Second Nature
by Michael Pollan
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Read in March, 2008
I am an unabashed fan of Michael Pollan. Yes, it may sound strange, but in my esteem, he is tantamount to a rock star or a Hollywood A-lister. "But Rachel!" you may be thinking, "he's just a regular guy! In fact, he's just a bald and bespectacled ol' college professor!"
Despite these potentially legitimate arguments, I classify Michael Pollan among the ranks of the elite. So, when I learned that Michael Pollan published a book about gardening in the early 1990's, I sei...more
Despite these potentially legitimate arguments, I classify Michael Pollan among the ranks of the elite. So, when I learned that Michael Pollan published a book about gardening in the early 1990's, I sei...more
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Read in September, 2008
A fascinating and informative read that goes way beyond gardening. Drawing from history, ecology, religion, literature, and philosophy, Pollan discusses how gardening addresses our relationship with nature.
Excellent writing style. For example, he entertainingly describes "the loathsome slugs: naked bullets of flesh--evicted snails--that hide from the light of day, emerging at sunset to cruise the garden along their own avenues of slime."
In addition to the lowly slug, Pollan add...more
Excellent writing style. For example, he entertainingly describes "the loathsome slugs: naked bullets of flesh--evicted snails--that hide from the light of day, emerging at sunset to cruise the garden along their own avenues of slime."
In addition to the lowly slug, Pollan add...more
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Read in March, 2008
Although I am not a gardener--I joke that I have a black thumb, I do understand the attraction and love to walk through communal gardens and so forth. In this early book, Michael Pollan, known now for his two bestsellers on food (one reviewed by me), writes about gardening, the idea of gardens and the false dichotomy we make between nature and culture. A wise, thoughtful book that seems to me to reflect the attitude we need to deal with our environmental problems, from invasive species to glob...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in December, 2006
recommends it for:
intellectual gardeners
A very heavy book about gardening - history, philosophy, ethics. Especially liked the bits about letting nature do it's thing versus our inevitable effect we have on nature. To weed or not to weed ~
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Read in November, 2008
recommends it for:
readers interested in humanity's place in the natural world.
I've read a few other Michael Pollan books, and have found him to be very thoughtful and insightful, no matter the topic. This book is no exception. He is a very intelligent writer, even occasionally sending me to the dictionary!
I found the book interesting, entertaining, and challenging. He suggests that we need a new perspective on nature, one less oppositional and confrontational. He ruminates extensively on humanity's place in nature and wilderness, seeking to understand the philosophica...more
I found the book interesting, entertaining, and challenging. He suggests that we need a new perspective on nature, one less oppositional and confrontational. He ruminates extensively on humanity's place in nature and wilderness, seeking to understand the philosophica...more
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Read in May, 2008
I liked the articles I've read by Michael Pollan. This is the first book I've read by him. I'm curious where he's gone since 1991, when this book was published. In some ways I think it's an upbeat sequel to Bill McKibben's "The End of Nature." Pollan's thesis is something like "yep, there's no place on earth really untouched by man, so let's grow up, stop pretending like culture and nature are irrevocably opposed, and approach the world like I approach my garden...blending and...more
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Read in August, 2008
Although there are a couple references to earlier anecdotes in the book, the chapters can be read independently of each other. The common thread is 1) Pollan's upbringing and the juxtaposition of his father's and grandfather's gardens and 2) How natural is a garden?
Pollan peppers the book with contextual information on the evolution of landscape design, introduces the reader to many garden writers and historians, gives a thorough history of roses, and explores his own assumptions on nature. C...more
Pollan peppers the book with contextual information on the evolution of landscape design, introduces the reader to many garden writers and historians, gives a thorough history of roses, and explores his own assumptions on nature. C...more
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Read in August, 2008
I am unabashed about my newest author crush--Michael Pollan. His writing is so funny, so well-researched, so pertinent, so personal... I can't imagine enjoying a book about gardening more than this. It's fascinating in its facts, but Pollan's autobiographical experiences add even more. Some of it is laugh out-loud hilarious and some of it is historically poignant and most of it is just plain interesting. He gives the impression of so much ease in his writing--even when he's tackling the metaphys...more
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Pollan writes about his own personal adventures and stories that involve his experiences with gardening. It's hilarious. He talks about his "battles" with the woodchuck that eats his vegetables, understanding carrotness, and talking about how uptight roses are, but there is a lot more going on. Pollan is challenging our preconceived notions that nature and civilization are irreconcilable and makes the argument that gardening provides a place, a balance, for the two. He goes against...more
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Read in July, 2007
Ahhhh...Michael Pollan, how do I love thee? I can't possibly recommend any of Pollan's books with enough emphasis. He has good ideas, a clear and pleasant writing style, is thought provoking, funny, and real. He really want to draw you into his book, making it into less of a one-sided thing -- he writes/you read -- and more into a conversation of thoughts. At least that is my interpretation and the feeling I come away with after one of his excellent books.
