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A review by brujodinamico
The Secret Life of Plants: A Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man by Peter Tompkins, Christopher Bird
4.0
A scientist doesn't poo poo "weird." A scientist asks if he can repeat weird and if weird can be come the new normal. A scientist doesn't ask: is it weird? A scientist asks: does it work?
It's very easy to be put off by the language of this book, especially for dime a dozen skeptics out there. Prejudicial doubt is very trendy, mostly because it saves people the trouble of actually thinking! Any real scientist who dismisses something as "weird" or "unproven" reveals his own laziness: if he can dismiss something from my armchair, he doesn't have to try anything himself! Prejudice saves people the trouble of having to change their minds and culls new information as: unworthy of consideration. Unfortunately, sound reason will weigh bullshit dispassionately and seek out what truth might be in it, if any. People will go through such elaborate efforts to avoid thinking.
It doesn't matter how much someone gets right: they can be wrong about something else. There are no infallible gurus. Conversely, it doesn't matter how much someone gets wrong: they can be right about something else. There is no one who is always wrong.
For much of this book, many of the (strange!) experiments themselves might be quite good. The interpretation of those experiments might not be correct, but that's a totally different can of worms. The real question is: does it work? We can figure out why it works after entertaining whether it works. And "weird" has nothing to do with either. Virtually every important scientific discover was "weird" -- scientists got burned at the stake for their weirdness. Don't think for a minute that dogmatism is gone. Dogma alive and well in censorious minds crowded with inherited habits and vacant of original thoughts. It is easier to tear down than to build up. It is easier to dismiss than to dissect.
This book is a tour de force of alternative agriculture and the surprising sensitivity of plants to their environments. If it doesn't make you rethink what plants are and how they live, I don't know what will.
It's very easy to be put off by the language of this book, especially for dime a dozen skeptics out there. Prejudicial doubt is very trendy, mostly because it saves people the trouble of actually thinking! Any real scientist who dismisses something as "weird" or "unproven" reveals his own laziness: if he can dismiss something from my armchair, he doesn't have to try anything himself! Prejudice saves people the trouble of having to change their minds and culls new information as: unworthy of consideration. Unfortunately, sound reason will weigh bullshit dispassionately and seek out what truth might be in it, if any. People will go through such elaborate efforts to avoid thinking.
It doesn't matter how much someone gets right: they can be wrong about something else. There are no infallible gurus. Conversely, it doesn't matter how much someone gets wrong: they can be right about something else. There is no one who is always wrong.
For much of this book, many of the (strange!) experiments themselves might be quite good. The interpretation of those experiments might not be correct, but that's a totally different can of worms. The real question is: does it work? We can figure out why it works after entertaining whether it works. And "weird" has nothing to do with either. Virtually every important scientific discover was "weird" -- scientists got burned at the stake for their weirdness. Don't think for a minute that dogmatism is gone. Dogma alive and well in censorious minds crowded with inherited habits and vacant of original thoughts. It is easier to tear down than to build up. It is easier to dismiss than to dissect.
This book is a tour de force of alternative agriculture and the surprising sensitivity of plants to their environments. If it doesn't make you rethink what plants are and how they live, I don't know what will.