botany of desire a plant's eye view of the world

And just as we've benefited from these plants, the plants, in the grand co-evolutionary scheme that Pollan evokes, have done remarkably well by us.'-BOOK JACKET. The apple gratifies our taste for sweetness the tulip attracts us with its beauty marijuana offers intoxication and the genetically modified potato gives us a sense of control over nature. All four species are deeply woven into the fabric of our everyday lives, and Pollan illustrates how each has evolved a survival strategy based on satisfying one of humankind's most basic desires. 'In this narrative that blends history, memoir, and the best science writing, Pollan tells the story of four domesticated species - the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato - from the point of view of the plants. Or are they? What if those potatoes and tulips have evolved to gratify certain human desires so that humans will help them multiply? What if, in other words, these plants are using us just as we use them?'. Two straightforward examples of how humans act on nature to get what we want. The Botany of Desire: A Plants-Eye View of the World Paperback GOOD. A gardener plants tulip bulbs in the fall and, come spring, has a riotous patch of color to admire. 'An Idaho farmer cultivates Russet Burbank potatoes so that a customer at a McDonald's half a world away can enjoy a long, golden french fry. By the bestselling author of The Omnivores Dilemma, this is Michael Pollans ingenious companion book about the surprising and close relationship between people and plants. Praise for the narrator: Scott Brick uses his skill with expression.to produce an audible intoxication.The botany of desire : a plant's eye view of the world / Michael Pollan Book Bib ID And just as we've benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind's most basic yearnings.

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 The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. The book that helped make Michael Pollan, the New York Times bestselling author of Cooked and The Omnivore's Dilemma, one of the most trusted food experts in America.Įvery 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.

Botany of desire a plant's eye view of the world