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McGraw-Hill encyclopedia of food, agriculture and nutrition
315
quire miniscule quantities of land. Today, it is estimated that 0.50 square mile of land area would be required to produce enough single-cell protein to meet the needs of 350 million p e o p l e " (p. 44). If the world population grows to 20 billion people, we can still feed them all at today's U.S. standards, for it will take 21 billion tons of grain, which could still be " p r o d u c e d b y conventional m e t h o d s " (p. 301). If one is worried there is not going to be enough grassland to produce meat for the 20 billion, there is the hybrid "beefalo, three-eighths buffalo and five-eighths b e e f cow", which puts on weight at double the rate of beef cattle, withstands extremes in weather, is healthier than other beef breeds, and its meat contains twice the amount of protein that beef cattle produce. The basic thesis of the b o o k is similar to other books o f the Hudson Institute. The near future is the difficult period. If we can cope with it and somehow manage to survive, the Golden Age awaits us all in the far future, which unfortunately none of us will ever live to see! MARGARET R. BISWAS and ASIT K. BISWAS
(Laxenburg, Austria and Ottawa, Ont., Canada )
FOOD, AGRICULTURE AND NUTRITION ENCYCLOPEDIA
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Food, Agriculture and Nutrition. Daniel N. Lapedes {Editor-in-Chief), McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, N.Y., 1977, 732 pp., US $24.50, ISBN 0-07-045-263-6. According to the Editor-in-Chief, the b o o k is "designed to inform the student, librarian, scientist, teacher, engineer and lay person about all aspects of agriculture; the cultivation, harvesting, and processing o f food crops; food manufacturing; and health and nutrition -- from the economic and political to the technological". The Encyclopedia is arranged in two parts. The first part contains five feature articles that discuss some selected aspects of the world food problem, and the second part contains some 400 alphabetically arranged articles. The five feature articles in the first part are on Feeding the World, Climate and Crops, Energy in the F o o d System, F o o d From the Sea and The Green Revolution. The first paper on Feeding the World is somewhat general, and discusses problems of population and food on a global context, food availability, basic food requirements -- including nutrition, food aid, food import and problems of developing countries. The article is in general more pessimistic than some of the recent World Bank data from different countries suggest. It also quotes heavily from books like "Limits to G r o w t h " and "Mankind at the Turning Point", b u t no mention is made of more authoritative works that
316
clearly indicate the shortcomings of such analyses (Biswas, 1979). The next two articles outline the interrelationship between climate and crop production, and energy in the food system. Food from the sea is a good review of what can be expected from the oceans. The last article discusses future prospects of the "Green Revolution", mainly the brighter side. The second half of the book is an alphabetically arranged article on important aspects of food, agriculture and nutrition, ranging from abscisic acid to yeasts. These articles are very well written, concise and easy to understand. There is also an index which should be quite useful to readers. The index performed quite well on the basis of a random search. The book is well-produced, with informative diagrams. At the present time when books seemed to be generally priced in the stratosphere, the price of US$ 24.50 is very reasonable for such a large and important book. The reviewers, however, seriously question the wisdom of including five feature articles at the beginning. Even though the book was produced in 1977, and it was reviewed only a year later, much of the information contained in these five articles was out of date, and already overtaken by later events. In contrast, the encyclopedia part is likely to be valid for m a n y years. Hence, it would have been much better to have produced an encyclopedia without short essays on topical subjects, which were likely to become out of date soon. Notwithstanding the above criticism (the five articles cover only 47 pages out of 732), the reviewers found the book very useful. Every scientist interested in the area of food, agriculture and nutrition will find this book a handy reference text. M A R G A R E T R. BISWAS and ASIT K, BISWAS
(Laxenburg, Austria and Ottawa, Ont., Canada) REFERENCES Biswas, Asit K., 1979. World models, resources and environment. Environmental Conservation, 6(1): 3--11. Meadows, D.H., Meadows, D.L., Randers, J. and Beherens, W.W., 1972. The Limits to Growth. Universe Books, New York, N.Y., 207 pp. Mesarovic, M, and Pestel, E., 1974. Mankind at the Turning Point. E.P. Dutton and Reader's Digest Press, New York, N.Y., 208 pp.
