We suffer today from food anxiety, bombarded as we are with confusing messages about how to eat an ethical diet. Should we eat locally? Is organic really better for the environment? Can genetically modified foods be good for you?
Just Food does for fresh food what Fast Food Nation did for fast food, challenging conventional views, and cutting through layers of myth and misinformation. For instance, an imported tomato is more energy-efficient than a local greenhouse-grown tomato. And farm-raised freshwater fish may soon be the most sustainable source of protein. Informative and surprising, Just Food tells us how to decide what to eat, and how our choices can help save the planet and feed the world.
One of the New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of the Year
Winner of the James Beard Award Author of How to Change Your Mind and the #1 New York Times Bestsellers In Defense of Food and Food Rules What should we have for dinner? Ten years ago, Michael Pollan confronted us with this seemingly simple question and, with The Omnivore's Dilemma, his brilliant and eye-opening exploration of our food choices, demonstrated that how we answer it today may determine not only our health but our survival as a species. In the years since, Pollan's revolutionary examination has changed the way Americans think about food. Bringing wide attention to the little-known but vitally important dimensions of food and agriculture in America, Pollan launched a national conversation about what we eat and the profound consequences that even the simplest everyday food choices have on both ourselves and the natural world. Ten years later, The Omnivore's Dilemma continues to transform the way Americans think about the politics, perils, and pleasures of eating.
An IACP Award-Winning Cookbook
In this entertaining, informative guide, one of the leading experts in culinary science--a chef, consultant, and scientist who has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, from Thomas Keller to Daniel Humm--paints a portrait of each of the fundamental building blocks of food, giving all cooks a way to visualize and respond to what's really happening in the pan.
There are ingredients, and then there are Ingredients. An ingredient is a tomato, a tortilla, or some tarragon. An Ingredient (with a capital I) is a fundamental building block or recurring theme that works behind the scenes in everything we cook. There are millions of ingredients, but only eight Ingredients: Water, Sugars, Carbs, Lipids, Proteins, Minerals, Gases, and Heat.
Each Ingredient has its own personality, a set of things it does or doesn't do. Ever been blown away by a wonderfully fragrant dish? From soup and mashed potatoes to French toast and barbecue, lipids act like glue to stick aromas to your food. Is a batter too thin or sauce not clinging correctly? The best bets for thickening any liquid are carbs and proteins, which we can find anywhere from a bag of flour to a roasted garlic clove or a piece of braised meat. This book teaches you the personalities of the Ingredients, where to find them, and how to put them to work.
Ingredient isn't a book of recipes, nor is it a definitive treatise on the science of the kitchen. It's an illustrated guide to visualizing and controlling food's invisible moving parts, regardless of your skill level or how you like to cook.
Through this lively, engaging, and accessible guide, renowned culinary scientist Ali Bouzari shifts our focus from secret ingredients to the secrets of Ingredients.
--J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, managing culinary director of Serious Eats and author of The Food Lab
"Magnificent in its breadth and illustration." -- Booklist
Dinosaurus was published in 2003 and went on to sell 15,000 in hardcover and more in paperback. Now 13 years have passed during which there have been dozens of discoveries. At the same price and fully revised, this edition of Dinosaurus is simply too exceptional a value to pass up.
Many incredible discoveries made 2015 a banner year. For example:
- Yi qi ("ee chee", "strange wing"), the earliest known flying non-avian dinosaur
- The "Chicken from Hell," a bird-like beaked, clawed and feathered dinosaur that roamed the Dakotas
- Zhenyuanlong suni, a cousin of Velociraptor, suggests that this family has been inaccurately depicted. The new 5-foot-long dino more resembles a feathered poodle than the brute of Jurassic Park.
- "Superduck," at 5 tons and with a mate-attracting head crest it is thought to be a missing link between two other known duck-billed head-crested dinosaur species.
Perhaps most exciting is that in 2016 the American Museum of Natural History opened a new exhibition featuring the astonishing, newly discovered 122-foot-long titanosaur, yet to be named. The plant-eating colossus is the largest dinosaur ever found -- it weighed around 77 tons--as much as 14 or 15 African elephants
No other life-form captures the imagination like dinosaurs. Organized by the major dinosaur families, Dinosaurus identifies 500 species. It describes in detail and stunning illustrations what they looked like, what they ate and how they fought, lived and died.
The features include:
- Concise explanations of species' traits and habits
- Vivid full-color illustrations representing life among the dinosaurs
- Stunning color photographs of dinosaur discoveries
- Latin name, translation and pronunciation
- Height specifics and comparison to humans
- Diet and habitat
- Global distribution.
Brimming with research from digs in North America, Mongolia, Europe, China and elsewhere, Dinosaurus is an encyclopedic and vividly illustrated reference for all ages.
Packed with facts you're going to want to share immediately, this is infotainment at its best--and most fun --it will leave you giving your shampoo the side-eye and Doritos a double take, and make you the know-it-all in line at the grocery store.
A Hudson Booksellers Staff Pick for the Best Books of 2013
One of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten Spring Science Books
A Bookshop Santa Cruz Staff Pick
Dinosaurs, with their awe-inspiring size, terrifying claws and teeth, and otherworldly abilities, occupy a sacred place in our childhoods. They loom over museum halls, thunder through movies, and are a fundamental part of our collective imagination. In My Beloved Brontosaurus, the dinosaur fanatic Brian Switek enriches the childlike sense of wonder these amazing creatures instill in us. Investigating the latest discoveries in paleontology, he breathes new life into old bones.
Switek reunites us with these mysterious creatures as he visits desolate excavation sites and hallowed museum vaults, exploring everything from the sex life of Apatosaurus and T. rex's feather-laden body to just why dinosaurs vanished. (And of course, on his journey, he celebrates the book's titular hero, "Brontosaurus"--who suffered a second extinction when we learned he never existed at all--as a symbol of scientific progress.)
With infectious enthusiasm, Switek questions what we've long held to be true about these beasts, weaving in stories from his obsession with dinosaurs, which started when he was just knee-high to a Stegosaurus. Endearing, surprising, and essential to our understanding of our own evolution and our place on Earth, My Beloved Brontosaurus is a book that dinosaur fans and anyone interested in scientific progress will cherish for years to come.
