The Big Ratchet

"The Big Ratchet is a well-researched and highly readable account of how we came to be a 'world dominating urban species', and the opportunities and threats we will face in feeding a world of 9 billion people with only a small minority living in rural areas. For those who have deep concerns about our ability to meet future food needs, this book provides at least some reassurance that we have done it before."

"[The Big Ratchet] is a fast-moving and information-packed history of human appetites.... DeFries does environmentalism a favor by presenting this history as a dialectic that never ends."

"[A]n interesting and timely thesis.... This is an environmental history, chockablock with examples from the past that might guide us in the future."

"Ruth DeFries has written a brilliant book that starts with the origin of Earth and life on our planet, and goes through thousands of years of ecological history and one natural crisis after another.... DeFries has a nuanced and sophisticated view of human history.... [The Big Ratchet] is a beautifully written book that is unique in combining wisdom, scientific discovery, and story-telling."

"[A] lucid and intelligent book.... There is something satisfyingly stark and elemental about DeFries' focus on food, which, she notes, is 'our most fundamental connection with nature'."

"Engaging and optimistic...a book that considers human progress not as an ever-ascending scale but as a sort of fugue with a repeating theme."

"An admirable history of human ingenuity that does not claim it will overcome such looming crises as overpopulation and global warming."

"Is there a tale more astonishing and improbable than the human story? Lurching between triumph and catastrophe, humankind has transformed itself from a run-of-the-mill forager on the African savanna into a species that dominates every corner of the planet. Now, as our numbers surpass 7 billion, Ruth DeFries shows how our remarkable past can serve as a guide to thinking about our uncertain future. Neither a hymn to optimism nor an invocation of catastrophe, The Big Ratchet is an essential account of how we got to be where we are."

"Timely.... Clearly demonstrates the role of science in converting calamities into opportunities. The Big Ratchet provides a message of hope in the midst of the sea of despair we see in the areas of sustainable development and environmental protection. Ruth DeFries has rendered an invaluable service."

"Forget farm to table; this history shows that the food on your plate has a history stretching back to the dawn of the species."