Cover Image: Food or War

Food or War

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Member Reviews

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

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When people get hungry, they start to fight. When societies go hungry, they get desperate, sometimes leading to conflict, forced migration or war. Is that our future, in the world of climate change and food instability? This new book looks at issues of sustainability, identifies geographic areas of risk, examines how access to food can bring peace, and lays out a series of recommendations for the future.

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This book provides an informative view of how food and war are related to each other. The concepts are well-researched and the writing style of the author is easy to read.

People who enjoy multi-disciplinary approach on certain topics will enjoy how this book tackled the historical, political, social, economic, and scientific aspect food.

I will never look at my food the same way after reading this book.

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I found the book somewaht interesting, but also disappointing at the same time. The author strives to make the case that the lack of food has been the cause for all wars since the beginning of time. While food scarcity may have contributed to some of them, it was not the major driver as he protrays. He goes into great detail on the subject citing numerous examples. He also does a good job of covering why we are experiencing a food crisis in many parts of the world and the challenges facing us in the coming decades. At the end of the book he lays out his solution for correcting the current situation. Unfortunatley, while some of his solutions are sound, the current world political environment,  financial focus and personal eating habits will prevent his rationale from being implemented.

This book is not for everyone. You need to have a passion for the current and future world food shortage to get through this book.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook  page.

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Insane Conspiracy Theories Bring Every Other Claim Into Question. I *wanted* to like this book. I *really* did. The premise is something I'm interested in and could see happening - if we do not solve the global food system and make it truly sustainable for billions of people, the food crises resulting from our failure to solve this problem *will* lead directly to war.

But in Chapter 4 in particular, and in particular the section of Chapter 4 regarding "Food or Poison", the author seriously espouses several claims that are truly nothing more than conspiracy theories claimed only by the truly scientifically illiterate, such as that autism, male infertility, depression, and even gender identification are caused by chemicals in both pesticides used in growing food and in the packaging used to store and present food.

The fact that the author would even seriously consider such claims, much less try to seriously propose them, brings into question literally every other claim that the author makes throughout this book, and thus this book must be given 0 stars - it is absolutely not worthy of human consumption.

Hell, Jeremy Robinson's book HUNGER, a fiction tale wherein world hunger is solved via genetic modification that then turns everything that eats the modified food into monsters - is more believable than this purportedly nonfiction tale.

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This book is a timely read that everyone SHOULD read. Its about our planet, our ability to continue on the path we are on and what we can do about it.
I loved that this book also included water rights, big agricultural business, and wars. I thought it was really well written, researched, and timely.
We as a society MUST change our consumption and throw away mentality.
The other wonderful thing was that the author actually offered up ways in which we can start turning the tide against pollution, over farming, over population.
My favorite ways to make things better is to elect more women into office.
Loved the book, even if it was depressing. But gave me hope for a better planet overall.

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