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A review by keegan_leech
Planta Sapiens: Unmasking Plant Intelligence by Natalie Lawrence, Paco Calvo
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
1.25
Unfortunately, this is that most irritating of pop science books. It is vapid and thin on content.
Going into Planta Sapiens, Paco Calvo encourages readers to set aside their doubts. "What you read here will be a challenge to anyone's preconceptions. So try to let them go, begin with an open mind and follow the path the evidence is building for us", he says. I thought to myself that this would be no problem. I am not a skeptic or resistant to the ideas the book promises to present. I sought it out, and I know little about them going in. My mind is open, bring on that evidence baby!
How disappointed I was by the absolutely meagre "evidence" presented. By page count, the greatest volume Planta Sapiens is anecdotes and asides that in a better book would used occasionally to illustrate or explain some point, but there is so little to explain. It's all filler.
Ironically, I came away from the book feeling that Calvo had done a better job explaining the positions of his critics, because they are laid out briefly and straightforwardly. As for Calvo's own arguments, the material in Planta Sapiens could essentially be condensed down into an (admittedly lengthy) introduction to a better book. He is not particularly interested in describing in detail how plants grow, respond to stimuli, and interact with their environment. The book gives many examples of these, but then simply moves on. It always felt as though there were something missing. Early on, I just thought that more complex, detailed information would be presented in later chapters, that Calvo was easing the skeptics in gently, but at some point it became clear that this was the entire book.
The final chapter does offer slightly more interesting fodder. It stood out to me for presenting more challenging thoughts about what plant consciousness implies for humans. Why it is important to consider and explore the idea of plant consciousness at all, and how we should let these ideas change our actions and our outlook. Unfortunately, it was too little and came too late. That's even when we set aside that, having given so unconvincing an argument for plant consciousness over the preceding pages, Calvo is begging the question by now telling us how it should change our outlook.
If this book were condensed to the length of a magazine article, it would be a worthwhile read. A glimpse into a subject and topic that is both fascinating and likely novel to most readers. But that's all this is, a glimpse. It isn't worth 200 pages just for that.
Going into Planta Sapiens, Paco Calvo encourages readers to set aside their doubts. "What you read here will be a challenge to anyone's preconceptions. So try to let them go, begin with an open mind and follow the path the evidence is building for us", he says. I thought to myself that this would be no problem. I am not a skeptic or resistant to the ideas the book promises to present. I sought it out, and I know little about them going in. My mind is open, bring on that evidence baby!
How disappointed I was by the absolutely meagre "evidence" presented. By page count, the greatest volume Planta Sapiens is anecdotes and asides that in a better book would used occasionally to illustrate or explain some point, but there is so little to explain. It's all filler.
Ironically, I came away from the book feeling that Calvo had done a better job explaining the positions of his critics, because they are laid out briefly and straightforwardly. As for Calvo's own arguments, the material in Planta Sapiens could essentially be condensed down into an (admittedly lengthy) introduction to a better book. He is not particularly interested in describing in detail how plants grow, respond to stimuli, and interact with their environment. The book gives many examples of these, but then simply moves on. It always felt as though there were something missing. Early on, I just thought that more complex, detailed information would be presented in later chapters, that Calvo was easing the skeptics in gently, but at some point it became clear that this was the entire book.
The final chapter does offer slightly more interesting fodder. It stood out to me for presenting more challenging thoughts about what plant consciousness implies for humans. Why it is important to consider and explore the idea of plant consciousness at all, and how we should let these ideas change our actions and our outlook. Unfortunately, it was too little and came too late. That's even when we set aside that, having given so unconvincing an argument for plant consciousness over the preceding pages, Calvo is begging the question by now telling us how it should change our outlook.
If this book were condensed to the length of a magazine article, it would be a worthwhile read. A glimpse into a subject and topic that is both fascinating and likely novel to most readers. But that's all this is, a glimpse. It isn't worth 200 pages just for that.