Hitting the Books: 'Miracle Rice' fed China's revolution but endangered its crop diversity

Feeding the planet's 8 billion people is challenge enough and our current industrialized commercial practices are causing such ecological damage that we may soon find ourselves hard-pressed to feed any more. For decades, scientists have sought out higher yields and faster growth at the expense of genetic diversity and disease — just look at what we've done to the humble banana. Now, finally, researchers are working to revitalize landrace and heirloom crop varieties, using their unique, and largely forgotten, genetic diversity to reimagine global agriculture. In his new book, Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them, BBC food journalist Dan Saladino scours the planet in search of animals, vegetables and legumes most at-risk of extinction, documenting their origins and declines, as well as the efforts being made to preserve and restore them. In the excerpt below, Saladino takes a look at all-important rice, the cereal that serves as a staple crop for more than 3.5 billion people around the world.Farrar, Straus and Giroux publishingExcerpted from Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them by Dan Saladino. Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Copyright © 2021 by Dan Saladino. All rights reserved.Whereas the global Green Revolution was largely steered by American science and finance, China’s push for greater food production was more self-contained. Both efforts happened more or less in parallel. Mao’s... Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2022-02-05 16:30:43 UTC ]
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A Former Nickelodeon Star’s Memoir Has Become the Summer’s Big Hit Book. It’s Very Clear Why.

I’m Glad My Mom Died details the abuse the iCarly actor suffered as a child star. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2022-08-18 20:31:47 UTC ]
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‘The Crane Wife’ essay hit a nerve. A new book reminds us why.

C. J. Hauser’s memoir-in-essays is a frank exploration of intimacy and romance that doesn’t always lead to a happily ever after. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-05 13:21:38 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: Summer reading list

More than a million new titles are published annually in the US, far more than even the most bibliophilic secret agent could get through. Even with a weekly publishing schedule, we can only bring you 52 Hitting the Books each year. To help shine a spotlight on all the fantastic stories that... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-06-22 17:30:23 UTC ]
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‘After lockdown, things exploded’ – how TikTok triggered a books revolution

Have teenagers taken control of publishing? With some authors notching up a billion views, we look at how TikTok is electrifying the world of books – creating bestsellers, reviving classics and rescuing neglected genresIt’s four o’clock on a sunny Saturday afternoon and the Krispy Kreme doughnut... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-06-08 05:00:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #alice oseman #love affair ##booktok #early months #asian authors #make sense #graphic novel #manga


Book Biz Stocks Take a Hit

A tough year for the stock market got worse in April, leading the Publishers Weekly Stock Index, now down to only six companies, to drop 8.8%. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-05-06 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: Dodge, Detroit and the Revolutionary Union Movement of 1968

After decades on the decline intro, America's labor movement is undergoing a massive renaissance with Starbucks, Amazon and Apple Store employees leading the way. Though the tech sector has only just begun basking in the newfound glow of collective bargaining rights, the automotive industry has... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-05-01 14:00:34 UTC ]
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Heading to London Book Fair: Diversity in UK Publishing

As the UK publishing industry prepares for its annual encounter with many colleagues from other markets, a look at UK book business diversity. The post Heading to London Book Fair: Diversity in UK Publishing appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-04-01 19:24:36 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: Lab-grown meat is the future, just as Winston Churchill predicted

From domestication and selective breeding to synthetic insulin and CRISPR, humanity has long sought understand, master and exploit the genetic coding of the natural world. In The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology authors Amy Webb, professor of strategic... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-02-19 16:30:24 UTC ]
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'Wall Street Journal' and its owners hit by cyberattack linked to China

News Corp says it was the target of a cyberattack that impacted The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Dow Jones, its UK news operations and other publications and business units. The company says hackers accessed the emails and documents of some employees, including journalists. A... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-02-04 15:41:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #york post #dow jones #business units #including journalists #chinese government #news corp


Hitting the Books: The decades-long fight to bring live television to deaf audiences

The Silent Era of cinema was perhaps its most equitable with both hearing and hearing-impaired viewers able to enjoy productions alongside one another, but with the advent of "talkies," deaf and hard-of-hearing American's found themselves largely excluded from this new dominant entertainment... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-01-29 16:30:45 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: Amiga and the birth of 256-color gaming

With modern consoles offering gamers graphics so photorealistic that they blur the line between CGI and reality, it's easy forget just how cartoonishly blocky they were in the 8-bit era. In his new book, Creating Q*Bert and Other Classic Arcade Games, legendary game designer and programmer... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2021-12-25 16:30:11 UTC ]
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Books in the Media: The Every by Dave Eggers hits the spot

The Every by Dave Eggers (Hamish Hamilton) took the media by storm this week picking up mentions in The Guardian, Telegraph, Sunday Times, Times, iNews and Scotsman.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-11-22 14:18:03 UTC ]
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The Book Biz Learns to Embrace Our Diverse Reality

Publishers and editors discuss their efforts to broaden their lists to reach those in underrepresented communities. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-11-19 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: The genetic fluke that enabled us to drink milk

It may not contain our recommended daily allowance of Vitamin R but milk — or "cow juice" as it's known on the streets — is among the oldest known animal products repurposed for human consumption. Milk has been a staple of our diets since the 9th century BC but it wasn't until a fortuitous... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2021-10-23 15:30:38 UTC ]
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New research finds a growing appetite for Australian books overseas, with increased demand in China

A new survey of Australia’s international book rights sales finds children’s books are most popular with overseas buyers but adult fiction is catching up. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2021-10-18 19:12:38 UTC ]
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Ally taps DC universe in new campaign supporting diverse comic book creators

This is part of a broader marketing effort by the online financial company that includes its first foray into TikTok.  Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2021-10-16 17:30:00 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: How Amazon's aggressive R&D push made it an e-commerce behemoth

Amazon is the Standard Oil of the 21st century. Its business operations and global reach dwarf those of virtually every other company on the planet — and exceed the GDP of more than a few countries — illustrating the vital importance innovation has on the modern economy. In his latest book, The... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2021-10-16 15:30:33 UTC ]
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Publishers should emphasise 'joyful' qualities of diverse books, Levine says

Publishers “should stop thinking about BAME talent as fulfilling a school requirement” and “should emphasise the joyful and literary qualities" of diverse books, Arthur Levine, founder of the independent publisher Levine Querido, has said. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-22 04:07:18 UTC ]
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Hitting the Books: A look at the 1920s airship that nearly made it to the North Pole

During the Roaring '20s just about everybody was convinced that dirigibles were not just the future of luxury travel but that these lumbering airships could also serve as platforms for scientific exploration and adventure. Why slog through malaria-infested jungles, parched deserts and frozen... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2021-09-18 15:30:21 UTC ]
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Basic Books UK launches with diverse list after remote inception during Covid-19

Having worked on the launch of John Murray Press list Basic Books, a sibling to the US imprint of the same name, while suffering from long Covid, Sarah Caro is primed to release its first titles Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-10 12:29:19 UTC ]
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