'Population' by Nicole Stuart

Book Title: 

 

Population

ISBN 9781465978141 

Part of Series:  Integra Series 

Author: 

Nicole Stuart 

Available at:

 

Smashwords  Smashwords

Apple / iTunes  Apple / iTunes

Sony / Reader’s Store  Sony / Reader's Store

Kobo  Kobo 

Price:  $4.99 

Number of words (approximately):  53366 

Star Rating (of five):  4

 

Summary:

A university Professor is obsessed by the threat of the growing world population.  He calculates that the world will be submerged beneath a tide of uneducated poor, whose sole aim will be to eat whatever food the world is able to produce, until there is no more.  He is scorned by his peers and his audience, who are, unfortunately, unable to convince him that his proposal to allow the poor to die is not the only way to solve the problem.

Max and Ann learn of the Professor’s theories, and they start to consider a more humane alternative, believing that the better route is to provide adequate food for the poor at an affordable price, so allowing them to devote more time and energy to lifting themselves out of the poverty trap, to gaining the education that will free them of their shackles of poverty.  They use a product produced by an Integra subsidiary as an ingredient in a new type of food that provides the nutrition needed by the poor, but their success draws them to the attention of Joseph Mbonani, a rapacious raider of companies who uses his influence in State bodies and banks to blackmail the owners of target companies to hand him a share of their companies.  The alternative to capitulation is staring them in the face – give up!  Mbonani has stalled their loan application to a bank of which he is a Director, and he threatens the imposition of penalties by the Revenue Services, an organisation with draconian powers and no moral inhibition in applying them. 

Seeking a way out, Max makes contact with Integra, and is invited to discuss the situation.  As he is preparing to fly to Germany, he becomes aware that the Police have been drawn into the plan by Mbonani.  They escape and reach Germany, where they convince Integra to support their plan.  Once the business is operating well in its new home, Max and Ann turn their attention to Mbonani, and soon find that he is involved with the Professor in a business that uses international Food Aid to kill the recipients! They decide to bring Mbonani down!

 

Extract:

- (Max) had made a quick evaluation of the conclusions that Professor Tobin had reached.  There was no doubt that the problems posed by the rapid growth of the world’s population were serious, and particularly in the world’s poorer countries.  It was where one went from that base of data, and the projections one derived from it that made the difference.  Tobin was a fanatic.  He saw only the collapse of the world’s economies as the increasing numbers of people ate their way through the food supply, consuming the world’s resources like so many termites and producing unimaginable quantities of carbon dioxide to poison the planet as they did so.  Max, a realistic businessman, saw that the numbers also created huge opportunities in providing food supplies and improved standards of living for the poor, the class that traditionally produced numerous children.  That philosophy was not a passive recognition of the facts, a surrender to what, at first glance, appeared to be an inevitable outcome.  Even a quick glance at the statistics showed that the population growth in more advanced, wealthier, countries slowed down and often went into reverse as the wealth and standard of living of the population increased.  By taking advantage of the opportunities posed by the massive population growth in developing countries, it would be possible to assist in generating the increased standard of living that would, ultimately, slow down and then stop the population growth and solve the problem!  The immediate problem, that is! - 

Reviewer’s Comments: 

·         Structure:  This eBook is structured according to the best standards, and reads pleasantly in the Epub format that I used.  It is available in all current formats.  Grammar is good, with no spelling or syntax errors that I detected, and with good use of language.  The story line is both credible and interesting, ranging from a South African start and heading to Germany and then wider afield.  The characters are credible and meet the question I always pose – ‘Do I care what happens to them?’ 
I recommend this book for general reading. 

·         Content:  The book is a self-sufficient part of the Integra series, a series that makes pleasant reading and with each book being capable of standing alone, although having read the forerunners gives the reader an insight into some of the people who become involved. 
The thesis of the book addresses a particular problem in a way that Nicole Stuart usually applies – she finds a real or potential problem, then gives us a way to solve it, leaving us at the end of the book with better real information than at the start.

·         Reviewer’s Recommendation:  I enjoyed the book.  I am confident that you will find it a good buy at the price, and well worth your time reading.