The Botany of Desire : A Plant's-Eye View of the World Hardcover - 2001
by Michael Pollan
- Used
- Acceptable
- Hardcover
In this original narrative about man and nature, a bestselling author masterfully links four fundamental human desires--sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control--with the fascinating stories of four plants that embody them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato.
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Details
- Title The Botany of Desire : A Plant's-Eye View of the World
- Author Michael Pollan
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition First Edition
- Condition Used - Acceptable
- Pages 304
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Random House Publishing Group, New York
- Date 2001
- Features Bibliography, Dust Cover, Index, Table of Contents
- Bookseller's Inventory # G0375501290I5N01
- ISBN 9780375501296 / 0375501290
- Weight 1.1 lbs (0.50 kg)
- Dimensions 9.56 x 5.72 x 1.07 in (24.28 x 14.53 x 2.72 cm)
- Reading level 1350
- Library of Congress subjects Human-plant relationships
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 00066479
- Dewey Decimal Code 306.45
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Summary
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 -- thought 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.
From the publisher
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From the jacket flap
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 -- thought 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.
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.
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Citations
- Asimov's Science Fiction, 09/01/2001, Page 141
- Booklist, 04/15/2001, Page 1515
- Booklist Editors Choice/Adult, 01/01/2002, Page 760
- Choice, 11/01/2001, Page 539
- Discover, 01/01/2002, Page 77
- Entertainment Weekly, 07/13/2001, Page 77
- Kirkus Reviews, 04/01/2001, Page 485
- Library Journal, 05/01/2001, Page 0
- LJ Best Sci-Tech Books, 03/01/2002, Page 59
- New York Times, 06/03/2001, Page 13
- New Yorker (The), 06/11/2001, Page 89
- Outside, 09/01/2001, Page 131
- Publishers Weekly, 04/09/2001, Page 59
- Vogue, 06/01/2001, Page 141
