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The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World - Community Reviews back

by Michael Pollan
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Clif's Book World
Clif's Book World rated it 15 years ago
This is an enjoyable book that wanders back and forth through the subjects of botany, history, and literary philosophy. An example of the later is quoted below:"For look into a flower, and what do you see? Into the very heart of nature's double nature--that is, the contending energies of creation ...
Bark at the Ghouls
Bark at the Ghouls rated it 15 years ago
This guy has inspired me to grow my own food and keep a few hens in the backyard. Being a little self-reliant in these unsettling times gives me a sense of stability and hope.In this book, Pollan takes a look at four plants and relates them to human desires, I think . . . He starts things off with ...
Myrto
Myrto rated it 16 years ago
This book captured me in a way that some fiction can. I was totally absorbed in Pollan's perspective in this book, and in the four stories he presents here. The apple, the tulip, the marijuana plant, and the potato become agents in their own evolution, in Pollan's view. He proposes that these plants...
audreyhawkins
audreyhawkins rated it 18 years ago
Michael Pollan explores our relationship to the natural world and how we (try to) shape it, and how it shapes us. I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but Pollan's book held my attention throughout. He's done a lot of thinking about the history of food, and the possible future.
kerry
kerry rated it 55 years ago
Thought provokingly wonderful; I can't praise this book enough. Loads of really interesting historical context, and a lot of references to Dionysus and Apollo.Touching upon issues such as, genetically altered foods, evolution, cultural standpoints, and cause and effect.Pollan manages to intertwine a...
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