinking about their own population.

Very interesting. It truly opens ones’ eyes about food we eat and food production system

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