Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World | 
pickThis is the second Michael Pollan book I‘ve listened to this year, and once again it did not disappoint. He has a keen ability of making his subject accessible to the layperson. In The Botany of Desire his main conceit is to present the reader/listener with a view of humanity from the perspective of 4 different plants: apples, tulips, cannabis, and the potato. I‘m not sure if he really stays true to his thesis, but the plethora of info is great.
pickToday‘s prompt for #BoundTogetherJune is Fruit on the cover.
Apples, potatoes, marijuana, and tulips are the stars of this collection of connected essays, which leave you wondering, who‘s in control? The plants or us? The writing style makes the science accessible to the average Nicole.
🍎🥔🌿🌷🍏
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#FruitOnTheCover
pickThis was such a fascinating book! Michael Pollan dissects the relationship between plants and people and frames it in a way that plants are using us instead of us using them. He focuses on four plants and how we view them: Apples for sweetness, Marajuana for intoxication, Potatoes for control and Tulips for beauty. I really enjoyed learning about the history of each of these plants and how they shaped our society. #recommend #bookonplants
pickFascinating look at apple trees, potatoes, cannabis, and tulips. Pollan's theory is that as part of their survival strategy, these species use humans to continue to evolve and thrive on Earth. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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https://www.amazon.com/Botany-Desire-Plants-Eye-View-World-ebook/dp/B000FC1H14/r...
Started this on the drive home tonight. Very disappointed that Mr. Pollan began by incorrectly saying the bee working in his garden was a “he.” “A bumblebee would probably would probably also regard himself as a subject in the garden and the bloom he‘s plundering for its drop of nectar as an object. But we know this is just a failure of his imagination.” Sigh. My 7 year old neighbor would be happy to explain that the worker bees are all female.
pickI forgot to take a snap of this book again before returning it so here, have a mushroom photo that I had on my phone listening to the audiobook.
Botany of Desire was excellent, so much hidden history and detailed evolutions of such simple plants. It made me look at everything around here and wonder about all the things that we don‘t know have happened.
pickI have wanted to go apple picking and to try different varietals of apple since reading this and I'm finally going next weekend! So excited! Also, obviously loved this book and love Pollan. #riotgrams #apples
In biology class today my teacher printed different sections of the book for us to chose and read. I fell in love with the writing but I could definitely see how others would find it bland. My entire section was about the Tulip mania in Holland back in the 1600s and how it correlates to a humans natural obsession with beauty.
so-soThis was decent. It kind of reminded me of John McPhee in that it's readable non-fiction that made me interested in a topic that would not normally get my attention (my friend shoved this book into my hand as I was leaving his apartment). I didn't love it but I'm going to go find some McPhee to read because of it so it all worked out.
Yes, forgetting can be a curse, especially as we age. But forgetting is also one of the more important things healthy brains do, almost as important as remembering. Think how quickly the sheer volume and multiplicity of sensory information we receive every waking minute would overwhelm our consciousness if we couldn‘t quickly forget a great deal more of it than we remember.
"What existential difference is there between the human being's role in this (or any) garden and the bumblebee's?"
