The Land Grabbers: The New Fight over Who Owns the EarthPearce has written a book on a topical and controversial theme--foreign investment in farmland--that can be commended on at least three counts. First, he did a lot of traveling in Africa, Asia and South America to visit some rather difficult-to-reach outposts such as Gambella in Ethiopia. This is an important plus given the plethora of armchair writers on the book's theme. Second, he talked to a lot of people on both sides of the issue and at times grudgingly tries to make a balanced assessment. Third, he keeps the reader entertained by his background descriptions of the people behind foreign land deals.All of this could have been five star material if he had taken more time to build a more focused and balanced book. Unfortunately he has produced a book with many tangents to his main thesis stated in Chapter 1--that land-short food importing countries are buying up land to ensure their food security. Many of the chapters do not deal with food at all but rather diverge into rubber, biofuels, logging, conservation, and private game parks. While they all place demands on land, they are not motivated by food security concerns. And the bulk of the evidence is that food-importing governments finance a relatively small share of land deals involving food production.Further the book has an overall anti-business and anti-export crop tone. Although Pearce provides glimpses of positive impacts, 90% of the cases in this book dwell on the negative side--admittedly not hard to find. His negative cases of land grabs include Australia with good land governance and where, despite his claims, foreign ownership of farmland has not changed over 30 years according to official statistics. In Africa, he could have interviewed more investors who are making a difference by working in partnerships with smallholders, or providing stable and relatively well paying jobs. Finally, the book is very lame on policy prescriptions on how to tap much needed private investment in ways that promote social and environmental goals