The World's Greatest Fix: A History of Nitrogen and Agriculture

by G. J. Leigh

Overview

In the tradition of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, this gives the very early history of how human ingenuity overcame the risk of famine through productive agriculture. Starting with a layman's guide to the chemistry of nitrogen fixation, the book goes on to show how humans emerged from nomadic lifestyles and began developing towns and settlements. When they for the first time began planting the same fields year after year, they noticed quickly the need to ensure soil fertility. But how? The method they came up with is still in use to this day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195165821
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/19/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.34(w) x 9.56(h) x 0.87(d)

About the Author

University of Sussex (Emeritus)

Table of Contents

, G.J. Leigh1. Nitrogen Fixation, Agriculture, and the Environment2. The Development of Agriculture3. The Development of English Agriculture and the Recognition of the Fertiliser Deficit4. The Discovery of Nitrogen and the Disappearance of Alchemical Nitre5. The Triumph of Industrial Chemistry6. The Continuing Mystery of Biological Nitrogen Fixation7. Nitrogen, Threat of Benefaction?NotesIndex

Editorial Reviews

"Leigh conveys a great deal of information in 220 pages of text, and does so in an easy-to-read, clear and accurate style. This is an altogether fine book."—Nature

"This is a detailed, scholarly, well-documented and illustrated work, intended for the layman but suitable for those interested in the history of agriculture, chemistry, and modern industry." —Choice

From the Publisher