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|  | Author: Michael Pollan
Publisher: Penguin
List Price: $16.00
Buy Used: $6.79
as of 3/22/2010 07:48 CDT details
You Save: $9.21 (58%)
New (105) Used (132) from $6.79
Seller: azulyoro56
Rating:  600 reviews
Sales Rank: 83
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 464
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 0143038583
Dewey Decimal Number: 394.12
EAN: 9780143038580
ASIN: 0143038583
Publication Date: August 28, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Clean pages. Front cover has a light bend to bottom. Solid binding.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 16-20 of 600
 A provocative and thoughtful examination of food in America January 30, 2010
S. A. Foshay
Michael Pollan mesmerizes with his exciting examination of the possible sources of our food in America. I love food and for me this book constituted a celebration of it's complexity and possibility. Although Pollan is obviously biased he takes a calculated look at the propositions of both sides, even though through the novel we follow him to his inevitable arrival at his own perceptions. I highly recommend this book to all readers, especially those who are politically conscious or who just get inordinately excited about food the way I do.
 Great read about agriculture buisness January 28, 2010
Margaret (Oklahoma)
A great book that reads well and talks about how agriculture buisness ultimately affects our health. Recommended.
Anyone who eats food should read this! January 26, 2010
Carolyn Meyer
In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan explores the current landscape of procuring food in America by actively tracing four meals, through intermediary energy forms, to the ultimate source of their energy, the sun. He explicates all processes and their consequences with regards to creating meals from McDonald's, Whole Foods (big industrial organic), a self-sustained farm, and one that he obtained every component of himself (hunting and gathering).
His active investigative journalism as well as his open mind and willingness to learn leads him to experience firsthand the food creation process by participating in all methods of creating food (that is, those that he is allowed to participate in) and to read everything on the subject from the biology of corn reproduction to the philosophy of eating animals, allowing him to understand food as well as possible. His travels lead him to farms across the country, where he watches the farm processes and participates in them (including driving a tractor as well as killing and eviscerating chickens), CAFO's, and to learn how to hunt wild pig and develop a sixth sense for seeing and gathering mushrooms. He engages in deep discussions with experts in all aspects of food to understand their perspective and shed a different light on food as we see it - that is, food without the hidden negative consequences. This active participation and discussion straight from the source as well as thorough research leads him to draw well-reasoned conclusions from his experiences. He demystifies the supermarket and articulates the hidden consequences of our food choices.
Pollan conveys his findings and opinions fluidly and his experiences candidly. He imparts the reader with a greater wisdom and confidence in making food choices (although it is disenchanting that the system in place does not necessarily even allow you to make the choices you want to...), but he is not preachy. I found Pollan's writing to be clear, interesting, and sincere. I highly recommend this book.
An insightful, gripping, utterly readable story of all that's wrong with our food system January 25, 2010
Scott A. Steiner (California, USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I worried when I got this book that it would be a typical, New York Times, liberal manifesto. To a degree, it is that. But it goes beyond that. Pollan takes a hard look at our food supply, how we grow it, how we get it to the consumer. It's utterly persuasive. One can't read this book and finish anything but deeply troubled.
It's good to know there are others out there who don't object so much to killing animals for food (I don't) but who are rightfully sickened by how they are raised and treated before slaughter. This book really spoke to me, not because I'm a closet vegan looking to condemn meat eaters everywhere (I'm not). Indeed, that hardly seems Pollan's goal. Rather, he points out that one can eat animals but raise them responsibly, kill animals but treat them with dignity.
Ultimately, his point is that the $1 cheeseburger at McDonalds is not really $1. The hidden costs affect the taxpayer much more than the ridiculous prices would otherwise suggest.
I'm no hippie, left-wing New Yorker looking to tear up corporate America. I love corporate America. But as a taxpayer, I finished this book truly angry at how our government subsidizes obesity, encourages cancer, and ignores cruelty. As a human being, I finished this book deeply troubled at how millions of animals live their entire lives in abject misery for months so that I can get a Big Mac cheap.
As far as I'm concerned, this book should be mandatory reading - I can only hope it heralds an awakening.
 For me, it didn't add anything new January 17, 2010
Ashima (California)
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
I already know a lot about food, nutrition, and agriculture so this book didn't really add anything.
Showing reviews 16-20 of 600
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