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Introductory Plant Biology
This introductory text assumes little prior scientific knowledge on the part of the student. It includes sufficient information for some shorter introductory botany courses open to both majors and nonmajors, and is arranged so that certain sections can be omitted without disrupting the overall continuity of the course. Stern emphasizes current interests while presenting basic botanical principles.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 11, 2020
Yugoslavia, 2018!
This could be the alternative title of a very expensive textbook published in 2018. This book is supposedly updated with the most important scientific discoveries and world events affecting the contents, e.g. the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, 28 years ago. Luckily someone had heard about the dissolution of the Soviet Union, placing the word 'former' in front of it thus avoiding another humiliating mistake.
Overall, this is a great book, talks about everything that someone studying botany should know, including fungi, bacteria and viruses. It has chapters about ecology, a detailed chapter about the way plants shaped human civilizations, separate detailed chapters about the major kingdoms of organisms, talks about genetics, evolution and has long additional reading lists as well.
I still can't give it five stars because it is impossible for me to understand why a botany textbook would not use binomial names. The common names thrive in the book which, in most cases, don't ring a bell for me. It misses the most important feature of binomial names, namely that they are unique and so it is understood by anyone anywhere in the world. Stern's book gravitates mostly around US flora and if you don't like and don't know common names, you can turn to the appendices (the book has 6 of them) at the end of the book every time you encounter another common name and try to find the plants' binomial names in a very long and exhausting list of common names. Regretfully this is completely unprofessional and makes it an utterly frustrating read.
This could be the alternative title of a very expensive textbook published in 2018. This book is supposedly updated with the most important scientific discoveries and world events affecting the contents, e.g. the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, 28 years ago. Luckily someone had heard about the dissolution of the Soviet Union, placing the word 'former' in front of it thus avoiding another humiliating mistake.
Overall, this is a great book, talks about everything that someone studying botany should know, including fungi, bacteria and viruses. It has chapters about ecology, a detailed chapter about the way plants shaped human civilizations, separate detailed chapters about the major kingdoms of organisms, talks about genetics, evolution and has long additional reading lists as well.
I still can't give it five stars because it is impossible for me to understand why a botany textbook would not use binomial names. The common names thrive in the book which, in most cases, don't ring a bell for me. It misses the most important feature of binomial names, namely that they are unique and so it is understood by anyone anywhere in the world. Stern's book gravitates mostly around US flora and if you don't like and don't know common names, you can turn to the appendices (the book has 6 of them) at the end of the book every time you encounter another common name and try to find the plants' binomial names in a very long and exhausting list of common names. Regretfully this is completely unprofessional and makes it an utterly frustrating read.
June 16, 2024
Read for plants class. Good for a textbook I guess
May 12, 2026
Great general plant biology textbook. The microbe chapters were insufferable but it wasn’t from a lack of interest… Very difficult to get all of the terminology on the first pass without a course and without utilizing study tools. Making Anki cards of the labeled diagrams helped tremendously.
September 16, 2010
Good book, but I think the main reason I liked my Botany class was due to the Professor, Dr. Bauman. HE IS AWESOME!!!!! However, I'm one of those people who keep most all of their text books and I'm definitely keeping this one.
April 28, 2013
A textbook. Not a bad one. Not a great one. Do you like plants? Do you also like college textbooks? If you answered yes to both of these questions then you too may like this book.
December 14, 2013
Textbook. Not a good one not a bad one. Enjoyed the content, could have been more interesting.
August 10, 2014
Very informative textbook for my Brooklyn Botanic Garden class, Botany for Horticulturists. I must still go over the chemical processes of photosynthesis--can't remember those Krebs cycles!
October 18, 2014
made available always
May 28, 2015
I'm sure there are better books out there.
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April 9, 2018mantap
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews