Paul Roberts (1)Reseñas

Do you really want to know? Sustainable food production looks rather bleak.

Exceptional. Even approaching two decades old it still feels quite relevant. In light of what he debated was to come, it is all the more alarming. If anything, this book should be even more of a call to action than it was when it was first released.

An interesting, and some-what worrying look at the emergence, ultimate costs and short-term benefits of large-scale food production over the world and the coming crisis in the world food industry. A bit USA-centric. This isn't a "fun' book to read, but it is informative and fairly well-written.

This book definitely has an agenda, but was packed with interesting information about the production of food and the supply chains that keep supermarkets filled with food. And the description of a system that may be on the brink of collapse. One thing I think should have been included but was not was a discussion of how our pollinators are in danger from habitat loss, climate change, and the heavy use of pesticides. There are parts of China with such high residues of pesticides that bees are locally extinct and the farmers must hand-pollinate their fruit trees. In [b:Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis|3507618|Fruitless Fall The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis|Rowan Jacobsen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388522623l/3507618._SY75_.jpg|3549288], there was an interesting discussion of how colony collapse disorder may be more of a response to shipping bees around the county to pollinate huge monocultures than an actual disease. I actually think this is at least as much of a danger to our food supply as the things discussed in the book, because while our principal cereal grains are wind-pollinated, most of our vegetable, fruit, and nut producing plants require pollinators to produce at all. Of the ones that can self-pollinate, they will do so only as a last resort and will experience a severe reduction in both yield and quantity. If a reduction in meat consumption (as advocated by this book) is to be at all successful, we've got to get serious about protecting our pollinators. This issue needs a great deal more attention than it's gotten, and I think a book like this should have included it.

I also think some more of the issues surrounding organic agriculture should have been discussed, as well as the increasing loss of genetic diversity among our food crops and animals. The loss of pollinators and the continued loss of genetic diversity are at least as large of a threat to the current system as anything discussed in the book, but they weren't discussed at all. That's not to say the issues described in the book aren't serious, because they are, but simply that there are even more problems that are every bit as serious in the long run that also need to be discussed.

This book definitely has an agenda, but was packed with interesting information about the production of food and the supply chains that keep supermarkets filled with food. And the description of a system that may be on the brink of collapse. One thing I think should have been included but was not was a discussion of how our pollinators are in danger from habitat loss, climate change, and the heavy use of pesticides. There are parts of China with such high residues of pesticides that bees are locally extinct and the farmers must hand-pollinate their fruit trees. In [b:Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis|3507618|Fruitless Fall The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis|Rowan Jacobsen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388522623l/3507618._SY75_.jpg|3549288], there was an interesting discussion of how colony collapse disorder may be more of a response to shipping bees around the county to pollinate huge monocultures than an actual disease. I actually think this is at least as much of a danger to our food supply as the things discussed in the book, because while our principal cereal grains are wind-pollinated, most of our vegetable, fruit, and nut producing plants require pollinators to produce at all. Of the ones that can self-pollinate, they will do so only as a last resort and will experience a severe reduction in both yield and quantity. If a reduction in meat consumption (as advocated by this book) is to be at all successful, we've got to get serious about protecting our pollinators. This issue needs a great deal more attention than it's gotten, and I think a book like this should have included it.

I also think some more of the issues surrounding organic agriculture should have been discussed, as well as the increasing loss of genetic diversity among our food crops and animals. The loss of pollinators and the continued loss of genetic diversity are at least as large of a threat to the current system as anything discussed in the book, but they weren't discussed at all. That's not to say the issues described in the book aren't serious, because they are, but simply that there are even more problems that are every bit as serious in the long run that also need to be discussed.

A look at the future of food in this society and what will happen under staying with the status quo. No real answers- since the population problem was not discussed.

Western society allows instant gratification of many of our basic needs. If we want food, we can get it NOW. Clothing? Housing? Gadgets? As long as you have the money, it's all available on a whim, and for basic things, most people have the money. If not, they have the credit, and therein lies a tale. I think the point of the argument in this book is that easy gratification of basic needs leads people to expect that all their needs and desires not only can but should be instantly met. This makes them more attuned to short-term over long-term goals, more selfish, less community minded, and far less willing to compromise. Although I thought the author's observations about U.S. politics and economics were accurate, I'm not convinced that the economic inequities and political divisiveness that now exist can be directly attributed to expectations resulting from advances in production and distribution of goods. Still, an interesting book with some good points.

Paul Roberts hates the way Americans are. His book is a populist editorial excoriating various facets of American society, from the social to the political. Impulse Society tries to nail America for being me-centric and narcissistic, from people moving to cities where the politics suits theirs, to online gamers living their lives in cyberspace, and everything in between. This despite the fact the country was founded on those principles. It is a 260 page rant filled with rehashes of the financial meltdown, family breakdown, megacorporations out of control and community deficit. It feels like after dinner conversation, where everyone chimes in with a factoid or two, and agrees the state of society is poorly, not like the good ole days.

I was unable to find anything new in Impulse Society. I was also in disagreement with the approach and reasoning, a lot of which is superficial and often taken out of context. The truth is this is old hat. Humans have always been selfish, self-centered and uncaring for anything but their own. The Tragedy of the Commons is as old as humankind, and it applies to everything we come in contact with. That we ignore the environment and our own kind for quick profit is no discovery.

Earlier, we had to rely on others, to leverage the power of the tribe or village. Now we think we are wealthy enough to dispense with their support and build our little fortresses of solitude, while calling for the dismantlement of government. All for one and one for all might be fine for storytelling. In the real world, it’s grab what you can while you can, because if you don’t, someone else will and probably is, right now. Conservative historian Daniel Boorstin calls this new barbarism, a perfect summary of the overall decline. That professional conservatives actually espouse this is sad to Roberts, who blasts both right and left for their nonsense.

Roberts attacks the usual suspects: the internet, healthcare, political parties, inequality, misguided government, etc. But taken together, this is still just one small piece of the puzzle. Yes, socially things are changing, but Roberts does not make the case that this is new, different, exceptional or even lasting. Only the wealth and technology at our disposal have changed. This impulsive society is a tiny factor in the overall picture. That picture is the USA is in its declining phase, and may or may not outlast Man, busy making the ecosphere poisonous, barren and uninhabitable, all for its immediate comfort and wealth. That its politicians automatically act for their brand and block any effort by anyone else to achieve unity, is a symptom. That finance has taken over from manufacturing is a symptom. That people isolate themselves is a symptom. There are many more symptoms, beyond the scope of Impulse Society. Roberts’ prescriptions for this disease are uninspired.

As I read, I kept thinking all Roberts’ ranting must lead to a call to arms, literally. There’s nothing like a good war to bring everyone together, work for the greater good, and restore a sense of purpose, community and selflessness. He stops short of that.

I can see where someone who has never given this subject any thought might find the book a revelation, but to me it adds nothing of value to the discussion.

As you'll see from my recent reading lists, I've been reading several books on food and sustainability. By the time I got around to [b:The End of Food|1746833|The End of Food|Paul Roberts|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1187690908s/1746833.jpg|1744531], much of the information in it seemed very familiar, given that I've also spent some of my reading time during each of the past several years on the subject. In fact, I more or less skimmed the book, since it needed to go back to the library. But I would recommend it to someone who is just getting started on this subject. Perhaps you saw the documentaries Food, Inc. and King Corn and would like to know more context and history. This would be a good reference.

Roberts has done a lot of research and puts it together clearly. Although he doesn't make much effort to be entertaining, his work is quite readable. Beginning with our ancestor Australopithecus, not even a hunter-gatherer but simply a gatherer (and scavenger of carcasses left by larger hunting animals), Roberts traces the history of how humans have fed themselves up to the present. I learned that for hundreds of years in Europe, the daily condition of the vast majority of people was hunger, and famines were not unusual. This only really ended with the widespread importation of food from North America, South America, and Australia. Most of the food-growing and stockraising practices we are beginning to question were not thought up by Satanic profiteers, but arose from the laudable effort to feed more of the world's people. This doesn't mean that change is not necessary, and Roberts explains why.

