Books about Fertilizer from Amazon.com

Teaming With Microbes enlightens readers in two important ways. First, in clear, straightforward language, it describes the activities of the organisms that make up the soil food web, from the simplest of single-cell organisms to more familiar multicellular animals such as insects, worms, and mammals. Second, the book explains how to foster and cultivate the life of the soil through the use of compost, mulches, and compost teas. By eschewing jargon, the authors make the text accessible to a wide audience, from devotees of organic gardening techniques to weekend gardeners who simply want to grow healthy, vigorous plants without resorting to chemicals..
Price: $15.55 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A sweeping history of tragic genius, cutting-edge science, and the discovery that changed billions of lives—including your own.

At the dawn of the twentieth century, humanity was facing global disaster Mass starvation, long predicted for the fast-growing population, was about to become a reality. A call went out to the world’s scientists to find a solution.
This is the story of the two enormously gifted, fatally flawed men who found it: the brilliant, self-important Fritz Haber and the reclusive, alcoholic Carl Bosch. Together they discovered a way to make bread out of air, built city-sized factories, controlled world markets, and saved millions of lives. Their invention continues to feed us today; without it, more than two billion people would starve.

But their epochal triumph came at a price we are still paying. The Haber-Bosch process was also used to make the gunpowder and high explosives that killed millions during the two world wars. Both men were vilified during their lives; both, disillusioned and disgraced, died tragically. Today we face the other un­intended consequences of their discovery—massive nitrogen pollution and a growing pandemic of obesity.

The Alchemy of Air is the extraordinary, previously untold story of two master scientists who saved the world only to lose everything and of the unforseen results of a discovery that continues to shape our lives in the most fundamental and dramatic of ways..
Price: $12.47 [Notify me when price goes down.]

There are almost seven billion defecating people on planet Earth, but few who have any clue about how to constructively handle the burgeoning mountain of human crap. The Humanure Handbook, third edition, will amuse you, educate you, and possibly offend you, but it will certainly pertain to you—unless, of course, your bowels never move.
This new edition of The Humanure Handbook is:

The Tenth Anniversary Edition

Richly illustrated with eye-candy artwork

Perfect for reading while sitting on the “throne”

