Food Energy and Society: Revised Edition [Hardcover]

David Pimentel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1996

Since the first edition of Food, Energy and Society was published in 1979, world energy supplies, especially fossil fuels, have dwindled as their use has soared. Supplies of the other major resources required for human life also have come under growing pressure. These include fertile land, fresh water, and biological diversity. Indeed, the very integrity of these environmental resources is threatened. For this reason, the scope of the second edition has been expanded to include discussions of land, water, energy and biological resources and their function in the food production system. This revised edition represents the cooperative efforts of many individuals and nations as they face the inevitable dilemma of how everyone can be fed, given the limits of land, water, energy, and biological resources. All of these resources support human life, and their availability will determine the quality of life for future generations.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Pimentel and Marcia Pimentel, Editors

Product Details

• Hardcover: 363 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Colorado; Rev Sub edition (December 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870813862
• ISBN-13: 978-0870813863
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,030,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on the relationship between food and energy, December 10, 2009

By 

Chuck Michelson (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Food, Energy, and Society, Third Edition (Hardcover)

This book changed the way I think about... food, energy, and society more than any other book I've read. There are plenty of books out there giving alarmist information about our energy use, our food production systems, and the impact of these on society, but this book actually gives you the real facts, allowing you to understand the big picture and see for yourself why there is such a big problem.

The information is drawn from what seem to be very rigorous studies and is presented in a logical manner that helps guide the reader through what otherwise might be slightly inaccessible material. There are lots of numbers in this book, but Pimentel and Pimentel explain them in a context that makes sense to the layperson.

Highlights of this book:
(1) Did you ever wonder how much energy is used by a hunter-gatherer to collect their food, compared against the energy they get from it? And how does this compare to early agriculture when we started employing animals (should be more efficient, right?) And then how this compares to the energy input/output ratio of our modern food production system? This book explains it.
(2) Did you ever wonder how much energy is used for processing, packaging, and delivering food from the farms to our tables? Have you ever heard the rule of thumb that meat takes 10x as much energy to produce than grains? What is the environmental effect of these issues? This book finally makes this understandable.

If you want to read a book that simultaneously presents detailed data while also giving you a clear, big-picture view of our world, then I highly recommend this book.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars College Level Survey Text on Energy Costs of Food, January 29, 2009

By 

James Adcock "jimadcock" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Food, Energy, and Society, Third Edition (Hardcover)

This is a fabulous, factual, "scientific" text for anyone serious about the issue of global warming and food issues. For example it gets into the issues of why the carbon footprint costs of red meat are so high. And why ethanol from corn or other foodstocks simply does not work. Fabulous, fabulous book!