Against the Grain

How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Nature, Environment, Ecology
Cover of the book Against the Grain by Richard Manning, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Richard Manning ISBN: 9781466823426
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication: February 1, 2005
Imprint: North Point Press Language: English
Author: Richard Manning
ISBN: 9781466823426
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication: February 1, 2005
Imprint: North Point Press
Language: English

In this provocative, wide-ranging book, Against the Grain, Richard Manning offers a dramatically revisionist view of recent human evolution, beginning with the vast increase in brain size that set us apart from our primate relatives and brought an accompanying increase in our need for nourishment. For 290,000 years, we managed to meet that need as hunter-gatherers, a state in which Manning believes we were at our most human: at our smartest, strongest, most sensually alive. But our reliance on food made a secure supply deeply attractive, and eventually we embarked upon the agricultural experiment that has been the history of our past 10,000 years.

The evolutionary road is littered with failed experiments, however, and Manning suggests that agriculture as we have practiced it runs against both our grain and nature's. Drawing on the work of anthropologists, biologists, archaeologists, and philosophers, along with his own travels, he argues that not only our ecological ills-overpopulation, erosion, pollution-but our social and emotional malaise are rooted in the devil's bargain we made in our not-so-distant past. And he offers personal, achievable ways we might re-contour the path we have taken to resurrect what is most sustainable and sustaining in our own nature and the planet's.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In this provocative, wide-ranging book, Against the Grain, Richard Manning offers a dramatically revisionist view of recent human evolution, beginning with the vast increase in brain size that set us apart from our primate relatives and brought an accompanying increase in our need for nourishment. For 290,000 years, we managed to meet that need as hunter-gatherers, a state in which Manning believes we were at our most human: at our smartest, strongest, most sensually alive. But our reliance on food made a secure supply deeply attractive, and eventually we embarked upon the agricultural experiment that has been the history of our past 10,000 years.

The evolutionary road is littered with failed experiments, however, and Manning suggests that agriculture as we have practiced it runs against both our grain and nature's. Drawing on the work of anthropologists, biologists, archaeologists, and philosophers, along with his own travels, he argues that not only our ecological ills-overpopulation, erosion, pollution-but our social and emotional malaise are rooted in the devil's bargain we made in our not-so-distant past. And he offers personal, achievable ways we might re-contour the path we have taken to resurrect what is most sustainable and sustaining in our own nature and the planet's.

More books from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Cover of the book Double Shadow by Richard Manning
Cover of the book One Thousand Things Worth Knowing by Richard Manning
Cover of the book The British in India by Richard Manning
Cover of the book The Arkansas Testament by Richard Manning
Cover of the book The Yoga of the Yogi by Richard Manning
Cover of the book Harlem Hustle by Richard Manning
Cover of the book Witness to Freedom by Richard Manning
Cover of the book Out of My Skin by Richard Manning
Cover of the book The Rule of Three by Richard Manning
Cover of the book True Things About Me by Richard Manning
Cover of the book Degrade and Destroy by Richard Manning
Cover of the book Another Life by Richard Manning
Cover of the book The Young Unicorns by Richard Manning
Cover of the book Nobody Is Ever Missing by Richard Manning
Cover of the book Dear Yeti by Richard Manning
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy