Harlan's Crops and Man: People, Plants and Their Domestication 3rd edition

"The proposed third edition of Crops and Man will maintain the structure of the previous works and maintain most of Dr. Harlan's user friendly text, but will also add recently discovered information, correct errors in previous volumes where needed, fill in gaps in utilization of wild species and landraces, explore mechanisms of transforming a wild plant into a domesticate, expand the section on germplasm preservation, and add information about multiple crops in the Near East and Africa, as was done for the Far East and Americas in the second edition. Importantly, the third edition will reintroduce the subject of crop plant evolution to new students of crop science"--
Harlan&;s Crops and Man A scientific and historical study of crops and their age-old relationship with human civilizationThe cultivation and harvesting of crops have been at the heart of human culture and development for thousands of years. As we have grown from hunter-gatherers into agrarian societies and industrial economies, our ongoing relationship with the plants that feed us and support our manufacturing has also evolved. So too, of course, have those plants themselves, with the combined forces of shifting climates, selective plant breeding, and genetic modification all working to alter their existence in profound and fascinating ways.Coming some 30 years after its previous incarnation, the third edition of Harlan&;s Crops and Man marks an exciting re-examination of this rich topic. Its chapters lay out the foundations of crop diversity as we know it, covering topics that range from taxonomy and domestication to the origins of agricultural practices and their possible futures. Highlights include:Archeological and anthropological studies of agriculture&;s history and developmentDetailed examinations of the histories and classifications of both crops and weedsExplanations of taxonomic systems, gene pools, and plant evolutionStudies of specific crops by geographical regionUpdated to include the latest data and research available, this new edition of Harlan&;s Crops and Man offers an illuminating exploration of agricultural history to all those engaged with plant science and the cultivation of crops.