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evaamarie's review against another edition
5.0
truly truly one of my favorite books i’ve read in a long time. the crossover between plants, history, sociology, and cultural criticism was fascinating. i loved his writing and this book really inspired a renewed love for plants and a hope/more hopeful concern for people and the environment. i wish there were several more just like it.
kimball_hansen's review against another edition
3.0
For the record I hate Scott Brick. He's the worst narrator. Also, for the record, Michael Pollen is a really good writer but his sensual lust for hallucinogens and other mind altering plants is annoying and gets old really fast.
This book was decent. It discusses four plants: apples, tulips, marijuana, and the potato. The apple section was pretty good, the tulips were a little boring, the marijuana was too charged with unnecessary politics, and the potato part was undernourished.
Notes:
I listened to the first section on apples while biking down a steep dirt road from a mountain, so I didn't write down every note I wanted. But I did get this:
-Johnny Appleseed was betrothed to a 10-year old girl but she flirted with some kids her age and he got upset and dumped her.
-Johnny Appleseed was portrayed as some Almighty figure back in the day.
-Apples first came from Turkmenistan or one of those Stan countries. The trees grew (grow) to be 60 feet tall. They aren't the north American native fruit like commonly believed.
-Apples were used for making alcohol. And eventually because of that got a bad rap. In order to change that rap, marketing came up with the slogan "an apple a day keeps the doctor away."
-Back in the Olden Days, to get people to settle the frontier, they had to plant 50 apple trees and some other trees to keep the owners on the land and settle it by maintaining their orchards.
-There are a bunch varieties of apples that we have never experienced.
Haha bees are flying shlongs.
People plant gardens of flowers to make a statement.
The tulip was thought of as a remedy for farts.
200 million years ago there were no flowers.
He said the Eskimos are the only people to not use psychoactive plants.
Memory is the enemy of wonder.
Potatoes are more finicky to grow than I thought.
This book was decent. It discusses four plants: apples, tulips, marijuana, and the potato. The apple section was pretty good, the tulips were a little boring, the marijuana was too charged with unnecessary politics, and the potato part was undernourished.
Notes:
I listened to the first section on apples while biking down a steep dirt road from a mountain, so I didn't write down every note I wanted. But I did get this:
-Johnny Appleseed was betrothed to a 10-year old girl but she flirted with some kids her age and he got upset and dumped her.
-Johnny Appleseed was portrayed as some Almighty figure back in the day.
-Apples first came from Turkmenistan or one of those Stan countries. The trees grew (grow) to be 60 feet tall. They aren't the north American native fruit like commonly believed.
-Apples were used for making alcohol. And eventually because of that got a bad rap. In order to change that rap, marketing came up with the slogan "an apple a day keeps the doctor away."
-Back in the Olden Days, to get people to settle the frontier, they had to plant 50 apple trees and some other trees to keep the owners on the land and settle it by maintaining their orchards.
-There are a bunch varieties of apples that we have never experienced.
Haha bees are flying shlongs.
People plant gardens of flowers to make a statement.
The tulip was thought of as a remedy for farts.
200 million years ago there were no flowers.
He said the Eskimos are the only people to not use psychoactive plants.
Memory is the enemy of wonder.
Potatoes are more finicky to grow than I thought.
lconrad15's review
4.0
Definitely a good read! Very accessible even to non-botanists. Would have given it 5 stars but I found the section on marijuana a bit lengthy and redundant in parts.
Biological pollution is something I never considered and yet another reason why Monsanto is the epitome of evil.
Biological pollution is something I never considered and yet another reason why Monsanto is the epitome of evil.
yourfriendsteph's review
5.0
My introduction to Pollen past the opinion's column in the NY Times positively exceeded expectations. "The Botany of Desire" is an exceptionally well organized adventure into the history of man's relationship with nature. Informative, intriguing, and very well written. I'm so happy Michael Pollan is a best-seller, because his cautions examinations are worth modeling.
pnwtinap's review against another edition
4.0
Am interesting look into plants and how we work with and sometimes against them.
endless30's review
3.0
loved omnivore's dilemma, but only found this one mildly interesting and pretty boring.