SEEDS OF CHANGE: The Living Treasure ...

SEEDS OF CHANGE: The Living Treasure by Kenny Ausubel (HarperSan Francisco: $18; 232 pp., illustrated, paperback original). One of the founders explains the origins of “Seeds of Change,” a mail-order nursery dedicated to preserving biodiversity and heirloom species. Ausubel notes, “Of the cornucopia of reliable cultivated food plants available to our grandparents in 1900, today 97% are gone.” He and his associates market organically grown seeds of unusual varieties of corn, squash, tomatoes, etc. that were raised for flavor, rather than commercial viability. Although the author’s more-organic-than-thou stance occasionally cloys, his book will inspire many readers to try planting something tastier and more exotic than the latest hybrids.