Banana, Dan Koeppel
Banana, Dan Koeppel
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Banana
The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World

Author: Dan Koeppel

Narrator: Paul Woodson

Unabridged: 7 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/12/2016

Synopsis

To most people, a banana is a banana: a simple yellow fruit. Americans eat more bananas than apples and oranges combined. In others parts of the world, bananas are what keep millions of people alive. But for all its ubiquity, the banana is surprisingly mysterious; nobody knows how bananas evolved or exactly where they originated. Rich cultural lore surrounds the fruit: in ancient translations of the Bible, the "apple" consumed by Eve is actually a banana.

But the biggest mystery about the banana today is whether it will survive. A seedless fruit with a unique reproductive system, every banana is a genetic duplicate of the next, and therefore susceptible to the same blights. Today's yellow banana, the Cavendish, is increasingly threatened by such a blight, and there's no cure in sight.

Banana combines a pop-science journey around the globe, a fascinating tale of an iconic American business enterprise, and a look into the alternately tragic and hilarious banana subculture (one does exist)—ultimately taking us to the high-tech labs where new bananas are literally being built in test tubes, in a race to save the world's most beloved fruit.

About Dan Koeppel

Dan Koeppel, a 2011 James Beard Award winner, is a well-known outdoors, nature, and adventure writer who has written for the New York Times Magazine, Outside, Audubon, Popular Science, and National Geographic Adventure. Dan has also appeared on CNN and Good Morning America, and is a former commentator for Public Radio International's Marketplace. He is the author of Banana and To See Every Bird on Earth.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Will on October 19, 2022

Cruel enemies are stalking the world’s bananas and have been for decades. Who knew? Apparently Dan Koeppel. He has tracked not only the diseases that wiped out the every-day, Gros Michel, banana in the 1930s, but has an eye out for the Panama disease that is wiping out the Cavendish banana, that is,......more

Goodreads review by Hannah on February 28, 2025

I usually love books like this that deep dive on one specific topic and blow my mind with all sorts of interesting facts, connecting dots I didn't even know were there. This one was an utter fail. I was really bored from start to finish. Koeppel tried really hard to dial up the drama, the political......more

Goodreads review by Bob on April 27, 2024

Chiquita Calls in Sick A fast-paced, well-researched book that peels back the mystery and gives you the history. OK ! BANANA is the best of the bunch. Sorry, I will avoid puns from now on. Other books may provide more intimate looks at the machinations of the big fruit companies, or American interven......more

Goodreads review by Sarah Jane on January 04, 2009

Do you ever get to the middle of a book and think to yourself, Why on earth am I reading this? I generally manage to avoid this feeling by choosing my reading material wisely, but this one managed to slip through somehow. Bananas. Do I care? Sort of. I found about half of this book to be incredibly in......more

Goodreads review by Tom LA on February 10, 2019

Wow. This is a Feb 2019 update: I just read an article that confirms that the banana is at great risk. I thought the author of this book was trying to give a dramatic spin to his work, but apparently it’s all very serious! Here is the article: [URL not allowed]-2... — I loved lookin......more

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