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A review by marisacarpico
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World by Dan Koeppel
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
A few years ago, I read a throwaway factoid about bananas in an unrelated book that was so extraordinary that it made me stop a few paragraphs later and go back. Have been excited to read this ever since and it was as fascinating and informative as I’d hoped.
Technically, I started this months ago as an audiobook, but after getting third of the way through, it felt like I wasn’t retaining the information as much I wanted to. So, I picked up the hard copy on my shelf and started over.
Easily one of the most readable and fascinating pieces of nonfiction I’ve ever read. Even those who might not typically read non-fiction or think reading just about bananas would be fascinated. Truly staggering how much this one fruit (or more accurately, herb) has influenced so many things. Culture, governments, scientific innovation, so many things that are common in our lives exist because of the banana.
This perhaps focuses more one the fruit’s endangered future and ways it can be saved than I expected, but all that is vital and as interesting as the history of how it became the world’s #1 staple crop. If nothing else, it makes me appreciate that every banana could be my last thanks to various circulating blights.
Also, I am so mad I didn’t read this before going to Hawaii. Some YouTuber I follow has been taking about apple bananas for years and I was floored when this revealed that that very banana is the glorious beacon of hope, the Goldfinger, the product of years of breeding and the banana that may eventually become our primary banana. I would kill for a bunch.
Technically, I started this months ago as an audiobook, but after getting third of the way through, it felt like I wasn’t retaining the information as much I wanted to. So, I picked up the hard copy on my shelf and started over.
Easily one of the most readable and fascinating pieces of nonfiction I’ve ever read. Even those who might not typically read non-fiction or think reading just about bananas would be fascinated. Truly staggering how much this one fruit (or more accurately, herb) has influenced so many things. Culture, governments, scientific innovation, so many things that are common in our lives exist because of the banana.
This perhaps focuses more one the fruit’s endangered future and ways it can be saved than I expected, but all that is vital and as interesting as the history of how it became the world’s #1 staple crop. If nothing else, it makes me appreciate that every banana could be my last thanks to various circulating blights.
Also, I am so mad I didn’t read this before going to Hawaii. Some YouTuber I follow has been taking about apple bananas for years and I was floored when this revealed that that very banana is the glorious beacon of hope, the Goldfinger, the product of years of breeding and the banana that may eventually become our primary banana. I would kill for a bunch.