The Botany of Desire : : a Plant's eye View of the World
Book - 2002 306.45 Po, Adult Book / Nonfiction / Science & Nature / Biology / Pollan, Michael None on shelf 1 request on 2 copies
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306.45 Po | 4-week checkout | On Hold Shelf |
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Adult Book / Nonfiction / Science & Nature / Biology / Pollan, Michael | 4-week checkout | Due 05-12-2024 |
Originally published in hardcover in 2001.
Introduction: The Human Bumblebee -- Desire, sweetness: plant, the apple -- Desire, beauty: plant, the tulip -- Desire, intoxication: plant, marijuana -- Desire, control: plant, the potato.
Focusing on the human relationship with plants, the author uses botany to explore four basic human desires -- sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control -- through portraits of four plants that embody them: the apple, tulip, marijuana, and potato. Every school child 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 demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. In telling the stories of four familiar species that are deeply woven into the fabric of our lives, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind's most basic yearnings. And just as we've benefited from these plants, the plants have done well by us. So who is really domesticating whom?
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PUBLISHED
New York : Random House, 2002.
Year Published: 2002
Description: xxv, 271 pages ; 21 cm
Language: English
Format: Book
ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
9780375760396
0375501290
SUBJECTS
Human-plant relationships.
Plants, Cultivated -- History.
Plants and civilization.
Ethnobotany.
Agriculture -- Social aspects.
Apples -- History.
Tulips -- History.
Cannabis -- History.
Marijuana -- History.
Potatoes -- History.
Nature -- Effect of human beings on.