Audhumbla Remembers: From the Big Bang to the Digital Primordial Soup.
Why, of all things, should a cow tell you the story of the world?
Because Audhumbla is a very special cow. She has been alive since the Big Bang ? perhaps even before that; who knows for sure? Sometimes she lives on a farm, in a barn, or in a pasture; sometimes she lives in Ginnungagap ? that special realm that lies beyond our real world. When she dwells in Ginnungagap, she knows everything. But when she lives on Earth, she forgets all these things and knows no more than any other cow.
Who it is for
The book is written for an unusually broad audience, and that has been a deliberate choice. It is for the dairy farmer who wants to see her own daily work set in a cosmic frame. It is for the city-dweller who has never thought twice about the cheese in his supermarket basket but suspects, faintly, that there is more to the story. It is for the student of biology or veterinary medicine, who will find the evolutionary and genetic chapters considerably more detailed than the breezy tone might initially suggest. It is for the historian who is interested in how a single domesticated animal interacted with European agriculture across two thousand years of war, plague and recovery. It is for the climate-curious reader who would like to engage with the methane question without being shouted at from either side. And it is, frankly, for the curious person who simply enjoys an essayistic, opinionated, occasionally meandering book that takes its time and trusts the reader to follow.
Description
AUDHUMBLA REMEMBERS ? eBook. The history of humankind from a bovine perspective
Audhumbla, the primordial cow of Norse mythology, experiences all eras simultaneously from within Ginnungagap. She tells the story of 13.8 billion years ? from the Big Bang through the domestication of cattle to modern high-performance breeding.
WHAT TO EXPECT ? Well-researched historical facts, told in an entertaining way ? Insights from 50 years of hands-on cattle breeding ? Philosophical perspectives on domestication ? humor meets libertarian thought ? 140 illustrations
WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR? For curious readers who want to understand how agriculture shaped our civilization ? without having to study agricultural science.
