OK: hands up anyone who hasn’t read it. Ah … that’s a much more manageable number.

The book is a modern classic. It starts with the expulsion of an angst ridden boy from a private school for lack of academic application, and ends with his vow to work harder at his next school.

In between there’s a tale of anxiety, angst and alienation, all of which is finally overcome by the protagonist’s realisation that he is not an island but part of an interdependent network of people who rely upon one another to make their dreams come true.

Biofuels are going through a similar process of adolescent maturity. Once lauded as the answer to oil they fell from grace spectacularly after the World Bank estimated that biofuels have increased food prices by up to 75%.

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