One woman's slightly obsessed search for the history and meaning of compost.
Say the word 'compost' at any social gathering and chances are you'll get a lively discussion. There might be a couple of faintly apologetic people who can't compost due to domestic circumstances, or a few who feign compliance out of political correctness, but there are always the true believers who compost with a passion. For them, composting gives a practical connection to the earth, it transforms the worthless into the useful, it is a spiritual phenomenon concerned with life and death . . . it is 'resurrection in a bucket'.
This book is not so much a 'how to' as a social history of compost. Interspersed with interviews from obsessed composters who offer their secrets to success, it's a humorous and entertaining read with a serious undertone - after all, the history of The Heap is the history of modern humanity, as you've never seen it before, through its waste.
