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Nature of Crops, The Professor John Warren (Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK)

Name: Nature of Crops, The By Professor John Warren (Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK)
SKU: 9781780645087
Price: 26.49 AUD
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Nature of Crops, The by Professor John Warren (Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK)

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$26.49

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Summary

Our ancestors chose to cultivate some plant species and not others. Through years of association with humans, these wild plants have been changed so that the crops we eat often hardly resemble their wild progenitors. Arranged into broad themes depicting the history of domestication, this book documents the history and biology of over 40 crops.

Nature of Crops, The Summary

Nature of Crops, The: How we came to eat the plants we do by Professor John Warren (Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK)

Have you ever wondered why we eat wheat, rice, potatoes and cassava? Why we routinely domesticate foodstuffs with the power to kill us, or why we chose almonds over acorns? Answering all these questions and more in a readable and friendly style, this book takes you on a journey through our history with crop plants. Arranged into recurrent themes in plant domestication, this book documents the history and biology of over 50 crops, including cereals, spices, legumes, fruits and cash crops such as chocolate, tobacco and rubber. In The Nature of Crops John Warren reveals: -Why the Egyptians worshipped onions; -Why red-flowering runner beans provide fewer beans than white-flowering; -The inherent dangers of being a pineapple worker; and -Why a bird will always beat you in a chilli pepper eating competition!

About Professor John Warren (Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK)

John Warren is Director of Education at Aberystwyth University. He has an academic interest in the sex-life of plants and a recreational interest in all things edible. Formally a cocoa breeder, he worked on the world chocolate gene bank at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. Whilst there he published scientific papers on the unusual sexual practices of Caribbean cocoa and also pried into the private lives of several less familiar tropical crops including the star-fruit and tree cucumber. Prior to working in the Caribbean he spent two years literally sowing wild oats at the University of Liverpool. He has made regular appearances on BBC Scotland's Beechgrove Potting Shed. The research for this work has relied heavily upon consultations with strawberry pathologists, rhubarb tasters, chocolate scientists and coffee geneticists, better known to the author as friends.

1: Introduction: The Nature of Natural - What does domestication involve? 2: Wild Things - Recently domesticated crops and crops that have returned to the wild 3: Learning to Live with Exotic Sexual Practices - How plant breeding systems limit domestication 4: Storing up Trouble - Plants with storage organs 5: The Weird and Wonderful - Herbs, spices and crops with exotic phytochemicals 6: Accidents of History - The role of chance events in domestication 7: Classic Combinations and Reoccurring Themes - Plant families that have been repeatedly domesticated 8: Ownership and Theft - How the economic value of crops has influenced their domestication 9: Fifty Shades of Green - Nutrient rich crops and the next generation

Additional information

Sku

GOR013312699

ISBN 13

9781780645087

ISBN 10

1780645082

Title

Nature of Crops, The: How we came to eat the plants we do by Professor John Warren (Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK)

Author

Professor John Warren (Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK)

Condition

Used - Very Good

Binding type

Hardback

Publisher

CABI Publishing

Year published

20150424

Number of pages

192

Prizes

N/A

Cover note

Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.

Note

This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Nature of Crops, The Professor John Warren (Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK)

Nature of Crops, The by Professor John Warren (Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK)

Summary

Nature of Crops, The Summary

Nature of Crops, The: How we came to eat the plants we do by Professor John Warren (Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK)

About Professor John Warren (Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK)

Table of Contents

Additional information

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