The Botany of Desire

Posted on 02 February 2018 by Michael Pollan

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 AmericaEvery 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 Download The Botany of Desire – kino-fada.fr All those plants care about is what every being cares about on the most basic genetic level makingcopies of itselfDid I choose to plant these potatoes, or did the potato make me do it All these plants, which I d always regarded as the objects of my desire, were also, I realized, subjects, acting on me, getting me to do things for them they couldn t do for themselves.Pollan posits that plants are clever little buggers who have tricked and enslaved the human race into doing their bidd All those plants care about is what every being cares about on the most basic genetic level makingcopies of itselfDid I choose to plant these potatoes, or did the potato make me do it All these plants, which I d always regarded as the objects of my desire, were also, I realized, subjects, acting on me, getting me to do things for them they couldn t do for themselves.Pollan posits that plants are clever little buggers who have tricked and e...I love books that open my eyes, teach me something, and even go so far as to re educate me on the fallacies foisted upon me by ill informed elementary school teachers To that last end, I found the chapter on Johnny Appleseed very enlightening as well as highly entertaining Michael Pollan ishumorous and, let s just say,adventurous than one might expect from a journalist botanist see his passages on hallucinogenic plants I appreciate his willingness to go first in the same way I I love books that open my eyes, teach me something, and even go so far as to re educate me on the fallacies foisted upon me by ill informed elementary school teachers To that last end, I found the chapter on Johnny Appleseed very enlightening as well as highly entertaining Michael Pollan ishumorous and, let s just say,adventurous than one might expect from a journalist botanist see his passages on hallucinogenic plants I appreciate his willingness to go first in the same way I tip my hat to daring bastard who first tried, say, lobster I assume it we...Okay, okay, books by Michael Pollan are clearly a fad right now, but I have bought into it whole heartedly He is an amazing, amazing writer he makes me want to plant a garden, to tour his garden his bedroom what , to only eat organic food, and to find out the story and origin of every morsel of food I put in my body But he does it in a way that isn t overly preachy or agenda driven Instead, he lets you get what he is saying while at the same time telling an engaging, well researched ... The Botany of Desire A Plant s Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan introduces the possibility to the reader that plants are using insects, animals and humans to ensure their own survival An interesting book about the symbiosis between all living organism and how Charles Darwin s evolutionary theory of natural selection is happening In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship He master The Botany of Desire A Plant s Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan introduces the possibility to the reader that plants are using insects, animals and humans to ensure their own survival An interesting book about the symbiosis between all living organism and how Charles Darwin s evolutionary theory of natural selection is happening 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 whomWhat the author did in the book ...This is a marvellous book, which discusses the science, sociology, aesthetics and culture, relating to four plants.ApplesTulipsMarijuanaPotatoesBecause of who I am, the things that interested me most were the tulip and potato sections.With the first, he discusses the notorious obsession surrounding tulip cultivation in Holland in the 17th century With the second he discusses a genetically modified potato which was on sale in the US at the time he wrote the book, in 2001 The potato is a variety This is a marvellous book, which discusses the science, sociology, aesthetics and culture, relating to four plants.ApplesTulipsMarijuanaPotatoesBecause of who I am, the things that interested me most were the tulip and potato sections.With the first, he discusses the notorious obsession surrounding tulip cultivation in Holland in the 17th century With the second he discusses a genetically modified potato which was on sale in the US at the time he wrote the book, in 2001 The potato is a variety called NewLeaf This is no longer a product being promoted by the company which produces the seeds for it Monsanto of course , but what the author has to say about it is still very relevant with regard to current and futur...In East Asian cultures according to my increasingly Japanese daughters the number four brings bad luck This is because it sounds a bit like the word for death Clearly the number four has no such associations for Michael Pollan The Omnivore s Dilemma is based around four meals and this one is based around four plants I ve donethan just enjoy these two books, they have completely enchanted me whilst also informing me and keeping me greatly amused.Now, desire sounds like a strong word In East Asian cultures according to my increasingly Japanese daughters the number four brings bad luck This is because it sounds a bit like the word for death Clearly the number four has no such associations for Michael Pollan The Omnivore s Dilemma is based around four meals and this one is based around four plants I ve donethan just enjoy these two books, they have completely enchanted me whilst also informing me and keeping me greatly amused.Now, desire sounds like a strong word to use about botany There is, of course, that Frank Zappa song Call Any Vegetable and it will respond to you I think this is also the song which ends with the memorable line, O what a pumpkin ...I ve wanted to read this book ever since it came out, but, so far, I ve been pretty deeply disappointed by it From the jacket copy and reviews I d read, I d come to expect a poetic lay science book about the entwined destinies of plants and humans Hell, that s what the author s introduction led me to expect, too.I did not expect, nor want, most of the chapter on the apple to beconcerned about the historical realities of Johnny Appleseed than with the apple itself I didn t want the autho I ve wanted to read this book ever since it came out, but, so far, I ve been pretty deeply disappointed by it From the jacket copy and reviews I d rea...Reminded me of A History of the World in 6 Glasses with the introduction, except it was even worse Very long, repetitious, kept wandering into pseudoscientific philosophy As well as Scott Brick read this, it was incredibly boring listening to the same points for half an hour, so I quit Yes, it is interesting to contemplate whether we domesticated a plant or it domesticated us The evolutionary imperative of any organism is to spread copies of its DNA Yuval Noah Harari mentioned it in S Reminded me of A History of the World in 6 Glasses with the introduc...Four common plants and I didn t know they each held such a rich history Well, I was kind of familiar with marijuana s development not from personal toking, honest Asian, but from being surrounded by tokers hey, it was Oregon and that it was completely villified in the just say no era of drug awareness education The chapters on the apple, tulip, and potato offer cautionary evidence on the danger of destroying diversity in the name of commerce Dratted industry and their shipping lives, ap Four common plants and I didn t know they each held such a rich history Well, I was kind of familiar with marijuana s development not from personal toking, honest Asian, but from being surrounded by tokers hey, it was Oregon and that it was completely villified in the just say no era of drug awareness education The chapters on the apple, tulip, and potato offer cautionary evidence on the danger of destroying diversity in the name of commerce Dratted industry and their shipping lives, appearance over taste, money over environmental responsibility dratted consumers and our being trapped in busy schedules, cheap produce, the quickeasy, the short range.Even though I m proba...As beguiling as the plants this book enlightened me about

English
02 February 2018

Michael Pollan