mobap 's review for:

Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence by Stefano Mancuso, Alessandra Viola

4.0

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A nice, relatively short book. It seems to be a pop science book written for a general audience, so the authors spent a bit too much time in a defensive position. I needed much less convincing that plants are intelligent at the outset, but I recognize the importance of the point made. I was already familiar with many of the examples but definitely learned lots of new stuff. One point that I thought was made a bit too casually was the suggestion that we could genetically modify plants to transfer the ability to fix nitrogen. The implications of that are far less innocent than they seem. The authors also briefly mention how modern corn has been genetically modified to return a trait that it once had naturally in heirloom and wild varieties until it was bred out unintentionally. I wish they could problematize that a little. My personal opinion is that genetic modification further reinforces industrial monoculture and dependence on specific strains from seed merchants (Bayer-Monsanto) instead of encouraging diversity and seed and land stewardship.