CROP PROTECTION STUDY WEEK
Bulletin des Recherches Agronomiques de Gembloux -- Semaine d'Etude, Agriculture et Hygiene des Plan tes. Comp te-rendu des S$ances. Gem bloux (Belgium) 8--12 sep tern ber 19 75. P. Martens (Editor). Facult~ des Sciences Agronomiques, Gembloux, 1976, xvi + 584 pp. D. 1976/2.371/1, BF 1500. It is unique for Europe to devote a full week to studies on plant protection at the highest level as this has been done at Gembloux. The credit for this ini-
quire miniscule quantities of land. Today, it is estimated that 0.50 square mile of land area would be required to produce enough single-cell protein to meet the needs of 350 million p e o p l e " (p. 44). If the world population grows to 20 billion people, we can still feed them all at today's U.S. standards, for it will take 21 billion tons of grain, which could still be " p r o d u c e d b y conventional m e t h o d s " (p. 301). If one is worried there is not going to be enough grassland to produce meat for the 20 billion, there is the hybrid "beefalo, three-eighths buffalo and five-eighths b e e f cow", which puts on weight at double the rate of beef cattle, withstands extremes in weather, is healthier than other beef breeds, and its meat contains twice the amount of protein that beef cattle produce. The basic thesis of the b o o k is similar to other books o f the Hudson Institute. The near future is the difficult period. If we can cope with it and somehow manage to survive, the Golden Age awaits us all in the far future, which unfortunately none of us will ever live to see! MARGARET R. BISWAS and ASIT K. BISWAS
(Laxenburg, Austria and Ottawa, Ont., Canada )
FOOD, AGRICULTURE AND NUTRITION ENCYCLOPEDIA
McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Food, Agriculture and Nutrition. Daniel N. Lapedes {Editor-in-Chief), McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, N.Y., 1977, 732 pp., US $24.50, ISBN 0-07-045-263-6. According to the Editor-in-Chief, the b o o k is "designed to inform the student, librarian, scientist, teacher, engineer and lay person about all aspects of agriculture; the cultivation, harvesting, and processing o f food crops; food manufacturing; and health and nutrition -- from the economic and political to the technological". The Encyclopedia is arranged in two parts. The first part contains five feature articles that discuss some selected aspects of the world food problem, and the second part contains some 400 alphabetically arranged articles. The five feature articles in the first part are on Feeding the World, Climate and Crops, Energy in the F o o d System, F o o d From the Sea and The Green Revolution. The first paper on Feeding the World is somewhat general, and discusses problems of population and food on a global context, food availability, basic food requirements -- including nutrition, food aid, food import and problems of developing countries. The article is in general more pessimistic than some of the recent World Bank data from different countries suggest. It also quotes heavily from books like "Limits to G r o w t h " and "Mankind at the Turning Point", b u t no mention is made of more authoritative works that
316
clearly indicate the shortcomings of such analyses (Biswas, 1979). The next two articles outline the interrelationship between climate and crop production, and energy in the food system. Food from the sea is a good review of what can be expected from the oceans. The last article discusses future prospects of the "Green Revolution", mainly the brighter side. The second half of the book is an alphabetically arranged article on important aspects of food, agriculture and nutrition, ranging from abscisic acid to yeasts. These articles are very well written, concise and easy to understand. There is also an index which should be quite useful to readers. The index performed quite well on the basis of a random search. The book is well-produced, with informative diagrams. At the present time when books seemed to be generally priced in the stratosphere, the price of US$ 24.50 is very reasonable for such a large and important book. The reviewers, however, seriously question the wisdom of including five feature articles at the beginning. Even though the book was produced in 1977, and it was reviewed only a year later, much of the information contained in these five articles was out of date, and already overtaken by later events. In contrast, the encyclopedia part is likely to be valid for m a n y years. Hence, it would have been much better to have produced an encyclopedia without short essays on topical subjects, which were likely to become out of date soon. Notwithstanding the above criticism (the five articles cover only 47 pages out of 732), the reviewers found the book very useful. Every scientist interested in the area of food, agriculture and nutrition will find this book a handy reference text. M A R G A R E T R. BISWAS and ASIT K, BISWAS
(Laxenburg, Austria and Ottawa, Ont., Canada) REFERENCES Biswas, Asit K., 1979. World models, resources and environment. Environmental Conservation, 6(1): 3--11. Meadows, D.H., Meadows, D.L., Randers, J. and Beherens, W.W., 1972. The Limits to Growth. Universe Books, New York, N.Y., 207 pp. Mesarovic, M, and Pestel, E., 1974. Mankind at the Turning Point. E.P. Dutton and Reader's Digest Press, New York, N.Y., 208 pp.
CROP PROTECTION STUDY WEEK
Bulletin des Recherches Agronomiques de Gembloux -- Semaine d'Etude, Agriculture et Hygiene des Plan tes. Comp te-rendu des S$ances. Gem bloux (Belgium) 8--12 sep tern ber 19 75. P. Martens (Editor). Facult~ des Sciences Agronomiques, Gembloux, 1976, xvi + 584 pp. D. 1976/2.371/1, BF 1500. It is unique for Europe to devote a full week to studies on plant protection at the highest level as this has been done at Gembloux. The credit for this ini-