How to Feed the World

A compelling, fascinating, and most important, realistic portrait of the world and where it's going

STEVEN PINKER on NUMBERS DON’T LIE

A fact-filled, punchy book . . . Smil's fascination with numbers is infectious

THE TIMES on NUMBERS DON’T LIE

Another masterpiece from one of my favourite authors

BILL GATES on the New York Times bestseller HOW THE WORLD REALLY WORKS

Very informative and eye-opening in many ways

HA-JOON CHANG, author of 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism on the New York Times bestseller HOW THE WORLD REALLY WORKS

There is perhaps no other academic who paints pictures with numbers like Smil . . . The nerd's nerd

GUARDIAN

The word "polymath" was invented to describe people like him

BILL GATES

There is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil

BILL GATES

Smil’s art is that he immerses readers rather than overpowering them, while delivering clear takeaway messages: that we must learn to do more with less, that we ought to be wary of any radical solutions, and that we must accept that any gains will be gradual

Caroline Eden, Financial Times

Concise and erudite . . . How to Feed the World is weighted with statistics, but there is something light and irresistible about the way Smil structures his argument and propels his narrative . . . The breadth of Smil’s knowledge is as impressive as the depth

Talha Burki, Lancet

‘How to Feed the World had a lot to teach me – and I’m sure it will teach you a lot, too. It challenges readers to think differently about a problem we thought we understood’

Bill Gates