If you want to read one book which will give you the information to think intelligently on the subject of food production and distribution and its effect on the world today, and then make up your own mind about how you want to change your own habits, I would recommend this book. If you'd like a little more guidance and philosophy, I'd recommend [b:The Way We Eat|29377|The Way We Eat Why Our Food Choices Matter|Peter Singer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316130253s/29377.jpg|213660], which I'll also review here.

I really hated this book from the very first, when the author goes back to the amazing Paleolithic era when people ate so much meat and never died of diseases of "affluence" (except they did die of childbirth, routine infections, getting eaten by bears, starvation, and other really enjoyable things) and thus meat eating is what makes us human. Also, this guy is really into eating meat. And makes a lot of reductionist arguments. I just have a hard time taking anybody who seems to care about preventing the spread of preventable diseases (what? you mean taking away CAFOs and feedlots would help? but then there would be no more cheap bacon!!) who also thinks that people have no other protein source than dead cows, dead chickens, dead pigs, and other dead animals. Global warming, starvation, and pollution aren't going to end if everybody goes vegan. Not everybody will go vegan, or even vegetarian, and that's OK. But questioning if really cheap hamburgers and bacon is contributing to the problems is probably a first step in remedying the problems. But I think the author just has too much faith in the "free market" and capitalism and the mythical invisible hand to fix it first.½

Do you currently, or have you ever eaten food? If your answer is yes, then this book is for you!

Paul Roberts takes the reader on a data-rich journey towards understanding the food that sits in front of them. If you've never taken the opportunity to think about the origin of your food, the journey in The End of Food will be enlightening and apocryphal at the same time. From the origin of seeds to the politics of import/export, the complexity of the food system is bluntly detailed in this book.

It is more common than not in this date and age (especially in America) to look for the "right" quick fix. Roberts doesn't offer a single, correct solution for problems evident within in the food system. Instead, the wisdom put forth is that sustainability must be achieved in order to gain the time to address the complex problems with complex solutions.

This book is the perfect reference tool to help the eater make more well-informed, sustainable, and healthy (for person and environment) decisions.

With regards to energy reform, the author writes, "Frankly though, the thought of any kind of delay, no matter how rationally justified, terrifies me." Me too, after reading this clear, concise (only 340 pages on this massive topic), accesible, and still current, work. Roberts published this in 2004 and again with an afterward in 2005. He has predicted the obvious. 2010 and beyond will be turbulent times indeed.

This book covers a whole spectrum of topics from pathogens to transgenic technology (all food is genetically modified). Makes a compelling argument for vegetarianism or at least reducing our 200 pound per person per year consumption of meat. India averages around 12 pounds. How many of us are aware that it takes about twenty pounds of grain to produce a single pound of beef? Or that livestock is responsible for one-fifth of all greenhouse gases? Or the thousand or so gallons of water it takes to raise this pound of beef?

We have become so far removed from the source of food that we take it for granted. That our food supply is no more secure than it ever was. Climate change (disruption by human activity), overpopulation and environmental destruction are all adding to our food insecurity.

The End of Food is a book that has changed the way I think about food. One of the best books on a topic that is vital to all of us. Highly recommended.

Not as entertaining or as engaging as Michael Pollan or Joanna Blythman this is an interesting, if Amero-centric, look at food and the food industry as it stands and it's race to the bottom.

This was an interesting book to read while Ireland had another food crisis, where industrial grade (read cheap) oil was added to pig feed (loaded with dioxins), potentially causing a lot of problems for purchasers, producers and farmers. Much of this type of thing was discussed in this book and some of the issues that caused it were raised.

It's a book many people need to read and ask themselves about their relationship with their food, unlike some other it doesn't offer any solutions, just questions and there were places where it just lost me in a sea of data. If I was asked to recommend a book on this topic I'd be less likely to recommend this and more likely to recommend Pollan or Blythman.

sober, sane and thorough look at how we got into the mess we're in and how it's not too late to get out of it. more hopeful than kunstler but still not the happiest of reads.½

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ROB