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A review by rin_84
The Complete Language of Flowers: A Definitive and Illustrated History - Pocket Edition by S. Theresa Dietz
3.0
First of all, thank you Quarto Publishing Group-Wellfleet Press for giving me the opportunity to read this review copy. This is a very beautifully illustrated book. Even the book's cover is gorgeous. I admit that i was enticed by the cover and of course by the interesting details and descriptions of the book.
However,there are a few parts of this book that is not to my liking. But first i will list a few points that i like about this book. I find some of the facts and info stated in the folklores and facts section to be quite interesting like for example how the Hibiscus called the Shoe Flower is named so as the petals can be used to shine shoes and in the Pacific Islands, a red Hibiscus flower is worn by women as a sign of their interests, if worn behind the left ear means she desires a lover, if worn behind the right ear, means she already has a lover, and if worn behind both ears means she wants another one!. Or the story about wild barley,how in the medieval times, a type of divination using cakes made of wild barley was used to determine guilt or innocence known as alphitomancy, if there was a group of suspected criminals, all of them were fed with the cakes or bread and supposedly the person who got indigestion was the guilty party!.
I also find the facts about some of these plants have become endangered and threatened to be just as interesting as well as crucial to know. Or how some the flowers like a few species of Orchids and plants are using some kind of unique mimicry camouflage or luring techniques into luring and tricking the pollinators insects to do cross pollinations for them.
Ok, those are among points that i liked about this book. Unfortunately, there are a few parts that i find lacking and a little disappointing. For one thing, is the way the author organizes the flowers and plants according to Latin Names instead of the Commonly used,well-known or popular names. I find this part to be troubling and a bothersome especially to someone who is unfamiliar and is not an expert in plants and flowers but is interested to learn about them like me. Isn't a reference guide supposed to be informative as well as easy to follow?. Listing the plants according to their unfamiliar Latin Names isn't easy to follow as we need to look out at the index sections for those names. Isn't it better, if listing the plants according to their popular or commonly known names first, then followed by their Latin/scientific names?.
Secondly which is also the most important part that is the poisonous and toxicity symbols and descriptions of those plants. Why is it that i find that only a few of those poisonous plants came with the descriptions of the level of harmfulness and the side effects of those poison towards humans and animals and which parts are harmful while many others did not have any descriptions or information at all about all of these things?. Yet the most shocking thing is that some of the supposed to be poisonous or toxic plants are from among the plants that we usually used for cooking and the plants that we usually planted in our gardens. Now, that's the part that confuses me i mean if some parts of the plants are really harmful and toxic, shouldn't it come also with an information and some descriptions so that we are aware of it and can take safety precautions?. Not only that, there isn't even an illustration of some of these supposed to be harmful plants for our reference and guidelines. How are we supposed to take some safety and precautionary measures of these plants if we do not even know how it looks like or what kind of harm it can cause to us?.
Thirdly, i am confused with the purpose or objective of this book. As a supposed to be a reference guide, i find this part to be a little confusing as i find this book focuses more on the superstitious mumbo jumbo,myths and legends which is a bothersome to me as for one thing, that isn't the only kind of information that i was looking for from this book and i am not a superstitious person. It is okay to include some superstitious beliefs and local folklores about those plants coz i am sure many people are interested to know about them (so do i) but they are just way too much info and focus on all of that until i begin to think that this book is actually a reference guide for magic spells and witch crafts!. I wish you could also add some beneficial info about those plants like how they are used in other culture as in cooking, as medicine or for other purposes you know more of that cultural and historical aspects to make it more interesting and something useful we could use or apply like for treatment or the medicinal aspect,for everyday purposes like to clean or remove something,etc. I seriously think this book could use a little more extensive and careful research and more editing as i find some facts of the plants to be misleading and confusing.
In conclusion, this book could be a much better and more interesting book but needs some polishing and editing in certain areas. As for now, i could only give this book a rating of 2.5
However,there are a few parts of this book that is not to my liking. But first i will list a few points that i like about this book. I find some of the facts and info stated in the folklores and facts section to be quite interesting like for example how the Hibiscus called the Shoe Flower is named so as the petals can be used to shine shoes and in the Pacific Islands, a red Hibiscus flower is worn by women as a sign of their interests, if worn behind the left ear means she desires a lover, if worn behind the right ear, means she already has a lover, and if worn behind both ears means she wants another one!. Or the story about wild barley,how in the medieval times, a type of divination using cakes made of wild barley was used to determine guilt or innocence known as alphitomancy, if there was a group of suspected criminals, all of them were fed with the cakes or bread and supposedly the person who got indigestion was the guilty party!.
I also find the facts about some of these plants have become endangered and threatened to be just as interesting as well as crucial to know. Or how some the flowers like a few species of Orchids and plants are using some kind of unique mimicry camouflage or luring techniques into luring and tricking the pollinators insects to do cross pollinations for them.
Ok, those are among points that i liked about this book. Unfortunately, there are a few parts that i find lacking and a little disappointing. For one thing, is the way the author organizes the flowers and plants according to Latin Names instead of the Commonly used,well-known or popular names. I find this part to be troubling and a bothersome especially to someone who is unfamiliar and is not an expert in plants and flowers but is interested to learn about them like me. Isn't a reference guide supposed to be informative as well as easy to follow?. Listing the plants according to their unfamiliar Latin Names isn't easy to follow as we need to look out at the index sections for those names. Isn't it better, if listing the plants according to their popular or commonly known names first, then followed by their Latin/scientific names?.
Secondly which is also the most important part that is the poisonous and toxicity symbols and descriptions of those plants. Why is it that i find that only a few of those poisonous plants came with the descriptions of the level of harmfulness and the side effects of those poison towards humans and animals and which parts are harmful while many others did not have any descriptions or information at all about all of these things?. Yet the most shocking thing is that some of the supposed to be poisonous or toxic plants are from among the plants that we usually used for cooking and the plants that we usually planted in our gardens. Now, that's the part that confuses me i mean if some parts of the plants are really harmful and toxic, shouldn't it come also with an information and some descriptions so that we are aware of it and can take safety precautions?. Not only that, there isn't even an illustration of some of these supposed to be harmful plants for our reference and guidelines. How are we supposed to take some safety and precautionary measures of these plants if we do not even know how it looks like or what kind of harm it can cause to us?.
Thirdly, i am confused with the purpose or objective of this book. As a supposed to be a reference guide, i find this part to be a little confusing as i find this book focuses more on the superstitious mumbo jumbo,myths and legends which is a bothersome to me as for one thing, that isn't the only kind of information that i was looking for from this book and i am not a superstitious person. It is okay to include some superstitious beliefs and local folklores about those plants coz i am sure many people are interested to know about them (so do i) but they are just way too much info and focus on all of that until i begin to think that this book is actually a reference guide for magic spells and witch crafts!. I wish you could also add some beneficial info about those plants like how they are used in other culture as in cooking, as medicine or for other purposes you know more of that cultural and historical aspects to make it more interesting and something useful we could use or apply like for treatment or the medicinal aspect,for everyday purposes like to clean or remove something,etc. I seriously think this book could use a little more extensive and careful research and more editing as i find some facts of the plants to be misleading and confusing.
In conclusion, this book could be a much better and more interesting book but needs some polishing and editing in certain areas. As for now, i could only give this book a rating of 2.5