Second Nature is one of his older w...more
Second Nature is one of his older w...more
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Read in February, 2007
recommends it for:
Gardeners. Eaters. Treehuggers.
This book was a wonderful read. Pollan's writing is as engaging as are his ideas. He starts at the beginning of his relationship with nature in his grandfather's statly garden and his parents' unkempt yard that defied the suburban lawn monoculture, then moves through the path of his education at the hands of his gardens over the years, taking us along as this journey opens up for him the idea of the humble garden as a paradigm for thinking about human life in nature.
In the garden, human amb...more
In the garden, human amb...more
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After having read "The Botany of Desire", enjoying "A place of My Own" and this book having come highly recommended, I was really looking forward to reading it. Frankly, I was a little disappointed.
It's really more about Landscape Architecture than "gardening". Even so, I might have found that topic interesting had I not already been a matriculating student of that subject. Having said that he, does seem to be very well informed and this would make a very g...more
It's really more about Landscape Architecture than "gardening". Even so, I might have found that topic interesting had I not already been a matriculating student of that subject. Having said that he, does seem to be very well informed and this would make a very g...more
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Read in February, 2008
an early work from michael, before he hit his stride with the botany of desire. here, he was starting to explore his figurative "walking through thoughts" structure of writing.
it is a good read for anyone starting to form a relationship with a garden, a yard, or most anyone who is not a farmer by profession and who is growing something. there are many points of insight that can remind you of the details suffusing the environment around you, that you would otherwise be unaware of. ...more
it is a good read for anyone starting to form a relationship with a garden, a yard, or most anyone who is not a farmer by profession and who is growing something. there are many points of insight that can remind you of the details suffusing the environment around you, that you would otherwise be unaware of. ...more
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Read in May, 2004
As expected, a fun and far-reaching collection of intellectual artifacts, despite being maddeningly middle-of-the-road, so embracing of the gardener's artifice and his prerogatives. Brushes aside Native Plant gardeners and environmentalists as perpetuating a Man vs. Nature antagonism -- urging the anthropocentric argument than man use his vast potencies to guide the plant kingdom to it's highest productivity and aesthetic reward. Which has to be your opinion if you steep yourself in the garden...more
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This is my favorite of Pollan's books. Before he became more socially and politically driven he wrote more about his relationship to plants. This is a wonderful book about himself and his relationship to gardens and landscapes in his life. Really beautifully written, you don't have to be a gardener to appreciate it.
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
environmentally minded folks, gardeners.
Just got this at Strand and have been thoroughly enjoying it. I think this is my favorite of his books, and you can see the threads from his other books in it- the Botany of Desire especially- in some of his musings. I like his writing because it is accessible without being condescending, funny, and moving.
He writes about Americans' obsessions with lawns, weeds, and compost- all things I am interested in, but the underlying premise is the most valuable part of the book to me. To Pollan, natur...more
He writes about Americans' obsessions with lawns, weeds, and compost- all things I am interested in, but the underlying premise is the most valuable part of the book to me. To Pollan, natur...more
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I originally read this book in November of 1997 -- a series of essays about his garden, gardening in history and in America, and the idea of a garden as a mediation between culture and “nature”. The book was organized by seasons -- this seems to be a popular way for garden writers to structure a group of otherwise quite loosely related essays. I really enjoyed the book, partly because Pollan comes across as someone I’d like to have coffee with, and partly because there was real philosoph...more
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Read in June, 2008
I had gone into this book thinking that it would be a treatise on the garden. It's not exactly that. Rather, it takes the teachings learned in the garden and uses them to reexamine American ideas of nature. Basically, what Omnivore's Dilemma was to the American food system, Second Nature is to the natural world.
The book has some definite weak points. Surprisingly, I was most bored when the book was most personal. I had picked it up to read about Pollan's gardening experi...more
The book has some definite weak points. Surprisingly, I was most bored when the book was most personal. I had picked it up to read about Pollan's gardening experi...more
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Read in August, 1997
Michael Pollan has gained a wide audience these days with his books on food, but long before that he wrote of his novice forays into gardening with great humor, ranging over all manner of topics -- everything from why Americans favor lawns and fences, to what constitutes a weed (and why). Pollan is interested in our relationship to nature as revealed in how we garden. Thus, this is a social history as well as a gardening memoir. Pollan has impressive intellectual chops combined with a tart sen...more
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Read in October, 2008
recommended to Carla by:
the bibliotechrecommends it for: people who think about land
This book is listed at one of the top 75 books to read about gardening. I doubt I will ever read more than 75 books about gardening, but this book has encouraged me to try. It was so engaging and thoughful and philosophic about gardening, and about man's relationship with cultivated and uncultivated land.
He loses a star because he gets long winded and repetetive in places. Plus, he denigrated Dolly Parton (or, more accurately, the Dolly Parton rose. Same dif.)
He loses a star because he gets long winded and repetetive in places. Plus, he denigrated Dolly Parton (or, more accurately, the Dolly Parton rose. Same dif.)
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