How to Feed the World
The History and Future of Food
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How to Feed the World
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Narrado por:
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Joe Jameson
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De:
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Vaclav Smil
Acerca de esta escucha
An indispensable analysis of how the world really produces and consumes its food—and a scientist's exploration of how we can successfully feed a growing population without killing the planet
We have never had to feed as many people as we do today. And yet, we misunderstand the essentials of where our food really comes from, how our dietary requirements shape us, and why this impacts our planet in drastic ways. As a result, in our economic, political, and everyday choices, we take for granted and fail to prioritize the thing that makes all our lives possible: food.
In this ambitious, myth-busting book, Smil investigates many of the burning questions facing the world today: why are some of the world’s biggest food producers also the countries with the most undernourished populations? Why do we waste so much food and how can we solve that? Could the whole planet go vegan and be healthy? Should it? He explores the global history of food production to understand why we farm some animals and not others, why most of the world’s calories come from just a few foodstuffs, and how this might change in the future.
How to Feed the World is the data-based, rigorously researched guide that offers solutions to our broken global food system.
©2025 Vaclav Smil (P)2025 Penguin AudioLos oyentes también disfrutaron...
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In this monumental history, Vaclav Smil provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel-driven civilization and offers listeners a magisterial overview of humanity's energy eras.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not a good format for this book
- De C. Hoogeboom en 05-19-18
De: Vaclav Smil
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Numbers Don't Lie
- 71 Stories to Help Us Understand the Modern World
- De: Vaclav Smil
- Narrado por: Ben Prendergast
- Duración: 6 h y 14 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 582
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 453
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 452
Vaclav Smil's mission is to make facts matter. An environmental scientist, policy analyst, and a hugely prolific author, he is Bill Gates' go-to guy for making sense of our world. In Numbers Don't Lie, Smil answers questions such as: What's worse for the environment - your car or your phone? How much do the world's cows weigh (and what does it matter)? And what makes people happy?
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3 out of 5 stars
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Strange book
- De Stephen en 05-25-21
De: Vaclav Smil
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Grand Transitions
- How the Modern World Was Made
- De: Vaclav Smil
- Narrado por: Robert Fass
- Duración: 16 h y 15 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 63
What makes the modern world work? The answer to this deceptively simple question lies in four "grand transitions" of civilization - in populations, agriculture, energy, and economics - that have transformed the way we live.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Nihil novum sub soli
- De Sam J. en 08-29-22
De: Vaclav Smil
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Made in the USA
- The Rise and Retreat of American Manufacturing
- De: Vaclav Smil
- Narrado por: Adam Barr
- Duración: 10 h y 53 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 29
In Made in the USA, Vaclav Smil powerfully rebuts the notion that manufacturing is a relic of predigital history and that the loss of American manufacturing is a desirable evolutionary step toward a pure service economy. Smil argues that no advanced economy can prosper without a strong, innovative manufacturing sector and the jobs it creates. Smil assesses various suggestions for solving America's manufacturing crisis, including lowering corporate tax rates, promoting research and development, and improving public education. Will America act to reinvigorate manufacturing?
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4 out of 5 stars
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Dont care about references
- De Vergiliu en 04-03-25
De: Vaclav Smil
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Invention and Innovation
- A Brief History of Hype and Failure
- De: Vaclav Smil
- Narrado por: Tim Fannon
- Duración: 7 h y 56 m
- Versión completa
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General4 out of 5 stars 67
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Historia4 out of 5 stars 58
The world is never finished catching up with Vaclav Smil. In his latest and perhaps most digestible book, Invention and Innovation, the prolific author—a favorite of Bill Gates—pens an insightful and fact-filled jaunt through the history of human invention. Impatient with the hype that so often accompanies innovation, Smil offers in this book a clear-eyed corrective to the overpromises that accompany everything from new cures for diseases to AI.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Not the best from Vaclav, but near the top
- De Tan en 07-19-23
De: Vaclav Smil
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Growth
- From Microorganisms to Megacities
- De: Vaclav Smil
- Narrado por: Eric Jason Martin
- Duración: 26 h y 15 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 71
Growth has been both an unspoken and an explicit aim of our individual and collective striving. It governs the lives of microorganisms and galaxies; it shapes the capabilities of our extraordinarily large brains and the fortunes of our economies. Growth is manifested in annual increments of continental crust, a rising gross domestic product, a child's growth chart, the spread of cancerous cells. In this magisterial book, Vaclav Smil offers systematic investigation of growth in nature and society, from tiny organisms to the trajectories of empires and civilizations.
