Hybrid: The History and Science of Plant Breeding

“Hybrid” is a hybrid book itself covering not only histories of several plants and their breeding, but also delves into policy issues about genetically modified foods, public/private ownership of plants, green revolution and backlash against it. It even talks about how imperialism impacted the decision about which plants to grow in the colonialized countries (a great hypothetical example: If China had invaded England, wouldn’t we have had more rice growing there?). This does not mean that the book has a lack of focus. On the contrary, it is a gem. The books covers a wide range of topics because plant breeding is a complex subject touching on science, technology, politics, history, and sociology itself. Hybrid is a wonderful book for those who would like not only to learn about the history of plant breeding, but also to have a rational understanding of policy issues surrounding plant breeding.

The public discourse on food and feeding the world has been hijacked by the New Age false prophets who have mislead the public as to the working of the food chain.'Hybrid' is a must read by anyone who cares about how we are going to double food production with fewer resources between now and 2050. And no agricultural input is as critical as seed.Noel Kingsbury writes clearly and knowledgeably. He tells an exciting story. I recommend the book highly.

Noel Kingsbury's Hybrid: The History and Science of Plant Breeding delivers just that, though much more of the history than the science. In all fairness, I think it strikes just the right balance for the intended audience which is the general science reader or horticultural hobbyist and not professional plant breeders. The thirty-five Technical Notes included at the end of the book provide additional information for those who are not already familiar with some of the terms used in the text. To be certain, the scope of this book would be an ambitious undertaking for any author, Kingsbury has put forth an admirable effort. By necessity the story must begin 10,000-12,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent where pastoralists became the first agriculturalists and continue all the way through to the modern age of molecular genetics. Along the way it must encompass many crop plants and ornamental species, numerous contributors and critics and try to accurately, but without bias, reflect the social, political and religious influences on plant breeding efforts in each era.As would be expected, the major crop plants, wheat, corn, potatoes and rice, get their fair share of coverage, but the author also manages to include short asides or honorable mentions for many other fruit and vegetable crops. He also makes a point of including a whole chapter on the history of plant breeding for ornamentals where roses and tulips get center stage. The same is true of the people who have been involved in improving plants for human use and consumption. The histories of well known figures and some of the lesser known but very influential, are thoroughly covered in the text. Men such as: Gregor Mendel, Norman Borlaug, Luther Burbank, Nikolai Vavilov, Henry A. Wallace, Henri and Philippe de Vilmorin and W. Atlee Burpee all get their share of ink and paper as well as some influential women such as Barbara McClintock. My personal hero, Dr. Henry A. Jones gets only an honorable mention. And, though sterile triploids are mentioned in passing, the story of the development of the triploid `seedless' watermelon is left out entirely as is the work done by Dr. Warren Barham to develop them. Curiously, Dr. C.M. Rick is mentioned in the Works Cited section, but gets no mention in the text during the discussions of some of the great plant hunters and plant collecting expeditions even though his efforts were substantial enough that the tomato germplasm repository has been named in his honor.As mentioned before, the author gives a well-balanced account of the history and politics that have influenced plant breeding but it is easy to discern that his sympathies lie with the plant breeders. Even so, he fairly sums up the position of the radical Indian activist Vandana Shiva that "...scientific plant breeding is part of a plot for world domination by U.S. capitalism." The book was obviously very well researched and the for those readers who like to mine the Works Cited pages for further reading you will find plenty here to pique your interests. The author tells the story predominately from the human interest point of view, choosing to focus on the people and personalities involved and less on the technicalities. The writing style is straightforward without a lot of prose and with a distinctive English flair such as when referring to plant breeders who have passed on as having "...departed to explore the gene pool of the Elysian Fields." For me, the only two detractors were: 1) as a matter of format the author chose to use footnotes which I find distracting because they can disrupt the flow of a paragraph if you feel compelled to look down and read the footnote each time a superscript number appears. 2) The book was rife with typographical errors. Normally I might see one or two in a professionally published book, but in this one they occur with a frequency of one every two or three pages. Either this book was rushed into publication for some reason or the budget for proofreading was inadequate.

very well written a nice general history o much of what we eat today and how it got here..i really liked this book and it made a nice gift to a gardening friend..very interesting presentation you can really get into it.

A bit lagging at times the author kind of bit on several thing without making a solid d point about anything I wouldn't re-read this book.

This book is well-written, amazingly thorough and addresses the overarching progression of plant breeding to get where we are now from the first hunter-gatherers picking fruit off last year's trash pile. Plant breeding as an industry that shares the same tools, goals and methods but is segregated by crop. This book does an excellent job of including everyone from strawberries to grains to azaleas. He also does a good job of including ALL of the major centers of plant breeding, including newer additions to the modern field like India and the Philipines.I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I originally bought it as a Christmas gift for my advisor and ended up buying a copy for myself. As I am a fledgling plant breeder, this book has been invaluable in getting me up to speed on such an expansive and historical profession. Thanks Dr. Kingsbury!

This is a very interesting and sharp book. Despite of the questionable title (History is, also a science...) I think this book causes passion and is extremly important to understand many of contemporary challenges.Herlânder Ferreira.PORTUGAL.

Great. Accessible science sensibly written.

Bought for daughter, who is very discerning. She rates this book highly, it has beautiful script and illustrations.

detailed, comprehensive book that will change the way you look at your dinner plate and garden if you have one!

Great book and prompt delivery. Many thanks

This was a very interesting book, which had many details and facts included. Perfect for someone who wants to know what was going on when and who was doing it in the breeding world. There are many dates and names, and interesting people. However, I personally would have liked more information on how breeding actually works. All in all a pretty good book, just a little repetitive and it skipped around in the dates and people often so it could be a little hard to keep up.