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The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
by Michael Pollan
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780375760396 |
Review-a-Day (What is Review-a-Day?)
"A lovely book that succeeds in attaining that most elusive of states: grace." Adrienne Miller, Esquire (Read the entire Esquire review.)
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
In 1637, one Dutchman paid as much for a single tulip bulb as the going price of a town house in Amsterdam. Three and a half centuries later, Amsterdam is once again the mecca for people who care passionately about one particular plant — though this time the obsessions revolves around the intoxicating effects of marijuana rather than the visual beauty of the tulip. How could flowers, of all things, become such objects of desire that they can drive men to financial ruin?
In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan argues that the answer lies at the heart of the intimately reciprocal relationship between people and plants. In telling the stories of four familiar plant species that are deeply woven into the fabric of our lives, Pollan illustrates how they evolved to satisfy humankinds's most basic yearnings — and by doing so made themselves indispensable. For, just as we've benefited from these plants, the plants, in the grand co-evolutionary scheme that Pollan evokes so brilliantly, have done well by us. The sweetness of apples, for example, induced the early Americans to spread the species, giving the tree a whole new continent in which to blossom. So who is really domesticating whom?
Weaving fascinating anecdotes and accessible science into gorgeous prose, Pollan takes us on an absorbing journey that will change the way we think about our place in nature.
Review:
"I find this book to be inspirational — curiosity and gentleness of spirit forming genius." Richard Ford
Review:
"Pollan shines a light on our own nature as well as on our implication in
the natural world." The New York Times
Review:
"Michael Pollan is a sensualist and a wonderful, funny storyteller. He is so engaging that his profound environmental messages are effortlessly communicated. He makes you fall in love with Nature." Alice Waters
Review:
"This book is as crisp as an October apple, as juicy as an August tomato, as long-awaited as the first flower of spring. Michael Pollan has conceived a new and powerful understanding of who we are, and how we stand in relation to everything else — and the stories he tells to prove the point make the world seem a richer place." Bill McKibben, author of Long Distance and The End of Nature
Review:
"It is a rare pleasure to read a book of ideas so graceful and witty that it makes you smile — at times even laugh out loud — with delight as it challenges you to rethink important issues." Mark Kurlansky, author of The Basque History of the World
Review:
"Like Tracy Kidder, Michael Pollan is a writer to immerse in. He's informed and amusing, with a natural sort of voice that spools on inventively beyond expectations into a controlled but productive and intriguing obsessiveness (whether on Johnny Appleseed or marijuana). A fine book." Edward Hoagland, author of Compass Points
Review:
"No one else writes about the human environment quite like Michael Pollan: we can be grateful indeed that one of our wittiest writers about nature is also one of our wisest. In The Botany of Desire, Pollan makes a persuasive case that the plants we might be tempted to see as having been most domesticated by humanity are in fact also those that have been most effective in domesticating us. It is a stunning insight, and no one will come away from this book without having their ideas of nature stretched and challenged."
William Cronon, editor of Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature
About the Author
Michael Pollan is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine as well as a contributing editor at Harper's magazine. He is the author of two prize-winning books: Second Nature: A Gardener's Education and A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder. Pollan lives in Connecticut with his wife and son.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 4 comments:
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whoseblues1, June 28, 2007 (view all comments by whoseblues1)
Really 4++ stars. I decided to read this book (from 2001) before reading the author's most recent book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. This book discusses 4 different plants, demonstrating how 4 different human desires have operated to make them so successful. The apple tree and the apple come first, and, among other points, the real story about Johnny Appleseed is very interesting. The tulip is discussed next, along with the rabid financial speculation involved in its rise. Marijuana is third, and the chapter includes thoughts on the ubiquitous nature of human use, over time and across cultures, of consciousness-altering plant chemicals, and the possible connection of this use to the development of religion generally. Finally, the potato is last, with a look at the nature of genetic modification that is both sobering and thought provoking. The book posits that, while we pat ourselves on the back for domesticating these (and other) plants, we really have functioned much in the capacity of bees to fulfill the reproductive imperative of the plants themselves. In breeding these plants as we have to fulfill our own narrow desires, however, we may be paying too high a price in lost biodiversity, to our own eventual disadvantage. Well written, a clean, fast read.
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Sarah, March 5, 2007 (view all comments by Sarah)
Ever wanted to know the real story of Johnny Appleseed? (hint: he was growing apples for hard cider, not to eat.) Or what the deal was with the tulip when it was the most powerful currency in the world? or why we plant potatoes, not to mention cannibus?
Pollan skillfully tells the story of how not only we domesticated these plants, but how they domesticated us. A must read for anyone who is interested in food, agriculture, or natural science.
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himynameissusan4, October 27, 2006 (view all comments by himynameissusan4)
It's always interesting to view the world from another perspective than that of a human. :) This writer is a good storyteller--funny at times--and at the end of the book I wondered who, on this planet, is really controlling things. :)
View all 4 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780375760396
- Subtitle:
- A Plant's-Eye View of the World
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Random House Trade
- Location:
- New York
- Subject:
- Nature
- Subject:
- History
- Subject:
- Ecology
- Subject:
- Plants
- Subject:
- Gardening
- Subject:
- Human-plant relationships.
- Subject:
- Plants - General
- Copyright:
- 2002
- Edition Description:
- 1st ed. trade paperback ed.
- Series Volume:
- no. 48
- Publication Date:
- May 2002
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 304
- Dimensions:
- 8.00x5.32x.66 in. .50 lbs.