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3 out of 5 stars
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PDF should come with this book...
- De Sebastian en 04-22-20
De: Vaclav Smil
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Size
- How It Explains the World
- De: Vaclav Smil
- Narrado por: Stephen Perring
- Duración: 8 h y 42 m
- Versión completa
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General3.5 out of 5 stars 11
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Narración:4 out of 5 stars 9
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Historia3.5 out of 5 stars 9
Size explains the regularities—and peculiarities—of the key processes shaping life (from microbes to whales), the Earth (from asteroids to volcanic eruptions), technical advances (from architecture to transportation), and societies and economies (from cities to wages).
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4 out of 5 stars
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Worth a read
- De Rurik McKaiser en 05-21-23
De: Vaclav Smil
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Waste Wars
- The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash
- De: Alexander Clapp
- Narrado por: Greg Lockett
- Duración: 12 h y 46 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 16
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Narración:5 out of 5 stars 16
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 16
Dumps and landfills around the world are overflowing. Disputes about what to do with the millions of tons of garbage generated every day have given rise to waste wars waged almost everywhere you look. Some are border skirmishes. Others hustle trash across thousands of miles and multiple oceans. But no matter the scale, one thing is true about almost all of them: few people have any idea they're happening.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great writer of awful reality
- De Tracie B. en 04-15-25
De: Alexander Clapp
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Power Density
- A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses
- De: Vaclav Smil
- Narrado por: Daniel Henning
- Duración: 12 h y 21 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 16
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 13
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 13
In this book, Vaclav Smil argues that power density is a key determinant of the nature and dynamics of energy systems. Any understanding of complex energy systems must rely on quantitative measures of many fundamental variables. Power density—the rate of energy flux per unit of area—is an important but largely overlooked measure. Smil provides the first systematic, quantitative appraisal of power density, offering detailed reviews of the power densities of renewable energy flows, fossil fuels, thermal electricity generation, and all common energy uses.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Different Look at the Pros and Cons of Renewable Energy and Fossil Fuels
- De Anonymous User en 07-10-24
De: Vaclav Smil
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Oil
- An Audio Guide
- De: Vaclav Smil
- Narrado por: Robert Meldrum
- Duración: 6 h y 56 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 93
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Narración:4.5 out of 5 stars 77
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 77
Without oil, there would be no globalisation, no plastic, little transport, and a global political landscape that few would recognise. It is the lifeblood of the modern world, and humanity’s dependence upon it looks set to continue for decades to come. In this captivating audiobook, Vaclav Smil explains all matters related to ‘black gold’, from its discovery in the earth, right through to the political maelstrom that surrounds it today.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Part Encyclopedia
- De See Reverse en 12-18-17
De: Vaclav Smil
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We Are Eating the Earth
- The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate
- De: Michael Grunwald
- Narrado por: Kevin R. Free
- Duración: 13 h
- Versión completa
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General0 out of 5 stars 0
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Narración:0 out of 5 stars 0
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Historia0 out of 5 stars 0
Michael Grunwald, bestselling author of The Swamp and The New New Deal, builds his narrative around a brilliant, relentless, unforgettable food and land expert named Tim Searchinger. He chronicles Searchinger’s uphill battles against bad science and bad politics, both driven by the overwhelming influence of agricultural interests. And he illuminates a path that could save our planetary home for ourselves and future generations—through better policy, technology, and behavior, as well as a new land ethic recognizing that every acre matters.
De: Michael Grunwald
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Space to Grow
- Unlocking the Final Economic Frontier
- De: Brendan Rosseau, Matthew Weinzierl
- Narrado por: William Sarris
- Duración: 9 h y 9 m
- Versión completa
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General5 out of 5 stars 2
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Narración:5 out of 5 stars 2
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Historia5 out of 5 stars 2
Space is a place of unparalleled possibility for humanity, and it's undergoing a revolution. A wave of companies led by gutsy entrepreneurs are unlocking opportunities that fire the imagination. No, it's not hotels on Mars or day trips to orbit (yet), but it's an awe-inspiring transformation driven by innovative technologies, creative approaches, hard work, and—for the first time—market forces.
