Staff Pick

I can't believe I hadn't heard about this book before I found it on the shelf. Published in the 1970s, it explores the relationship between humans and plant life. Numerous scientific studies with lie detector tests, electrodes, and other '70s high-tech instruments produce astounding results. Plants have feelings: they feel fear, they help each other, they try to communicate, they like music! Plants can read your mind.
Recommended by Kate L., Powell's City of Books

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ohmilanders, July 8, 2009 (view all comments by ohmilanders)
I read this wonderful book nearly 20 years ago and still to this day use the material that I learned and have been a very happy gardener since.
Spectacular for anyone but especially those who have felt they had a purple thumb. This book will give you the greenest thumb along with the envy of anyone who see's the changes that take place around you in the plant world.I think it is a must read for anyone who loves plants and wants to feel a closer connection to the plant world!

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Hermester Barrington, February 11, 2008 (view all comments by Hermester Barrington)
Life affirming scientific case studies of vegetable life

It is an axiom oft stated that the magic of one century becomes the science of the next. This overly hopeful idea of how perceptions of human knowledge change in time is not supported by this book. Ideas seen as magical are not inevitably accepted by mainstream scientists; instead, theories and practices proven by experiment are routinely denied admission into the halls of academe, because of they support a science of life rather than one of death, and envision a universe which is alive and fertile, a living organism in fact, rather than one which is dead and brittle, made up of pieces with which scientists can play as if they were Tinkertoys.

Tompkins and Bird present this thesis by means of a number of case studies of thinkers at the vanguard of botanical thought. Among these actors in this new study of plant life are Cleve Backster, who showed that plants can sense the emotions of humans; Luther Burbank, who demonstrated that plants will grow to please members of our race; and various researchers who proved that plants will respond to music, growing toward the music of Bach and fleeing that of Led Zeppelin. These experiments prove conclusively that the standard definition of plants as insensible is inaccurate.

These experiments are only the surface of this book, however, the intent of which is not only to do away with old thinking on this matter, but also to inform us or perhaps just to remind us that the entire planet is alive, and that it is for the good of the planet that we begin to feed ourselves in a simpler manner. The authors accordingly provide case studies of farmers, such as J. Rodale, who raise healthy crops without artificial fertilizers or pesticides. These crops have a far greater output than do those raised by conventional methods, because the earth responds to the simpler methods better than to the harsh materialistic approaches advocated by the government and by fertilizer manufacturers.

This book, then, will show those willing to see that plants not only can communicate with us, but that they also are willing to work with humanity to return us to Eden, or more prosaically, that through methods less harmful to the environment and less expensive than commercial fertilizers, farmers can raise crops which surpass the abundance of those raised by conventional methods. There are a few cases, such as those in the chapter on radionic pesticides, which were not supported by sufficient evidence to prove their points, but in general this book demonstrates that plants are indeed more alive than we suspected, and are our willing helpmates in all aspects of life, if we would but listen. Recommended for all who work with plants, and for those who already believe in the living universe, and who want to see scientific confirmation of that fact.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780060915872

Author:

Tompkins, Peter

Author:

Bird, Christopher O.

Author:

Tompkins, Peter

Author:

by Peter Tompkins

Publisher:

William Morrow & Company

Location:

New York :

Subject:

General

Subject:

Nature

Subject:

Plants

Subject:

Botany

Subject:

Life Sciences - Botany

Subject:

Plants - General

Subject:

General Nature

Subject:

Generin, Laurel

Subject:

General Self-Help

Subject:

Botany-General

Copyright:

c197

Edition Description:

Trade PB

Series Volume:

no. 808

Publication Date:

19890331

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

General/trade

Language:

English

Illustrations:

Yes

Pages:

416

Dimensions:

8.06x5.32x.98 in. .68 lbs.

The Secret Life of Plants New Trade Paper Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird Product details 416 pages HarperCollins Publishers - 1995-05-02 English 9780060915872 Reviews: