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The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
by: Michael Pollan

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.45
EAN: 9780375760396
ISBN: 0375760393
Label: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: May 28, 2002
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Release Date: May 28, 2002
Sales Rank: 2270
Studio: Random House Trade Paperbacks

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. So who is really domesticating whom?

Amazon.com Review:
Working in his garden one day, Michael Pollan hit pay dirt in the form of an idea: do plants, he wondered, use humans as much as we use them? While the question is not entirely original, the way Pollan examines this complex coevolution by looking at the natural world from the perspective of plants is unique. The result is a fascinating and engaging look at the true nature of domestication.

In making his point, Pollan focuses on the relationship between humans and four specific plants: apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes. He uses the history of John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) to illustrate how both the apple's sweetness and its role in the production of alcoholic cider made it appealing to settlers moving west, thus greatly expanding the plant's range. He also explains how human manipulation of the plant has weakened it, so that 'modern apples require more pesticide than any other food crop.' The tulipomania of 17th-century Holland is a backdrop for his examination of the role the tulip's beauty played in wildly influencing human behavior to both the benefit and detriment of the plant (the markings that made the tulip so attractive to the Dutch were actually caused by a virus). His excellent discussion of the potato combines a history of the plant with a prime example of how biotechnology is changing our relationship to nature. As part of his research, Pollan visited the Monsanto company headquarters and planted some of their NewLeaf brand potatoes in his garden--seeds that had been genetically engineered to produce their own insecticide. Though they worked as advertised, he made some startling discoveries, primarily that the NewLeaf plants themselves are registered as a pesticide by the EPA and that federal law prohibits anyone from reaping more than one crop per seed packet. And in a interesting aside, he explains how a global desire for consistently perfect French fries contributes to both damaging monoculture and the genetic engineering necessary to support it.

Pollan has read widely on the subject and elegantly combines literary, historical, philosophical, and scientific references with engaging anecdotes, giving readers much to ponder while weeding their gardens. --Shawn Carkonen

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- worth the time
It tends to ramble in the philosophical arena, but I found his writing well researched and the questions thoughtful and thought provoking. I would recommend it for a book club or philosphy group.

Rating:

- Great Idea, Horrible Result
Mr Pollan had a great idea for a book--evolution of 4 different species of well know plants from the plant's perspective as influenced by humans. There's about 30 pages of good information to this end. The rest is horribly long and painful unrelated tangents that he clearly enjoys writing about, but have absolutely nothing to do with the subject. For instance, in covering apples he talks for freggen ever about John Chapaman, aka Johnny Appleseed. Who cares about Appleseed's sexual frustrations with a potential 10 year old bride??? Who cares about his love of sleeping in hollowed out logs, or on the snow if sleeping in the log would disturb some insects??? If you're ridiculously bored and don't mind reading about random garbage you might like this book. If you're looking for enlightenment on this subject or like a well executed book, don't even think about this one.

Rating:

- Short, Sweet, Insightful
I was continuously amused and enlightened about many things in this book; suffice it to say I dog-eared quite a few pages as I wanted to go back to re-read certain passages for the perspective, perhaps for the phrasing, or for the knowledge.

Humans certainly have the desire and the ability to bend nature, but a good lesson learned in this book is to let nature be itself, even as you make it do your bidding!

Rating:

- The best
In style and substance this is one of the best books I've read in recent years, as well as one of the most enjoyable. It also broadened my perspective in several areas. I highly recommend.

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