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mikusa's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this short book on plants. Plants seem much more intelligent (and devious!) than I realised. I knew they were special, but not quite so sophisticated. Also, Mancuso explains plants as plants, not as planty kinds of animals. They can't move, so they have to adapt to the dangers of their environment, not just escape it. I'm wondering now if perhaps plants haven't simply grown animals in order to produce more plants.......
davidr's review against another edition
4.0
I love reading science books straight from the scientist who is doing the research--when the book is well-written. And, in this book Stefano Mancuso, the founder of the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology, has written a superb gem. It is a short book, only 256 pages, and many of them are filled with photographs. But in this short space he covers a broad range of topics related to plants.
Now, I have to say that the title and subtitle are somewhat misleading. Plants do not revolt--they are not revolutionaries. But they do evolve, so I would suggest a different title. Also, while their intelligence and behavior is certainly described with surprises galore, that is only in the first half of the book. The second half of the book is equally interesting, but it is more about the lessons that architects and engineers have been taking from the structure of plants.
Mancuso writes about a truly surprising behavior of a vine named boquila trifoliolata. It was discovered only a few years ago, in 2013, that when the vine intertwines with other plants, its leaves change shape, color and size to mimic the leaves of other adjacent plants. A single vine has been found to mimic the leaves of three different close-by plants! But the real question is, how does this plant know what to mimic? Mancuso speculates that it is some sort of visual capability, aided by convex lens structures in the epidermis of its leaves.
I did not realize that the reason for deciduous trees changing color in the fall is still not understood. I always thought that it was because their leaves lose their green-colored chlorophyll. Mancuso claims that it is not due to depletion of chlorophyll, as it costs a lot of energy to change color. Instead, the change in color is intended to show insect predators that the tree is strong, and not to be trifled with.
Mancuso explains that because plants are immobile, they cannot have any single points of failure, in case of a predator eating a valuable organ. Therefore, plants have decentralized their functions. Plants do not have a brain, but nevertheless the respond well to problems, albeit slowly. While animals always respond to problems with movement, plants have root systems that act like a collective brain, a distributed intelligence.
The book makes a few diversions that seem to deviate from the central themes of the book. This is a bit irritating, but always fascinating nonetheless. One such diversion is the discussion about capsicophagous people, who are addicted to eating very hot chili peppers. Mancuso asks the question why people would self-inflict pain, and discusses a couple of interesting possibilities. He favors the hypothesis that people like the rush of endorphins that accompany hot spices, somewhat similar to the "runner's high."
The second half of the book describes how plants have been the inspiration to architects and engineers. For example, the phyllotactic tower is a concept that borrows its inspiration from plants. Some plants space their leaves in an arrangement to maximize their access to light. A swarm of plantoids--robots inspired by plants--have been proposed to explore and map the soils of Mars and other applications.
You can read this book in a few hours, and become inspired by the great variety of topics discussed in this book. The book does not hold together on a single theme, except for the incredible wonders of plants, that normally we don't think about.
Note: This review was of a pre-publication copy of the book, sent to me by the publisher.
Now, I have to say that the title and subtitle are somewhat misleading. Plants do not revolt--they are not revolutionaries. But they do evolve, so I would suggest a different title. Also, while their intelligence and behavior is certainly described with surprises galore, that is only in the first half of the book. The second half of the book is equally interesting, but it is more about the lessons that architects and engineers have been taking from the structure of plants.
Mancuso writes about a truly surprising behavior of a vine named boquila trifoliolata. It was discovered only a few years ago, in 2013, that when the vine intertwines with other plants, its leaves change shape, color and size to mimic the leaves of other adjacent plants. A single vine has been found to mimic the leaves of three different close-by plants! But the real question is, how does this plant know what to mimic? Mancuso speculates that it is some sort of visual capability, aided by convex lens structures in the epidermis of its leaves.
I did not realize that the reason for deciduous trees changing color in the fall is still not understood. I always thought that it was because their leaves lose their green-colored chlorophyll. Mancuso claims that it is not due to depletion of chlorophyll, as it costs a lot of energy to change color. Instead, the change in color is intended to show insect predators that the tree is strong, and not to be trifled with.
