A journalist’s investigation into the hidden link between the food we grow and the toxic air we breathe
New Delhi, 1st October 2026: Penguin Viking, an imprint of Penguin India, announces the acquisition of The Nitrogen Bomb by journalist and author Jacob Koshy. Part science, part history and part political investigation, the book shows how nitrogen, the gas that feeds the world, ends up as the smog we breathe.
As Delhi and the Indo-Gangetic Plain brace for another winter of toxic haze, The Nitrogen Bomb points to how Nitrogen, that made modern farming possible, also pollutes rivers and groundwater, damages ecosystems and adds to the particulate matter in our air.
Koshy follows nitrogen from the labs where fertilizer was invented to the farms, factories and political battles that shaped how India eats. With fertilizer supply now under strain after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the book arrives when the question of how we feed our country, and what that costs our air, can no longer wait.
Speaking on the book, Archana Nathan, Senior Commissioning Editor, Penguin Random House India, said, ‘This is narrative nonfiction at its finest. Wonderfully researched and compellingly told, The Nitrogen Bombtraces humanity’s journey to the present moment, one defined by climate change and severe air pollution, through the lens of a single, extraordinary element. Koshy brings together science, history and reportage to illuminate a crisis we can no longer afford to look away from. I can’t wait for more readers to discover this timely and important book as we brace ourselves for yet another season of bad air.’
Milee Ashwarya- Publisher & Group SVP, Adult Publishing Group, Penguin Random House India said, ‘The Nitrogen Bomb by Jacob Koshy is a timely and valuable addition to the Penguin Random House India list. As we struggle to breathe through several months of the year, confronted with rapidly worsening air pollution and an urgent lack of effective solutions, this brilliant new book helps us understand how we got here. A deeply relevant book for our times, The Nitrogen Bomb is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand one of the defining environmental challenges of our age.’
Author and Journalist Jacob Koshy said, ‘As the history of countries moving from ‘developing’ to ‘developed’ shows, prosperity has a price. We may gripe, but we have made our peace with the air pollution of transport, industry and other such symbols of ‘development’. What we eat, and how we produce it, demands its own accounting. Nitrogenous fertilizers, so essential to humanity and seemingly harmless, turn out to be a feast with a toxic aftertaste, and one that is intimately bound to India’s air pollution crisis, though largely unacknowledged. I am delighted that Penguin Viking is publishing this story, which I have pieced together over many months. I hope it moves readers towards a greater sensitivity to the complexity of the biosphere we collectively inhabit.’
The book is scheduled for publication in October 2026 and will be available for pre-orders soon.
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About Penguin Random House India
Penguin Random House India is the country’s leading trade publisher, publishing over 450 new titles every year and managing a diverse backlist of more than 3,500 books. Its publishing spans literary and commercial fiction, non-fiction, and children’s books, from politics, history, memoir, and business to health, self-help, cookery, and culture.
Penguin Random House India is home to some of India’s and the world’s most celebrated voices, including winners of the Nobel Prize, Booker Prize, Jnanpith Award, and Sahitya Akademi Award. Several of its authors have also been honoured with the Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan, reflecting the influence of their work in literature and public life.
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