This was a really great read, and I've never really liked Botany or had much of a green thumb. Pollan covers botany well, but he also brings in history, philosophy, neuroscience, economics and many other fields of interest in this study of 4 plants: apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes. As far as non-fiction books go, I can't imagine it being any better.

Many other reviewers have complained that he did not stick to his argument that plants, by catering to human desires, actually manipulate humans into doing their bidding, which is basically helping them spread across the globe. Those reviewers are right, but it's just not a big deal to me. This book is more about human and plant interaction, and that's interesting in itself.

The chapter on apples is by far the most interesting, but each chapter really brought something new and different to the table. The tulip chapter bored me, but I already knew a bit about "tulipomania." I found the marijuana chapter lacking in depth at points, especially the beginning, but was fascinated by his research and theories on how marijuana effects the brain and human consciousness. He ended well with the potato chapter - mixing the potato's history with very interesting speculation on its future in the world of biochemistry and genetic modification. As someone who doesn't really follow agricultural science at all (unlike some people more into the organic movement), I got a lot out of this book in the forms of both general information and a new way to think of plants and food.