Very cool. The section describing pre-WWI famine events provides important context for understanding the scale and significance of later famine events in People's China and the USSR. The section on sunspot science helps show that the politicization of agricultural science did not begin with Vavilov and Lysenko. I don't think that Davis intended his book to be read in this way, but it's hard to ignore.

I read Planet of Slums too, but I didn't find it to be nearly as impactful. The LA book is supposed to be good. I haven't heard anything about his new book on epidemics.