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| The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce, and Obsession | 
 enlarge | Author: Adam Leith Gollner
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $12.45
You Save: $12.55 (50%)
New (31) Used (11) from $12.20
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 34702
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.2
ISBN: 074329694X
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.34
EAN: 9780743296946
ASIN: 074329694X
Publication Date: May 20, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New Books! Orders usually ship with 24 hours!
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Product Description
Delicious, lethal, hallucinogenic and medicinal, fruits have led nations to war, fueled dictatorships and lured people into new worlds. An expedition through the fascinating world of fruit, The Fruit Hunters is the engrossing story of some of Earth's most desired foods. In lustrous prose, Adam Leith Gollner draws readers into a Willy Wonka-like world with mangoes that taste like pina coladas, orange cloudberries, peanut butter fruits and the miracle fruit that turns everything sour to sweet, making lemons taste like lemonade. Peopled with a cast of characters as varied and bizarre as the fruit -- smugglers, inventors, explorers and epicures -- this extraordinary book unveils the mysterious universe of fruit, from the jungles of Borneo to the prized orchards of Florida's fruit hunters to American supermarkets. Gollner examines the fruits we eat and explains why we eat them (the scientific, economic and aesthetic reasons); traces the life of mass-produced fruits (how they are created, grown and marketed) and explores the underworld of fruits that are inaccessible, ignored and even forbidden in the Western world. An intrepid journalist and keen observer of nature -- both human and botanical -- Adam Leith Gollner has written a vivid tale of horticultural obsession.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Makes Me Want To Eat Fruit! June 2, 2008
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
First of all I have to say that I'm not a big fruit eater. I like the taste of most fruits, but the ones I buy in the supermarket are waxy, bland, and have textures that don't correspond to how I think the fruit looks.
I was reading an early posting of the Sunday New York Times book review last week and I came across Mary Roach's review of this book. The review was so outstanding that it made me want to explore the book, even though I'm not particularly inclined to fruit or nature writing. The next day I went out and bought the book and read it almost in one sitting. I was transfixed, to say the least. And hungry: Gollner's book made me want to jump on a plane to Brazil and find all the marvelous fruits that he wrote about, fruits that made my mind spin and mouth salivate. Who knew there were such delightful things such as the "bran muffin" fruit? Reading this book is feels like an illicit glimpse into the Garden of Eden.
Gollner is a great writer: funny, brisk, informative without being too didactic. His pacing and narrative abilities are excellent; what could have been a dull book about colorful things reads like a thriller at times. This book to me a little like the exotic fruits Gollner so vividly and lovingly describes: it's a rare pleasure that I'm lucky I discovered.
Great book, peel and all! June 2, 2008
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Adam Leith Gollner's new book The Fruit Hunters (2008) is like a sweet and sour jawbreaker---- a tasty treat with many layers to enjoy, never knowing which flavour comes next. Anyone who loves exotic fruit and adventures in far off places will savour this book and all of its fruit-filled wanderings.
I once had the opportunity to eat cottony guanabana in Costa Rica, and to sip dragonfruit juice in Vietnam.... Now that I am strapped to my desk, and limited to munching on banal fruits like apples and oranges, I greatly appreciated being able to travel to far-off places with Gollner as he explored fruit hunting stomping grounds like Brazil and the Congo.
Gollner's writing is an intriguing mix of delicate prose and hipster slang--a modern style that is entertaining and thoughtful. I would highly recommend this captivating and informative book to anyone who is a fruit bat like me; it's full of fun fruit-filled history and trivia (and has an excellent index for double-checking fruit facts).
If, like me, you are still eating your way through all of the recent and exciting food-focused books like Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation (2001), Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire (2001) & The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006), and Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (2008), this book makes a sweet addition to your forays into agriculture, food production, shady food histories and politics, and the commodity chains that land things in our grocery carts, our fruit bowls, and our bellies. So... prepare a nice dish of salted green mangoes and settle down with The Fruit Hunters--you will not be disappointed!
Terrific June 3, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
When I ran across this title at Barnes and Noble, I assumed it was a Mark Kurlansky type treatment of the subject, erudite and educational, but not really my cup of tea. Boy was I wrong! I had googled miracle fruit since I had done some research on the subject, and I found that there was a chapter in this book on that subject. I went right out and bought a copy, read the chapter. I had no idea of the real story behind miracle fruit (which, by the way, is experiencing skyrocketing prices thanks to this book). I read the rest of the book. Adam has a quirky sense of humor which translates very well in writing. Anyone that is interested in ethnobotany, fruit, plants or just a great summer read on the beach should buy the book. Let's hope Mr. Gollner is working on his next book.
My favourite book of the year: FRUIT HUNTERS! It's DELICIOUS! June 2, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I picked up this exotic zinger at an airport on the way to Buenos Aires. Let me first recommend that you do not read this book without at least a bowl of fruit or fruit salad in arm's range. Or a tutti frutti lollipop at least. I can only describe this book in almost synesthetic terms. The story is delicious, the writing is like a confection of candied apples, each word dipped in miracle fruit. I highly urge you to pick up this scrumptious cocktail for your summer reading. It's perfect for the beach. You'll never taste words the same way again.
 Major disappointment June 26, 2008
3 out of 13 found this review helpful
A missed opportunity. A really interesting topic wasted, in my
opinion, by poor writing and a clumsy approach to the subject.
Well, I will give him a pass. It's his first book and he probably
couldn't contain his enthusiasm for the subject. But I found this
book very tedious to read.
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