Jess's review
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
Pollan's question: have we domesticated the plants, or have the plants domesticated us? The answer: Both.
Four stories round out his book -- that of the apple (I learned that apple seeds have cyanide in them), the tulip (My favorite flower, and I never considered how military they can appear), marijuana (I just don't like the stuff ... but Pollan makes me wish I did), and the potato (Now on the front lines of our genetic modification wars).
Pollan tells the story of genetic modification v. evolution in our food supplies. And he made me stop to acknowledge my role in natural selection, when I choose to include beautiful or intoxicating plants (daisies and grapes) in my life.
My only complaint is that I wanted a book-length story about each -- the apple, tulip, cannabis, and potato.
Four stories round out his book -- that of the apple (I learned that apple seeds have cyanide in them), the tulip (My favorite flower, and I never considered how military they can appear), marijuana (I just don't like the stuff ... but Pollan makes me wish I did), and the potato (Now on the front lines of our genetic modification wars).
Pollan tells the story of genetic modification v. evolution in our food supplies. And he made me stop to acknowledge my role in natural selection, when I choose to include beautiful or intoxicating plants (daisies and grapes) in my life.
My only complaint is that I wanted a book-length story about each -- the apple, tulip, cannabis, and potato.
