Food for the Future by Colin Tudge, Dorling Kindersley, 拢4.99, ISBN 0789484188
OUR collective hunger for bite-sized chunks of knowledge never wanes. 鈥淏luffers鈥� guides to鈥� and 鈥淟ittle books of鈥� everything from sadism to star formation clog the bookshop counters. So what does the new Dorling Kindersley Essential Science series 鈥攕ix hors-d鈥檕euvres, and counting鈥攁dd to the smorgasborg?
Judging by Colin Tudge鈥檚 chewy Food for the Future, we can expect some pretty superior nutrition. Subtitled 鈥淎 beginner鈥檚 guide to better ways to feed the planet鈥�, this little book really crams in the essentials. You鈥檒l find everything from agribusiness and its effect on wildlife to the role of meat, 鈥渘utraceuticals鈥� and genetic engineering. Tudge鈥檚 handling of the unwieldy issues is deft, and there鈥檚 a nice logical flow from one chunk to the other. There鈥檚 even a dinky 鈥淔urther Reading鈥� section. And despite a certain 1950s look, the graphics do the job.
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For the rest, the line-up proves just as solid: there鈥檚 Fred Pearce on global warming, John McCrone on mind and consciousness, Jack Challoner on e-technology, Mark Garlick on cosmology and Jeremy Cherfas on the human genome, all served up with aplomb by editor John Gribbin. Go on, have a nibble.