De: Brendan Rosseau, y otros
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Air-Borne
- The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe
- De: Carl Zimmer
- Narrado por: Joe Ochman
- Duración: 15 h y 52 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 17
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Narración:5 out of 5 stars 16
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 16
Every day we draw in two thousand gallons of air—and thousands of living things. From the ground to the stratosphere, the air teems with invisible life. This last great biological frontier remains so mysterious that it took over two years for scientists to finally agree that the COVID pandemic was caused by an airborne virus. In Air-Borne, award-winning New York Times columnist and author Carl Zimmer leads us on an odyssey through the living atmosphere and through the history of its discovery.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very clarifying look at how messy science can be
- De webtraverser en 03-04-25
De: Carl Zimmer
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No Less Strange or Wonderful
- Essays in Curiosity
- De: A. Kendra Greene
- Narrado por: A. Kendra Greene
- Duración: 8 h y 7 m
- Versión completa
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General0 out of 5 stars 0
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Narración:0 out of 5 stars 0
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Historia0 out of 5 stars 0
Celebrated author and artist A. Kendra Greene’s No Less Strange or Wonderful is a brilliant and generous meditation—on the complex wonder of being alive, on how to pay attention to even the tiniest (sometimes strangest) details that glitter with insight, whimsy, and deep humanity, if only we’d really look. In twenty-six sparkling essays, Greene is trying to make sense—of anything, really—but especially the things that matter most in life: love, connection, death, grief, the universe, meaning, nothingness, and everythingness.
De: A. Kendra Greene
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How the World Eats
- A Global Food Philosophy
- De: Julian Baggini
- Narrado por: Julian Baggini
- Duración: 13 h y 40 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 2
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Narración:5 out of 5 stars 1
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Historia5 out of 5 stars 1
The need for a better understanding of how we feed ourselves has never been more urgent. In this wide-ranging and definitive book, philosopher Julian Baggini expertly delves into the best and worst food practices in a huge array of different societies. His exploration takes him from cutting-edge technologies, such as new farming methods, cultured meat, GM and astronaut food, to the ethics and health of ultra processed food and aquaculture, as he takes a forensic look at the effectiveness of our food governance, the difficulties of food wastage, and the effects of commodification.
De: Julian Baggini
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Energy
- An Audio Guide
- De: Vaclav Smil
- Narrado por: Dave Ferguson
- Duración: 7 h y 15 m
- Versión completa
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General4 out of 5 stars 85
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Narración:4 out of 5 stars 69
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Historia4 out of 5 stars 73
In this user-friendly and informative audiobook, prolific author and academic Vaclav Smil provides an introduction to this far-reaching term and gives the reader a greater understanding of energy's place in both past and present society. Starting with an explanation of the concept, he goes on to cover such exciting topics as the inner workings of the human body, and the race for more efficient and environmentally friendly fuels.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Listening to the Encyclopedia of Energy
- De See Reverse en 03-02-18
De: Vaclav Smil
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The Moral Circle
- Who Matters, What Matters, and Why
- De: Jeff Sebo
- Narrado por: Joel Richards
- Duración: 5 h y 5 m
- Versión completa
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General4.5 out of 5 stars 2
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Narración:5 out of 5 stars 2
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Historia4.5 out of 5 stars 2
Today, human exceptionalism is the norm. Despite occasional nods to animal welfare, we prioritize humanity, often neglecting the welfare of a vast number of beings. As a result, we use hundreds of billions of vertebrates and trillions of invertebrates every year for a variety of purposes. We also plan to use animals, AI systems, and other nonhumans at even higher levels in the future. Yet as the dominant species, humanity has a responsibility to ask: Which nonhumans matter, how much do they matter, and what do we owe them in a world reshaped by human activity and technology?
De: Jeff Sebo
Lo que los oyentes dicen sobre How to Feed the World
Calificaciones medias de los clientesReseñas - Selecciona las pestañas a continuación para cambiar el origen de las reseñas.
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Total4 out of 5 stars
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Ejecución3 out of 5 stars
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Historia4 out of 5 stars
- O. Espinoza
- 03-28-25
Full of good info, but not for audiobook format
I read several of Smil's books, and they are full of facts and numbers. I tried this in audiobook but was difficult to follow, with so many numbers. Perhaps an accompanying PDF would have helped. However, I think this is best on written form, which I will get.
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