Fruit plays a pivotal role in human history, from Adam’s apple to George Washington Carver’s peanuts and beyond. Both poetry and prose would be impoverished if metaphors and similes involving fruit were expunged. Gollner looks at the present state of fruit in the world, ranging from everyday banalities of bananas to exotica such as passion fruit. He travels to the tropics to learn about fruits firsthand. Along the way, he encounters fruitarians, who advocate a strictly fruit diet. Other fruit-obsessed characters include the brilliant David Karp, a former junkie who now gets his kicks from fresh fruit. Some fanatics go so far as to smuggle fruits across national borders, risking importation of fruit-borne pathogens. The fruit of the moment, the Australian finger lime, entrances master chefs with its culinary potential. Despite their seeming naturalness, many common fruits would be unknown or extinct without human intervention in grafting, breeding, and conservation. --Mark Knoblauch