This is was my thought also, countries like Australia and the USA have the capacity to easily be food independent but “The Market” rewards monoculture of a few crops.

The achievement of Guyana is interesting none the less.

I’m not reading Nobodys Girl but I had a similar experience.

I read Lolita in my 20s and found it a beautifully written text. I reread it in my 30s and couldn’t get through it because of the subject matter. I guess I developed empathy.

I don’t think you’re dishonoring the author by giving up if its a bit too much

Whenever I’ve used an LLM to edit anything it goes right ahead and removes my voice from the text, even more advanced models and even when I repeatedly clarify that that’s not what I want. I don’t think it’s up to the task.

For myself, we’ve just acquired 100 acres and so I have quite elaborate plans both for ourselves and to sell which I won’t bore everyone with.

I agree with @GooseGang, people tend to grow veg and neglect staples, you can live on potatoes, you can’t live on lettuce.

Previously we have grown chickpeas which are versatile and easy to grow and also nitrogen fixing. 4 bed rotation systems and square foot gardening have worked for us in the past at being quite productive in smaller spaces.

Also potato bags, I love potato bags!

I read the first book and I think it is the first time in decades that I have encountered actual sci-fi concepts that weren’t a reworking of ideas that have been around for decades.

It’s not a character driven novel but the characters are fine, mostly they’re not that likeable - which in my opinion is not a reason to dislike a story - and I think they probably lose something in translation. When I was a teenager I devoured Asimov, Phillip K Dick, Heinlein etc for the concepts, compared to them the characters in 3 Body are masterfully written.

I haven’t yet read the second book as I found the first few chapters a bit of a slog but I plan to pick it up again once I’ve finished rereading some Ursula K LeGuin