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Botany of Desire is: factually engaging, biologically fascinating, historically and sociologically relevant yet spiritually profound. He connects the dots for us. What a captivating book. Michael challenges our thinking, throwing the gauntlet down for us to fundamentally reorient the way we think about our place on this planet and as humans, our relationship to nature. Give it, read it. Michael has a way of telling the story weaving together multiple subject matter. Michael takes very difficult subject matter and boils it down to its essence, making it easily accessible to the reader.
He masterfully weaves together multiple perspectives, perspectives that are systemic with far reaching consequences and makes those consequences clearly visible. Michael Pollan is exquisitely articulate. He extracts the "so what" that most of us overlook. It is deliciously sensual yet essentially pragmatic. He weaves the story of his subject matter (plants) by giving them a voice in the narrative and looks through a lens from their point of view. A wonderful gift, this book. You will enjoy this sensuous, programmatic, articulate and inspiring read.
The Botany of Desire is an investigation of the relationship between humans and plants. I've never been too interested in botany, but I really enjoyed this book. We of course utilize plants for our interests, but consider the amount of effort exhausted by farmers and gardeners around the world on behalf of plants.The author also considers the effect humans have had on the natural process of evolution.
The author questions the conventional view that humans have complete rule over the plant kingdom. Some plants develop qualities that are desirable to people, and thanks to a process of "unnatural selection", those plants flourish in our civilized society. It covers the social, biological, moral and economic effects that plants have had on people throughout history - not to mention the effect we have had on plants.
When we domesticate plants, why do we choose certain plants over others. The author steps back and attempts to view the world from the plant's "point of view", using the cognitive tools possessed by us humans. Taking this view, he argues that the idea of a clear divide between civilized society and the natural world isn't really the whole picture.
The examples used in the book are the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato - each of which satisfies a different human desire (sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control, respectively). Actually, I think the author probes deeper into human nature than into the natural world itself.
He doesn't write condescendingly like a lot of other writers do when they're talking about subjects that the average reader may not be familar with. I am pretty hazy to what botany is and all that. I am not a gardener, though I do like my houseplants and have dreams of having my own garden someday. He continues to do that with the tulips, the cannabis (marijuana) and finally, the potato (my absolute favorite veggie). If you're not familar with botany, this book is perfect for you. It is an eye-opener especially for this lay-person. It may not be the "science" book of my youth, but I learned more in this slim volume than I ever did back in my school days.
For a lot of the reviewers, the basic concept of plants "manipulating" the desires of humans is not a new one. For me, it is a new thought. I am as far removed from the sciences as anyone can be. Then Pollan combines the genetic aspect of pollination and cross-pollination with the legend of the man. and made history and science very fascinating for this reader. In each section of the book, Pollan introduces thoughts and ideas to the layperson who may have just a little bit of knowledge of botany. They took it for granted that domestication was something people did to plants, never the other way around." (Page 243)That is what I thought orginally until I read this book and now. However, the one thing that he wrote that stood out for me is: "With the exception of John Chapman, who had the imagination to identify with the bees, all these other botanists of desire went about their work from a straightforward and, it seems to me, blinkered humanist perspective.
I picked this book up because a friend of mine was going to watch the show and since I would rather read, I got this book. He shares his excitement, thoughts and what he has learned with the reader and not only that, he made it fun. I am very new to the idea of botany and this book was enlightening for me in that respect.Since I live in Ohio, the story of Johnny the Appleseed Man is a familiar legend in my youth and my sons just heard about him for the first time in their field trips this past fall. But Pollan made him come alive as he sketched a more thorough biography of the man who introduced the apple to the wilderness. Since there are a lot of reviews on this book, I will keep it short. with a different twist on perspectives, I will not be looking at plants the same way again.12/10/09
Pollan touches on some profound truths about nature.I guess he says it in a way which does not put one at odds with one's tendency to feel that nature is all good-intending.Definitely enlightening.
The search for apples that were more edible and the process of grafting led to the edible apples we have today. How apples, potatoes, tulips and marijuana traveled from their places of origin was most interesting. There is continuing evolution in apples.Tulips for all their beauty caused economic distress in Holland in the 1600's. The impact of apples on the history of the United States in that the first apples were best used as hard cider led to the temperance movement. Johnny Appleseed planting apple trees in advance of the settlers meant that they could purchase saplings to plant on the land that they planned to settle gave permanence to their efforts. One species became overvalued much like the current real estate market and other commodities. Things don't change that much over the years.
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