Yes, we will have no bananas. In this lively account Koeppel traces the history, natural and otherwise, politics and precarious current status of the modern Cavendish in cereal bowls and on counters across the globe. He touches down in the markets of India (world center of banana diversity), heads off to Ecuador (world's largest producer) and tells the story of full of the machinations of the United Fruit Company (today's Chiquita) in Columbia and Guatemala.  (CAM137, $23.95)

Longitude News June: Summer Reading, Beijing, Kazakhstan