Atlantic Books

I felt like I was never in the moment I was in. I was always looking back, or
worried about the future

I’ve got it all figured out. We’re a parasite. Other animals on this planet coexist with nature. We don’t; we’re like scabies. Tiny mites covering the outer layer of earth, burrowing into it, infecting it. We are like tapeworm

f the intended reader of this book should want to go beyond disagreement with its author and try to identify the sins and deformities that animated him to write it (and I have certainly noticed that those who publicly affirm charity

the day the machine had produced 100 cubic centimeters of ammonia

the day the machine had produced 100 cubic centimeters of ammonia

for example, believed men were created five times, each generation being an improvement over the last. Teosinte was said to have been man’s principal food

Even orange carrots are man-made. Carrots were originally white and purple, and the sweeter orange variety was created by Dutch horticulturalists in the sixteenth century as a tribute to William I, Prince of

daily use of a saddle quern to grind grain. Dental remains show th

rachis becomes brittle, so that wh

they searched for food, the people saw a dog coming toward them with bunches of long, yellow seeds hanging from its tail. They planted the seeds, which grew into rice and dispelled their hunger forever. In a different series of rice myths, told in Indonesia and throughout the islands of Indochina, rice appears as a delicate and virtuous maiden. The