Mr. Venezia was one of the few survivors of the Sonderkommando, or special units, in charge of emptying the gas chambers and burning the corpses during the Holocaust at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

Some of the most interesting parts of the book come towards the end, where he discusses some of the possible solutions such as Denmark's strategy of burning rubbish to produce electricity, or an Irish scheme to charge shoppers for plastic bags, which led to a 90% drop in their use.

ECONOMIST: A history of waste

With US-Afghan negotiations over a strategic partnership still bogged down over issues like night-time raids and control of prisoners, Mr Karzai has been quick to seize the advantage - saying the Koran burning disaster would not have happened if the Afghans had been in charge.

BBC: Will Afghan Koran row prove Nato's tipping point?