Cover to Cover: Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

May we make a recommendation? Customers with similar searches purchased: "Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World."

That's how this book surfaced. I am a bit embarrassed, though, wondering what it was that I was searching on amazon.com that would produce a book about Botany and Desire. Although, if you know me: I have desires; I am desired; I like plants; I like this book.

It is rare that I read a non-fiction book. Even more rare that I read two in a row. The two books really compliment each other and I think they have really influenced my desire to read more non-fiction. There's a certain pride in knowledge gained after you read a book like this.

In accordance with my craving to look at the environment in the smallest factor possible, Pollan writes a whole book on the Apple, the Tulip, Marijuana, and the Potato. More importantly, how desire impacts each. The fact that the evolution of the apple is based on the apple tree's desire to grow and reproduce. For that to happen, it must produce a product that animals (humans) find attractive (consider apple blossoms before the fruit grows). Additionally, humans cultivate the desire to grow and enjoy the apple tree.

I think an apple is something we all take for granted. Understanding the history of the apple, and understanding its complexities, is truly amazing. During the settlement era of the frontier, an apple orchard was the sign of a lasting settlement; it symbolized that you were establishing your roots (an apple tree takes 10 years to produce an edible fruit). Some laws even required that you plant a row of apple trees on your settlement. Consider the fact that every seed of an apple contains the genes of a completely different and new apple tree. Unlike humans, offspring minimally resemble each other and their parents. Therefore, when a desirable apple was produced from a tree, grafting was (is) the only way to reproduce. It is believed that settlers would carry tree graftings with them.

Just saying this book is about Apples, Tulips, Marijuana and Potatoes is really not fair. I found each of the four chapters equally stimulating.

All during the Apple section, I kept thinking about my favorite Charles Bukowski poem, The Apple. The first line of that poem is, "This is not just an apple, this is an experience." This line completely conveys how I feel about this book.

Listening: to the rain