Most of us by now are familiar about the inhumane and destructive aspects of industrial meat, but we tend to assume that seafood is alright, except for a few exceptions such as dolphin bycatch in tuna fishing, or whale-hunting.

That's why "Bottomfeeder" came as such a - needed - shock to me, and probably will to you. Taras Grescoe exposes the underlying political, social, environmental and health impacts surrounding the complex world of seafood, from Atlantic cod to oyster farming, and from Indian shrimp farms to the disappearance of bluefin tuna.

All I can say is, this book is absolute required reading if you've got an ounce of social responsibility in your body. It will cause you a headache, though: no longer will seafood be a simple alternative to meat, and you'll end up obsessing, like me, over where that piece of salmon was farmed, or whether to eat that critically-endangered cod in your fish and chips.

Environmental impact and mass exctinction on land is easy to spot. But while we look away, the oceans are being reduced to wastelands by unscrupulous corporations and governments including those of Europe, Canada and the US. This book is an urgent wake-up call.