Revised, improved, and updated

256 pages of crap.
Price: $14.03 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This lavishly illustrated guide contains everything the beginner needs to know about creating useable compost -- described in clear, step-by-step detail that eliminates all of the guesswork that too often creeps into how-to books. Experts share their knowledge of the proper tools and techniques the novice needs to compost successfully in rural, suburban, or urban settings. Traditional bin systems and an unconventional approach using worms are explained fully. Includes a fascinating look at the science behind the composting process, as well as clear instructions for building a variety of composting bins for the backyard..
Price: $10.15 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This is the definitive guide to gardening in California! At over 700 pages, no other California gardening guide contains this depth of information The California Master Gardener Handbook is an invaluable reference tool for all California gardeners. Chapters cover soil, fertilizer, and water management, plant propagation, plant physiology; weeds and pests; home vegetable gardening; specific garden crops including grapes, berries temperate fruits and nuts, citrus, and avocados. Also included is information on lawns, woody landscape plants, landscape design and developing problem-solving skills..
Price: $35.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"The Cyanide Canary" is the riveting true story of a horrific crime -- of a brave young man left for dead, an unscrupulous business mogul, and the relentless EPA investigator who fought to overcome injustice. On a crisp summer morning in Soda Springs, Idaho, twenty-year-old Scott Dominguez kissed his fiance e goodbye and went to work for Allan Elias, the owner of Evergreen Resources, an enterprise Dominguez thought was in the business of producing fertilizer from mining waste. A former high school wrestler blessed with Tom Cruise-like good looks, Dominguez seemed to have unlimited potential, but by eleven o'clock that morning he was fighting for his life, pulled unconscious from a cyanide-laced storage tank and not expected to live through the night. In Seattle, Special Agent Joseph Hilldorfer of the Environmental Protection Agency was given the job of finding out what happened to Dominguez and why. Initially Hilldorfer did not want the case, still frustrated by an intense two-year investigation that concluded with corporate polluters walking out of a federal courthouse free. But as he learned more, Hilldorfer, the son of a Pittsburgh cop with a blue-collar work ethic, was touched by Scott's suffering and outraged at Elias's callous disregard for his employees' well-being. Hilldorfer and his partner, Special Agent Bob Wojnicz, joined forces with seasoned Boise Assistant U.S. Attorney George Breitsameter and an indefatigable, brilliant young attorney from the Department of Justice's Environmental Crimes Section named David Uhlmann. Together they would uncover the horrifying truths and build the criminal case against Elias. A former New York whiz kid and Arizona realestateand business mogul, Elias owned businesses that had polluted Idaho with hazardous waste for nearly a decade. Yet Elias never spent a single day in jail, openly boasted of beating the environmental quality regulations, and avoided any significant fines. Would this case be any different? Hilldorfer, Uhlmann, and the government trial team embarked on an epic courtroom battle that would stretch them to the limits. What began as a struggle for justice for one young man became a fight by the EPA for its very ability to enforce the nation's environmental laws and to bring environmental polluters to justice. In the balance was whether Allan Elias would ever spend a day in jail. Gripping, powerful, and compulsively readable, "The Cyanide Canary" is a major achievement in the classic tradition of "A Civil Action," a book that unfolds like fiction yet is alarmingly true..
Price: $3.83 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The newest palm reference guide from Betrock Information Systems It displays scientific information and color photographs for 126 landscape palms including: USDA hardiness zones, growth rate, palm fertilization, pest problems, transplanting and care, disease and disorder problems, salt, drought tolerances, light, nutrition and soil requirements, popular uses, propagation, common cultivars, human and environmental hazards (including allergenic properties and irritating fruits)..
Price: $25.56 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"We shape our tools and then they shape us." With these words, Kenneth Boulding captured one of the great truths of the modern world. In Fertilizers, Pills, and Magnetic Strips, Gene V Glass analyzes how a few key technological inventions changed culture in America and how public education has changed as a result. Driving these changes are material self-interest and the desire for comfort and security, both of which have transformed American culture into a hyper-consuming, xenophobic society that is systematically degrading public education. Glass shows how the central education policy debates at the start of the 21st century (vouchers, charter schools, tax credits, high-stakes testing, bilingual education) are actually about two underlying issues: how can the costs of public education be cut, and how can the education of the White middle-class be "quasi-privatized" at public expense? Working from the demographic realities of the past thirty years, he projects a challenging and disturbing future for public education in America. Fertilizers, Pills, and Magnetic Strips is attracting the attention of the nation's foremost education scholars. Reviews: "This is the first credible book of the 21st century to anticipate the future of public education." David C. Berliner ".a wake up call to America about the disastrous consequences of current policies that shortchange the education of the coming majorityLatinos and other 'minority' studentson whom the very future of the nation rests. " Patricia Gándara "The book makes such impressive sense that one has to believe that its clarity, command of the facts, eye for absurdity, and concern for justice will garner greater support for public education as a common and noble cause." John Willinsky "This is the most original book about education in years." Ernest R. House.
Price: $41.35 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In this book, eco-agriculture is explained — from the tiniest molecular building blocks to managing the soil — in terminology that not only makes the subject easy to learn, but vibrantly alive. Eco-Farm truly delivers a complete education in soils, crops, and weed and insect control.

Chapters provide detailed discussions of trace elements, tillage, the N,P&K concept, animal health, crops, soil carbon and calcium, insects, soil life, crop rotation, and much more.

This should be the first book read by everyone beginning in eco-agriculture . . . and the most shop-worn book on the shelf of the most experienced..
Price: $21.40 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The industrial synthesis of ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen has been of greater fundamental importance to the modern world than the invention of the airplane, nuclear energy, space flight, or television. The expansion of the world's population from 1.6 billion people in 1900 to today's six billion would not have been possible without the synthesis of ammonia.

In Enriching the Earth, Vaclav Smil begins with a discussion of nitrogen's unique status in the biosphere, its role in crop production, and traditional means of supplying the nutrient. He then looks at various attempts to expand natural nitrogen flows through mineral and synthetic fertilizers. The core of the book is a detailed narrative of the discovery of ammonia synthesis by Fritz Haber—a discovery scientists had sought for over one hundred years—and its commercialization by Carl Bosch and the chemical company BASF. Smil also examines the emergence of the large-scale nitrogen fertilizer industry and analyzes the extent of global dependence on the Haber-Bosch process and its biospheric consequences. Finally, it looks at the role of nitrogen in civilization and, in a sad coda, describes the lives of Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch after the discovery of ammonia synthesis..
Price: $18.58 [Notify me when price goes down.]