Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #503338 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 262 pages

Review
"Did you know there are a billion citrus trees under cultivation, or that grapefruit juice may potentiate the effects of Viagra? Citrus mines over two millennia of history to explore the spread of these fruits out of Asia, their commercialisation in the United States, and [their] enduring symbolism the world over."-New Scientist (New Scientist )

"A short but brilliant account of 6,000 years of citrus fruits that should be devoured with fervour."-Financial Times (Financial Times )

"Laszlo is what Dr. Doolittle called a good noticer, a connoisseur of life''s quirks and particularities, of all that is glorious in the everyday. . . . Altogether charming, eccentric, erudite, and definitely worth the price."-Times Higher Education Supplement (Sheila Dillon Times Higher Education Supplement )

"Stimulating. . . . Laszlo, a retired French chemist, takes us on a journey from the orangeries of Versailles, via the limes of the Royal Navy to the citriculture of modern Florida. It was only in the 1920s, he tells us, that orange juice became `an integral part of the American breakfast', after the great flu epidemic of 1918-19. Laszlo shows that the citrus fruit `is a treasure trove of chemicals that are highly useful to humankind'-which also happens to taste wonderful."-Sunday Times (UK) (Bee Wilson Sunday Times (UK) )

"A nicely produced hardback with colour plates, which will entertain foodies and culturally replete retirees with time on their hands. Laszlo . . . provides a colorful global history of citrus and citriculture as well as presenting a variety of delicious recipes."-The Age (The Age )

"Looks at the widespread availability of citrus fruits as an example of how foodstuffs have been propagated around the world. . . . Should help any experimental scientist to become a better cook."-Nature (Peter Barhamn Nature )

About the Author
Pierre Laszlo is professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Liège and the École Polytechnique. He is the author of numerous works, among them Salt: Grain of Life.

Customer Reviews

A grab-bag of snippets padded with personal anecdotes
As soon as I had read a few chapters of Citrus, by Pierre Laszlo, I regretted wasting my money on this superficial excuse for history. It gives the impression of having been hastily cut and pasted from the results of a Google search on "citrus".

There is no real connecting narrative. The book is just a disjointed compilation of snippets of information, linked by an irritating, chatty style of writing, and interspersed with self-serving anecdotes from Laszlo's life. It is as much about providing a forum for Laszlo to strut and preen as it is about citrus.

In one place he says "good writing, in like manner to inhaling a fragrance from citrus, extracts from simple words a whiff of an aroma with which to flavour sentences". This is simply under-graduate silliness.

In another place, Laszlo says that Ivrea is "best known as the location of Olivetti's headquarters", then goes on to describe the famous Ivrea "battle of the oranges" for which it is probably far better known.

Laszlo claims that "there is no basic difference in technical sophistication between the manufacture of gasoline . . . and the production of orange juice". This is just a glib one liner that happens to be wrong. I have worked as a chemical engineer in oil refineries and know a little about what is involved.

Much material is marginally relevant to the history of citrus fruits and seems to have been included to bulk out a thin story.

Information is repeated over and over. I got sick of reading variants of the phrase "Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid." No wonder the bored reader suspects that the book is a cut-and-paste job.

Numerous recipes are also included, but they have no historical relevance, nor do they advance any argument in the book, which could easliy be catalogued under Cookery. They are simply there to reinforce some personal anecdote about Laszlo's life and to serve as padding to bulk out the book.

Platitudes and opinions are freely given: "American English and British English differ slightly in vocabulary and spelling". The dominating statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio is "downright ugly".

There are no footnotes, nor any bibliography, which is unusual in a work claiming to be a history of citrus. There is a 36-page grab-bag of fairly random notes at the end of the book, with a reference to Laszlo's website.

Laszlo's earlier book, "Salt: Grain of Life", was quite readable, so I was disappointed to find "Citrus" to be so poorly written and edited.

The book is trivial and seems to have been cobbled together quickly and at minimal cost. I felt cheated and misled by much of the publicity blurb written about it.

Don't waste your money. Do as Laszlo seems to have done and Google "citrus" instead.

Perhaps I have been a bit unfair on this particular book. Many others in the same genre (the history of familiar things) also suffer from padding and sloppy editing.

The genre has become very popular since Dava Sobel's excellent "Longitude". Authors and publishers now rush books into print on subjects that don't really justify a book, so padding becomes a necessity if readers are not to feel cheated.

I guess that is what really irks me - being taken for a mug who can be exploited by being promised caviar but actually fed pap in the hope that it will not be noticed.

Engaging read for the scientifically inclined
Professor Laszlo certainly infuses his work with a great deal of enthusiasm. It is an engaging read. There are some places where you might chuckle and others where you might cringe and still others where he does wander off topic a bit (this is why I knocked off a star).

Though not the focus of the book, he does refer to struggles of indigenous people, people of color, displaced groups etc. with respect to citriculture in passing. In doing so he tries to be as objective as possible.

In short, this is an exciting and engaging book for the scientifically inclined. Even if your just curious about these delicious fruits, you'll take away a wealth of knowledge and fun facts.

Fun but Accurate?
I must admit I only made it to page 42 of this book. Citrus is written in the type of light but informative style that I like in "science for the educated layman" genre ("Cod" by Kurlansky being a great example thereof). The author's enthusiasm is infectious, even if he does wander to and fro among his topics bit more than I'd like.

My real complaint: errors. Olives were not brought to Spain by the Arabs nor Cocoa to the New World by the Spaniards/Portuguese. These are not obscure facts. If he's made these glaring mistakes, how can I trust those lesser known (but potentially fascinating facts) he puts forth about citrus? I can't. So I stopped reading. Alas.

Steven Mlodinow