Customer Reviews

Empty Harvest

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Empty Harvest clearly explains the link between the lack of minerals in our crop soils and the modern day diseases associated with mineral deficiencies (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.). The author shows many excellent examples of how mankind is slowly destroying it's future by robbing the Earth of the very things that give us and support life itself.

Empty Harvest is a "wake-up call" for us to start changing our destructive ways, or poor physical and mental health and disease will dominate our lives into the 21st Century and beyond!

By following many of the guidelines in Empty Harvest (especially eating foods grown in nutrient rich soils & taking plant derived major & trace mineral supplements from organic sources), we can maintain or regain optimum health.

Anyone who thinks they are getting all the essential vitamins and minerals they need from the produce section at their local supermarket needs to read Empty Harvest TODAY!

This book explains many aspects of nutrition and what we have done wrong over the years with our diets. I have never seen a book with more quality information and that information is exactly what we need to look at for the causes of many of the diseases we see today. I am a Doctor who deals a lot with nutrition and it is the best book I have ever read on the subject.

This book should be adopted by our school systems. the most profound read I think I've ever had. a real eye opener.

I just finished reading this book and have started to re-read it. I have been so touched by this book; it has tranformed my attitude and thoughts about my health, the earth and environment. I only hope that everyone who reads my review will read this book or, at least, consider an organic diet in support of preventative health and farmer's whose growing methods are replinishing the valuable topsoil and doing away with highly toxic chemicals. It is hard to believe what "modern society" has done to our planet and health in such a short amount of time. I hope that, one person at a time, we can undo the damage that has been done. A sincere Thank You to the late Bernard Jenson for such thorough and insightful research.

The premise of the book's subtitle - Understanding the Link Between Our Food, Our Immunity and Our Planet - got my attention. And, for the most part, the authors succeed in making their central point. They connect the dots between the quality of the soil, the harvest, our immune system, and our health. This level of holistic thinking is an important foundational piece of any conversation about the systems that are involved in creating personal and planetary health.

The two authors contribute separate sections of the book. Dr. Bernard Jenson is often eloquent and impassioned, and his photographs alone are a powerful testimonial to his ideas. Mark Anderson writes knowledgably about nutrition and provides interesting historical background on agricultural science and nutrition research - and the work of special interest groups to suppress unfavorable findings and individuals, and corporations who promote bogus notions. [Did you know that smoking cigarettes was once advertised as an aid to digestion? Yikes!]

On the whole, this book mostly lives up to its promise, but it does so somewhat unevenly. Most scientific material is explained and substantiated in some detail - vitamin C, candida albicans, calcium, and the symbiotic relationship between plants and soil. But other subjects receive such superficial treatment that they would have been better off omitted - the chapter on cleansing and detoxification is too general to be of real use to anybody considering implementing such a program.

The content and message of the book would have been better served with more skillful editing because the material often comes across as somewhat haphazardly organized, making it harder to reconnect the parts to the whole. Also, given the publication date, 1989, I'd recommend double-checking some of the theories and explanations offered, since our understanding of how things work - whether in the body or the environment -- has undoubtedly changed in 15 years; ditto for some of the doomsday predictions data.

This book has gotten me back into doing what I used to do: buying organic. It got expensive, the organic food store is an hour away... and I got lazy. This book woke me up again. It has also raised a desire in me to start my own garden. The information is mostly good, though maybe a little scattered.

There is a little bit too much eco-hysteria for my taste, and I don't worship "Mother Earth" either, but those views don't affect the useful information in the book. Some of the info might be outdated by now, so I'd recommend doing some more research before implementing some things (e.g., detoxification).

"Modern" agriculture implemented in its production process fertilizers which are being processed out of oil. Nitrogen, phosphor and potassium (NPK) are being supplied to plants, but without trace elements. Since plants are incapable of producing minerals, when you eat vegetables or fruits you don't get enough of those. So you have two options. Capitalism likes you to buy "supplements", so they can make an extra dollar. If you are more intelligent, you definitively go for organics. Dr Jensen says this makes sense, for your health and even for your pocketbook, although organics are sometimes more expensive : "If you have to pay two dollars a pound for certified organically grown grapes, versus sixty-nine cents a pound for sprayed grapes, let me point something out : It's better to pay a lot for something than a little for nothing. You're always ripped off no matter how little you pay for nothing. This is an economic fact."

I bought this thinking it might have some hardcore science (in a digestible form for the layman) like 'The Hundred-Year Lie' or 'Our Stolen Future'. It is much more lightweight than that - although it is basically a scientific discussion, it does not have any great depth. It discusses depletion of the soil, knock-on effect on human health, and general environmental issues. I liked the tone and sincerity of the authors, and liked it enough to read all the way through, but didn't feel like I learned that much. On a related topic, there's a good and more up-to-date book about what makes healthy soil (and food... and people...) called 'We Want Real Food' by Graham Harvey.

This book is very profound. While browsing through the local bookstore, the title of the book jumped out at me and basically told me, "OK.. you will buy me".

I was psyched to read this book simply because of the title, even though when I skimmed through it in the store it looked great. This book is one of the best books I have read when it comes to every aspect of nutrition and health, all rolled into one. I was very impressed.

I agree with the authors views 100% on how man is killing man, and his advice on how to counteract the craziness is exceptional. I would recommend this book to anyone who stumbles upon this review.

This book changed my life for ever!! It is so complete... I would recommend everyone to read it so you can have an idea of how our government is silently killing us. I was so amazed by it that I continue searching and reading books that had to do with healthy eating and in less than a year I became vegetarian eating just healthy food, organic when possible. Trying my best to be green in regards of household cleaning products and simply everything we buy and put in our bodies everyday. It is the best thing I have done and I love it!!