How to Feed the World

Vaclav Smil

£10.99

We send all orders via Royal Mail: within the UK, choose from 1st Class, 2nd Class or Special Delivery; for the rest of the world, International Standard or International Tracked. Delivery and packaging charges are calculated automatically at the checkout.

To collect orders in person from the Bookshop, choose Click and Collect at the checkout.


Penguin Books Ltd
7 August 2025
ISBN: 9780241999509
Paperback
272 pages

From the publisher

'There is no author whose books I look forward to more' Bill Gates

'A fascinating deep dive...a wonderful fact-based tour of our food system, past and present. It opens up plenty of interesting debates on what to do next to feed 10 billion people without wrecking the planet' Hannah Ritchie, author of Not the End of the World

In this ambitious, myth-busting book, leading scientist and internationally bestselling author Vaclav Smil investigates many of the burning questions facing the world today: Why are some of the world's biggest food producers also the countries with the most undernourished populations? Why is food waste a colossal 1,000kcal per person daily, and how can we solve that? Could we all go vegan and be healthy? Should we? How will we feed the ballooning population without killing the planet?

How to Feed the World shows how we misunderstand the essentials of where our food really comes from, how our dietary requirements shape us, and why this impacts our planet in drastic ways. Ultimately, this data-based, rigorously researched guide explains how we will survive and thrive long into the future.