What Your Food Ate

January 1, 2022

Leading paleontologist Brusatte follows up the New York Times best-selling The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs with The Rise and Fall of the Mammals, summing up a next act that includes humans, whose world dominance has caused an extinction event costing an estimated 80 percent of wild mammals in the last century alone (75,000-copy first printing). In A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman, Elkins-Tanton--principal investigator of NASA's $800 million Psyche mission--tells her story and that of the nearly all-metal protoplanet 16 Psyche, located in an asteroid belt 589 million kilometers from Earth and optimum not just for mining but more crucially for imparting the story of how planets like ours were formed (50,000-copy first printing). In What Your Food Ate, MacArthur-honored geologist Montgomery joins with biologist Bikl� to argue that good health starts with good soil and good farming practices. A National Book Award finalist for The Soul of an Octopus and New York Times best-selling author of The Good Good Pig, Montgomery returns with The Hawk's Way to describe her work with Jazz, a bright-eyed female Harris's hawk with a four-foot-plus wingspan and decidedly a predator rather than a pet (60,000-copy printing). Award-winning theoretical physicist and cosmologist Padilla explains Fantastic Numbers and Where To Find Them, plumbing nine numbers explaining how the universe works, from the impossibly large Graham's number to 10^{-120}, which measures the unlikely balance of energy needed to allow the universe to exist for more than a blink of the eye (100,000-copy first printing). By detailing the discovery of Tyrannosaurus Rex in the Montana wilderness, the New York Times best-selling Randall explains the triumphant emergence of New York's American Museum of Natural History while also showing how The Monster's Bones inspired an ongoing fascination with dinosaurs and their role in shaping Earth. Multi-award-winning sf author Robinson recounts everything he's learned in the more than 100 trips he has taken to The High Sierra since his first, life-changing sojourn in 1973 (50,000-copy first printing). From a theoretical physicist whose international best sellers have gracefully explained to lay readers how the universe works, Rovelli's There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness offers essays embracing not just science but literature, philosophy, and politics.

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April 15, 2022
Consumers are bombarded with information to help them create a healthy eating plan. Abundant choices include organic and traditionally farmed produce and plant-based milk and meat substitutes. But to eat the most nutritious food available, one must consider how food is produced. As professor and MacArthur fellow Montgomery (Growing a Revolution, 2017) and biologist Bilk� explain, crops should be grown for their nutritional values, paying attention to basic vitamins and minerals and less-considered properties such as flavonoids and phytochemicals. To grow nourishing plants, it is imperative for farmers to create the healthiest soil possible. Experts in food science and soil biology, the authors examine ways in which both conventional and innovative farming practices help determine nutritional qualities. In analyzing everything from butter to beets, the authors reveal microscopic micronutrient deficiencies in fruits, vegetables, grains, and meats and profile farmers successfully implementing mindful practices, such as regenerative farming, to create richer growing environments. Although certainly helpful to health-conscious readers, the granularity of information provided will especially engage those versed in or curious about food science.

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April 25, 2022
Geologist Montgomery and biologist Biklé (Hidden Half of Nature) bemoan the loss of soil nutrients in this insightful look at regenerative farming. Produce is significantly less nutrient-dense than in the past, and while consumers believe that organic farming yields more nutritious results than conventional agriculture, “what’s typically missing from the framing of dietary choices,” the authors write, “is how we grow what we eat.” As they show, while modern agriculture produces “cheap, abundant” food thanks to “mechanized plowing, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides,” it has wrecked soil and degraded the nutrients within it to the point where, “globally, micronutrient malnutrition is now more common than inadequate calories.” Meat eaters aren’t off the hook, either, as “what cows eat ripples through to the nutritional quality of the meat, milk, and cheese we consume.” The authors offer a bevy of ideas for reviving soil, namely no-till planting, the usage of cover crops, and crop rotation. Trips to farms in Connecticut and California show regenerative farming in action (at one farm, it took just one year of not plowing for the soil to begin improving), and the authors make a case for subsidizing farms that use such practices. The result is a deep dive that’s convincing and well reported.

June 1, 2022

Geologist Montgomery and biologist Bikl� (the married coauthors of The Hidden Half of Nature and Growing a Revolution) have penned a clear, well-researched look at the benefits of regenerative agriculture. They present evidence gleaned from dozens of research studies that soil health is the key to growing healthier food and livestock that will ultimately benefit people through increased nutrients, micronutrients, and improved fatty acid ratios in our food. Increasing soil organic matter, no-tillage, and not using pesticides and chemical fertilizers will protect the soil microbes and fungi that aid in plant nutrient uptake. They show how produce contains lower levels of nutrients and micronutrients than in the past and how and why regenerative agriculture practices increase these levels. They also show how ranchers can make their livestock healthier, and therefore people healthier, by grass feeding with plants grown in soils rich in organic matter. An extensive list of sources, by chapter, closes the book, but it would have been helpful if the numerous studies were footnoted. VERDICT This fascinating look at how soil health affects the health of plants, livestock, and people will appeal to those interested in regenerative agriculture, the welfare of livestock, soil science, and more.--Sue O'Brien

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2022
An examination of the link between soil health and human health. In this follow-up to The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health, Montgomery and Bikl� explain that we are suffering from micronutrient malnutrition. "Far too many of us remain poorly nourished despite eating more than enough food," they write, noting the primary causes involve conventional farming practices. The authors explain the ways that these methods, including tillage and use of commercial fertilizers, disrupt the necessary, healthy symbiosis between plants and the soil. "We traded away quality in pursuit of quantity as modernized farming chased higher yields," they write, "overlooking a farmer's natural allies in the soil." Alternatively, they contend, regenerative farming practices build organic matter and help maintain the fertility of the soil over a longer period of time. As in their previous book, Montgomery and Bikl� offer highly readable prose, extensive research, and convincing evidence, including pertinent information on farms that have successfully implemented regenerative practices. They also share test results from gathered soil and crop samples indicating healthier soil and higher nutrient density. "Farming systems that create and maintain high levels of soil organic matter work like a savings account," they write, "storing nutrients from one growing season to the next for the use of subsequent crops." Another difference the authors witnessed between conventional and regenerative farming techniques is the no-till method's greater capacity for holding water and preventing soil erosion. They take readers on a fascinating tour of a wheat mill in Washington state that bred wheat for flavor while utilizing organic techniques and point to a study that shows how wheat loses almost three-quarters of its vitamins and minerals when milled into white flour. Further, the authors explore the health benefits of consuming a diet rich in nutrients, particularly phytochemicals, from fruit, vegetables, and whole grains, which include reduced risks of dental problems, birth defects, and infectious and chronic diseases. An engaging and compelling argument for implementing regenerative farming practices.

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