{"product_id":"the-64-tomato-how-one-man-nearly-lost-his-sanity-spent-a-fortune-and-endured-an-existential-crisis-in-the-quest-for-the-perfect-ga-9781565125575","title":"The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Ga","description":"Bill Alexander had no idea that his simple dream of having a vegetable garden and small orchard in his backyard would lead him into life-and-death battles with groundhogs, webworms, weeds, and weather; midnight expeditions in the dead of winter to dig up fresh thyme; and skirmishes with neighbors who feed the vermin (i.e., deer). Not to mention the vacations that had to be planned around the harvest, the near electrocution of the tree man, the limitations of his own middle-aged body, and the pity of his wife and kids. When Alexander runs (just for fun ) a costbenefit analysis, adding up everything from the live animal trap to the Velcro tomato wraps and then amortizing it over the life of his garden, it comes as quite a shock to learn that it cost him a staggering $64 to grow each one of his beloved Brandywine tomatoes. But as any gardener will tell you, you can't put a price on the unparalleled pleasures of providing fresh food for your family.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilliam Alexander, the author of two critically acclaimed books, lives in New York's Hudson Valley. By day the IT director at a research institute, he made his professional writing debut at the age of fifty-three with a national bestseller about gardening, \u003ci\u003eThe $64 Tomato.\u003c\/i\u003e His second book, \u003ci\u003e52 Loaves, \u003c\/i\u003e chronicled his quest to bake the perfect loaf of bread, a journey that took him to such far-flung places as a communal oven in Morocco and an abbey in France, as well as into his own backyard to grow, thresh, and winnow wheat. The \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e called Alexander \"wildly entertaining,\" the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e raved that \"his timing and his delivery are flawless,\" and the \u003ci\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e observed that \"the world would be a less interesting place without the William Alexanders who walk among us.\" A 2006 Quill Book Awards finalist, Alexander won a Bert Greene Award from the IACP for his article on bread, published in \u003ci\u003eSaveur\u003c\/i\u003e magazine. A passion bordering on obsession unifies all his writing. He has appeared on NPR's \u003ci\u003eMorning Edition\u003c\/i\u003e and at the National Book Festival in Washington DC and is a frequent contributor to the\u003ci\u003e New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e op-ed pages, where he has opined on such issues as the Christmas tree threatening to ignite his living room and the difficulties of being organic. Now, in \u003ci\u003eFlirting with French, \u003c\/i\u003e he turns his considerable writing talents to his perhaps less considerable skills: becoming fluent in the beautiful but maddeningly illogical French language. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Algonquin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50726236946706,"sku":"9781565125575","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5c271394-2031-4f25-8b63-7900ec08a541.jpg?v=1734860911","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-64-tomato-how-one-man-nearly-lost-his-sanity-spent-a-fortune-and-endured-an-existential-crisis-in-the-quest-for-the-perfect-ga-9781565125575","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}