Where our Food Comes From

Retracing Nikolay Vavilov's Quest to End Famine

By: Gary Paul Nabhan

Narrated by: Mitchell Leopard

Jailed as a scapegoat for Stalin's famines, Vavilov had traveled over five continents, collected hundreds of thousands of seeds in an effort to outline the ancient centers of agricultural diversity. Gary Paul Nabhan weaves together Vavilov's story with his own expeditions to Earth's richest agricultural landscapes and the cultures that tend them.©2008 Island Press (P)2009 Island Press

Fascinating history & cautionary tale for our time

I loved this book and have listened to it twice! Concerned about food security, I appreciated its clearly stated information about biodiversity, which the author wove into a real life hero tale and travel story.
I chose the book, in part, because Barbara Kingsolver mentioned, in "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," that Paul Nabhan was a family friend. Also, the book received an average of 5 stars from reviewers at Amazon. I was sure "Where Our Food Comes From" would hold my interest, and it did.
If you want to skip the long introduction by K.B. Wilson of the Christensen Fund, advance your player to 31 minutes and 50 seconds into the program.
As an aside, I so much enjoyed the novel "City of Thieves," set in the Siege of Leningrad, that listening to it probably primed me to appreciate this true story!

Interesting, but audio editing could be improved

This was an interesting book, both in terms of the origin of crop species and the history of Nabokov's seed bank. However, as it was written in the first person, it was sometimes difficult to tell when a portion was supposed to be the author's voice or a quotation of another first-person work.

Some of the sections seemed to be edited a bit too close together. What was at least a paragraph break, and probably a break between sections, in the written book, seemed in the audio version to almost be a continuation of the previous sentence. A slight pause in the audio in these spots would help the listener to make the break mentally.

The narration was, however, quite clear.

Narrarator is unbearable.This is not a kids book!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Content yes! No, if they have alternatives to listening.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Where our Food Comes From?

Struggling to get past the narrators inappropriate singsong

Absolutely riveting

Loved this book from start to finish! Was intricately detailed in the utmost finest of fashions.

Wilson's introduction ruined it for me...

Ken Wilson has a dull introduction to Nabhan's book, and his convoluted writing style ruined the narrator for me. Gave up on this after little more than an hour. I'll try reading this book on paper to see if it Nabhan holds my attention better.