Elementary Secondary Higher Ed Common Reads Library Marketing
0 0
Download high-resolution image Look inside
Listen to a clip from the audiobook
audio pause button
0:00
0:00

How to Feed the World

The History and Future of Food

Author Vaclav Smil
Look inside
Listen to a clip from the audiobook
audio pause button
0:00
0:00
Hardcover
$30.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Viking
On sale Mar 04, 2025 | 272 Pages | 9780593834510
Add to cart Add to list Exam Copies

See Additional Formats
"Vaclav Smil is my favorite author."—Bill Gates

An indispensable analysis of how the world really produces and consumes its food—and a scientist's exploration of how we can successfully feed a growing population without killing the planet

We have never had to feed as many people as we do today. And yet, we misunderstand the essentials of where our food really comes from, how our dietary requirements shape us, and why this impacts our planet in drastic ways. As a result, in our economic, political, and everyday choices, we take for granted and fail to prioritize the thing that makes all our lives possible: food.

In this ambitious, myth-busting book, Smil investigates many of the burning questions facing the world today: why are some of the world’s biggest food producers also the countries with the most undernourished populations? Why do we waste so much food and how can we solve that? Could the whole planet go vegan and be healthy? Should it? He explores the global history of food production to understand why we farm some animals and not others, why most of the world’s calories come from just a few foodstuffs, and how this might change in the future.

How to Feed the World is the data-based, rigorously researched guide that offers solutions to our broken global food system.
“Smil takes readers on a scholarly and accessible exploration of the history, key concepts, and important questions about what we eat…[How to Feed the World] is a necessary book for readers seeking authoritative information on the future of successfully nourishing the world’s growing population.” —Booklist

“Concise and erudite… How to Feed the World is weighted with statistics, but there is something light and irresistible about the way Smil structures his argument and propels his narrative… After 200 pages of cold realism, it is a relief to discover that all those numbers add up to a future in which we can be hopeful.” —The Lancet

“[Smil] delves into the details of global food production [and]… recommends focusing on reducing food waste through flexible pricing and innovations in packaging design, as well as improving sustainability by decreasing meat consumption. [He] makes a convincing case for “doing more with less.'"—Publishers Weekly
Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of over forty books on topics including energy, environmental and population change, food production and nutrition, technical innovation, risk assessment, and public policy. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, in 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. He is the author of Numbers Don’t Lie, Size, and the New York Times bestselling How the World Really Works. View titles by Vaclav Smil

About

"Vaclav Smil is my favorite author."—Bill Gates

An indispensable analysis of how the world really produces and consumes its food—and a scientist's exploration of how we can successfully feed a growing population without killing the planet

We have never had to feed as many people as we do today. And yet, we misunderstand the essentials of where our food really comes from, how our dietary requirements shape us, and why this impacts our planet in drastic ways. As a result, in our economic, political, and everyday choices, we take for granted and fail to prioritize the thing that makes all our lives possible: food.

In this ambitious, myth-busting book, Smil investigates many of the burning questions facing the world today: why are some of the world’s biggest food producers also the countries with the most undernourished populations? Why do we waste so much food and how can we solve that? Could the whole planet go vegan and be healthy? Should it? He explores the global history of food production to understand why we farm some animals and not others, why most of the world’s calories come from just a few foodstuffs, and how this might change in the future.

How to Feed the World is the data-based, rigorously researched guide that offers solutions to our broken global food system.

Praise

“Smil takes readers on a scholarly and accessible exploration of the history, key concepts, and important questions about what we eat…[How to Feed the World] is a necessary book for readers seeking authoritative information on the future of successfully nourishing the world’s growing population.” —Booklist

“Concise and erudite… How to Feed the World is weighted with statistics, but there is something light and irresistible about the way Smil structures his argument and propels his narrative… After 200 pages of cold realism, it is a relief to discover that all those numbers add up to a future in which we can be hopeful.” —The Lancet

“[Smil] delves into the details of global food production [and]… recommends focusing on reducing food waste through flexible pricing and innovations in packaging design, as well as improving sustainability by decreasing meat consumption. [He] makes a convincing case for “doing more with less.'"—Publishers Weekly

Author

Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of over forty books on topics including energy, environmental and population change, food production and nutrition, technical innovation, risk assessment, and public policy. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, in 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. He is the author of Numbers Don’t Lie, Size, and the New York Times bestselling How the World Really Works. View titles by Vaclav Smil

Additional formats

Other Books by this Author

Related Articles

College & University Reads

What Students Will Be Reading: Campus Common Reading Roundup, 2024-25

With the fall semester in full swing, colleges and universities around the country have announced their Common Reading books for the upcoming 2024-25 academic year. We’ve compiled a list of over 340 programs and their title selections from publicly available sources, which you can download here: First-Year Reading 2024-25. We will continue to update this

Read more

What Students Will Be Reading: Campus Common Reading Roundup, 2024-25

College & University Reads
College & University Reads

2025 Catalog for First-Year & Common Reading

We are delighted to present our new First-Year & Common Reading Catalog for 2025! From award-winning fiction, poetry, memoir, and biography to new books about science, technology, history, student success, the environment, public health, and current events, the titles presented in our common reading catalog will have students not only eagerly flipping through the pages,

Read more

2025 Catalog for First-Year & Common Reading

College & University Reads

Penguin Random House Common Reads

© 2025 Penguin Random House

Back to Top
0
    • 0
    Wish List (0)