Mancuso explains that because plants are immobile, they cannot have any single points of failure, in case of a predator eating a valuable organ. Therefore, plants have decentralized their functions. Plants do not have a brain, but nevertheless the respond well to problems, albeit slowly. While animals always respond to problems with movement, plants have root systems that act like a collective brain, a distributed intelligence.
The book makes a few diversions that seem to deviate from the central themes of the book. This is a bit irritating, but always fascinating nonetheless. One such diversion is the discussion about capsicophagous people, who are addicted to eating very hot chili peppers. Mancuso asks the question why people would self-inflict pain, and discusses a couple of interesting possibilities. He favors the hypothesis that people like the rush of endorphins that accompany hot spices, somewhat similar to the "runner's high."
The second half of the book describes how plants have been the inspiration to architects and engineers. For example, the phyllotactic tower is a concept that borrows its inspiration from plants. Some plants space their leaves in an arrangement to maximize their access to light. A swarm of plantoids--robots inspired by plants--have been proposed to explore and map the soils of Mars and other applications.
You can read this book in a few hours, and become inspired by the great variety of topics discussed in this book. The book does not hold together on a single theme, except for the incredible wonders of plants, that normally we don't think about.
Note: This review was of a pre-publication copy of the book, sent to me by the publisher.
biancachristine's review against another edition
5.0
So relevant, so necessary. It does exactly what a good book should: teach and challenge the perceptions of our current reality.
sondosia's review against another edition
5.0
What an absolute delight of a book. Mancuso is brilliant and also injects his writing with a childlike wonder and curiosity. The second-to-last page has a photo of him floating in zero-G during a parabolic flight experiment. (If you’re confused what this has to do with plants, READ THE BOOK!)
anshin's review against another edition
5.0
"La velocità è un fattore del tutto marginale nella vita delle piante. Ciò che davvero interessa a queste ultime non è tanto rispondere in fretta, quanto rispondere bene, così da risolvere i problemi."
#CogitoErgoSum
#MeditateGente
#CogitoErgoSum
#MeditateGente
agnexperience's review
4.0
Of course I set out with the attitude that "OK, the plant book, let's get it over with." and I was humbled pretty much immediately. There's a lot in this book that I hadn't thought about before. A quick "listen" as well. Plants do a lot of things very differently from animals, but I hadn't really considered how WELL they do this.
Some of the side-steps into other topics technology were a bit too long proportionally. More plant stuff, please.
Some of the side-steps into other topics technology were a bit too long proportionally. More plant stuff, please.
gwenaelle_vandendriessche's review against another edition
4.0
Dit boek dat door een wetenschapper geschreven is, leest heel vlot ook voor mensen zoals ik die enkel in hun vrije tijd bezig zijn met de natuur. Het eerste deel van het boek leerde mij allerlei leuke weetjes over speciale eigenschappen van sommige planten. Het tweede deel ging over de interessante onderzoeken die Stefano Mancuso en zijn team hebben gemaakt.
theknitpick's review against another edition
4.0
This book was fascinating. I learned so many things about plants and about the people who study them. Mancuso makes a compelling case for the intelligence of plants, showing the many ways scientists have discovered qualities in plants previously only thought to belong to the animal kingdom. Plants can in some ways "see," "think," and "remember" things and truly do have the ability to learn and react like humans or animals. I really am glad I picked this book up and I highly recommend it to anyone - it's short, informative, and so interesting.
I am counting this as my "book about nature" for Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge 2018.
I am counting this as my "book about nature" for Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge 2018.
libra17's review against another edition
4.0
A neat little book I found while browsing, The Revolutionary Genius of Plants is an overview of new ways we should be looking at plants in terms of new scientific research and in terms of models for how humans can build a more sustainable future for ourselves. I wasn't all that thrilled with the theoretical chapters in the beginning (they were a bit boring), but the chapters on practical application and potential modeling were awesome.