| Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.) | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 262 reviews)
Sales Rank: 52
Category: Book
Authors: Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, Steven L. Hopp
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Studio: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Label: Harper Perennial
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0060852569
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.0973
EAN: 9780060852566
ASIN: 0060852569
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life—vowing that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is an enthralling narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 257 more reviews...
 Earnest but dry July 8, 2008
Barbara Kingsolver is a fun author, a smart person, and she writes about interesting things. But I couldn't get engaged with this book. It strikes me as a less incisive, but sweeter, version of "The Omnivore's Dilemma." Kingsolver and family seem to be nice and well-intentioned people who care deeply about how food choices relate to broader environmental issues. While they are very critical of agro-business, there is very little critical complexity to the broad argument about how food reflects broader issues and inequalities. Local farmers are good; oil companies and big business are bad. More people should try to be good. I tend to agree philosophically with most of what she says about eating things in season and trying to be aware about where food comes from, but partially because I agree philosophically this book did not provide many bursts of insight. It is a nice book to agree with, and the intentions are admirable, but that alone failed to keep my interest.
 Too much of a good thing... July 8, 2008
When I first picked up this book, I absolutely loved it. Kingsolver touches upon poignant themes that echo arguments made by Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser -- basically, that the way Americans produce and consume food is setting the stage for dire consequences. And I enjoyed her emphasis on a new consideration: taste. If I would have put the book down after Chapter 10, I would have left content. But, as I continued, I began feeling like I was reading the same thing over and over again. Consequently, it began to feel heavy-handed and preachy. I, like presumably most of her readers, are already proponents of the food values that Kingsolver champions. Yet she continues to amuse herself by pointing out what must surely be obvious to most of her readers after the first 100 pages. To prospective readers, this is a book you'll want to taste and put down at the first sign of feeling full.
 Inspiring and Life Changing July 6, 2008
This book is a fantastic look at our food industry and ways to become independent of chemicals used to produce both plant and animal foods, as well as ways to connect with the earth through gardening. Although most people would not have the garden space or time to totally turn their backs on the grocery store, I was inspired to try to do what I could to grow my own vegetables and frequent the local farmers market. I would recommend this book for anyone striving to eat in a healthy manner and gain a greater understanding of the food chain in America. Once again, Barbara Kingsolver brings us closer to the earth and the earth's systems that sustain us.
Best book of the year July 6, 2008
This is the best book I read in 2007.
The great writer, Barbara Kingsolver, chronicles a year in the life of her family as they move back to a family farm in Appalachia to grow all their own food for a year. It is a wonderfully entertaining and wise month-by-month narrative which speaks to our conncction with food, the land, and the planet.
Along the way, Ms. Kingsolver's teenage daughter and
her professor husband also offer their perspectives on the family's adventures.
Most people who take up this book cannot put it down.
A book everyone should read July 5, 2008
Barbara Kingsolver has written a very important book which everyone should read! It is filled with environmental and nutritional information and it's a fascinating account of the pleasures and trials of feeding oneself and one's family almost entirely with home-grown products!
Of the four of us who listened to this audio cd in the car, nobody thought Kingsolver had a particularly good reading voice, but the material always made up for it! Given the choice though, I'd say read the book.
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