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Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence

Stefano Mancuso,

Alessandra Viola

3.86 · Rating details · 1,448 ratings · 202 reviews

Are plants intelligent? Can they solve problems, communicate, and navigate their surroundings? Or are they passive, incapable of independent action or social behavior? Philosophers and scientists have pondered these questions since ancient Greece, most often concluding that plants are unthinking and inert: they are too silent, too sedentary -- just too different from us. Y ...more

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Hardcover, 192 pages

Published March 12th 2015 by Island Press (first published 2013)

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Jun 27, 2017 Always Pouting rated it it was ok

I really felt disappointed with this book because I was expecting much more science and content. The writing wasn't as mature and eloquent as I've come to expect with science and nonfiction books, even pop science. The majority of the book is spent talking about challenging our own belief systems and rethinking the way we view plants, but I felt like the supporting evidence was lacking. I already knew that plants use their pheromones to communicate and adjust based on one another's pheromones. A ...more

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Mar 14, 2016 Bradley rated it really liked it

Shelves: science, 2016-shelf, non-fiction

Thanks to Netgalley!

The book asks us, sometimes repeatedly, to step outside of our preconceived notions. Fair enough. I'm not a member of an old-boy scientific network, so I have no vested interests besides learning for learning's sake. So what does Mr. Mancuso ask us to swallow?

Easily enough, it's just the idea that plants are intelligent.

No biggie, actually. I was convinced pretty early in the book, especially when we throw out prejudices such as the need for a "brain" or "eyes" or any of the ...more

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Jul 25, 2018 J.L. Sutton rated it really liked it

Plant intelligence is fascinating! Even though we’ve been exposed to plants our entire lives, examining plant intelligence is like looking at something alien. While they may give us comfort or nourishment, to many of us, plants are simply there. They don’t do anything or solve problems or talk with us or to each other. But what if we’re missing something?

In Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence, Stefano Mancuso and Alessandra Viola explore views of plant inte Plant intelligence is fascinating! Even though we’ve been exposed to plants our entire lives, examining plant intelligence is like looking at something alien. While they may give us comfort or nourishment, to many of us, plants are simply there. They don’t do anything or solve problems or talk with us or to each other. But what if we’re missing something?

In Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence, Stefano Mancuso and Alessandra Viola explore views of plant intelligence from thinkers in ancient Greece and the Renaissance, imminent scholars such as Linnaeus and Darwin as well as evolutionary history and case studies. On a comparative basis, plants have more senses than animals (Mancuso and Viola claim at least 15 senses for plants) and have been on a different evolutionary track for millions of years longer than any animals. They engage in behaviors to defend themselves when they are threatened by predation. Should we discount plant intelligence because they don’t have anything resembling the brain of animals? This would be to ignore the amazing proliferation and successful adaptation of plants around the world. It would also ignore their survival strategies (which combine problem-solving and communication).

Plant adaptation is nothing short of incredible! The release of chemicals attracting or warning insects or other plants is not accidental. Odors are produced, for instance, which attract insects necessary for pollination. Conversely, when specific plants are attacked by certain insects, they release chemicals making their leaves indigestible. This message goes out to plants up to hundreds of meters away which are not yet under attack. Both examples are certainly communication. When plants commit to these strategies, they expend energy which could have been used for other purposes.

Some of the stories about plant intelligence and communication are fascinating. The problem, I guess, is that I’d heard much of the evidence before. You need to read to the end to see that the idea of collective intelligence which was quickly brought up but just as quickly dropped in an earlier chapter, is addressed more interestingly (as a type of swarm behavior like a flock of birds or as a sort of computer network). Also, I would have been okay with more speculation about how we might someday hope to decode some of the language of plants. I was really hoping for more there. Still, this is an interesting look at that 99%+ of life on earth which is often taken for granted! 3.75 stars.
...more

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Jun 24, 2017 Alison rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: evolution, non-fiction, science

I came into this book quite supportive of the author's fundamental premise: that plants have lives as complex and deserving of respect as humans. I was intrigued by The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World - which is excellent - and wanted a more scientific overview of the research Peter Wohlleben cites in that book. This was not it.
Instead, this is a rant about how underestimated plants are, with constant silly sarcasm and petulance like: I came into this book quite supportive of the author's fundamental premise: that plants have lives as complex and deserving of respect as humans. I was intrigued by The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World - which is excellent - and wanted a more scientific overview of the research Peter Wohlleben cites in that book. This was not it.
Instead, this is a rant about how underestimated plants are, with constant silly sarcasm and petulance like: "how could the stupidest and most passive beings on the planet have achieved this primacy?" or "The first advantage of having a modular organization, to give just one example, is that, for a plant, being eaten isn’t that big a deal! Could any animal say that?" I'd like to say this is interspersed with scientific facts, but it kinda isn't. I considered giving this book two stars because Mancuso doesn't actually distort or misrepresent studies : but that's because he simply doesn't cite them. And some cursory research challenged some of his assertions, such as that playlists assist running speed. However, most of the science in the book is basic and uncontroversial. Mancuso's intention in writing the book seems not to be revealing new science but rather to convince us that extreme anti-plant prejudice has meant we don't respect what is already known.
I could have respected this approach if it wasn't for how ludicrously overblown it becomes. Among other things, Mancuso argues that Gregor Mandel's work was underestimated simply because he worked on plants, which was also the reason Barbara McClintock waited four decades for her Nobel Prize (sexism, apparently, has nothing on floraphobia).
This was the first in a trio of books read on holiday dealing with non-human cognition, the others being Marlene Zuk's Sex on Six Legs: Lessons on Life, Love, and Language from the Insect World and Gisela Kaplan's Bird Minds: Cognition and Behaviour of Australian Native Birds. While all three authors (and I struggle to mention them together here, given the other two wrote good science) struggle with defining intelligence, a term which implies not only a value judgement but also unhelpful linearity, Mancuso takes this to extremes: "If we define intelligence as the capacity to respond to problems, then it’s not possible to demarcate any kind of threshold above which intelligence appears ... Anyone who disagrees, and still maintains that certain animals are intelligent and others not, should be willing to tell us at exactly what point in evolution intelligence appears." By doing this, he undermines his entire argument - that plants show intelligence, by redefining it out of existence. This is a far dry from rejecting the term as unhelpful, and exploring the different elements of cognition we can identify in plant life.
And it's a huge shame really. Because the more we learn about non-human living beings, the clearer it seems to be becoming that humans are not unique, but just one manifestation on a spectrum of adaption, learning, and responding to our environment. Mancuso is quite right, I still believe, in his assertion that we are blinded by the differences - particulqrly in timescale and organ specialisation -
to the similarities between animals and plants. We all respond to stimuli, adapt to surrroundings, interact, express distress and comfort. Obviously, the internal world of a plant is going to radically different to our own, but that doesn't necessarily make it lesser. Mancuso is setting up a lab to study pkant cognition, and I really hope the science it produces is much better than this. We cvould use more understanding of the world ofvliving things, unblinded by an assumption that we are better at living than they. ...more

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Mar 15, 2016 Annie rated it really liked it

Shelves: science

This is not as kooky a book as it appears.

I really like one of the fundamental ways this is argued: we are intensely anthropocentric, and so we really define “intelligence” as “most like humans.” We might not say it in so many words, but that’s really the beans of it. That’s a pretty circular definition when applied to ourselves, isn’t it?

Thinking about this reminds me of Ender’s Game, a bit. The buggers. Because people perceived them as unthinking and unintelligent and, most importantly, unfe This is not as kooky a book as it appears.

I really like one of the fundamental ways this is argued: we are intensely anthropocentric, and so we really define “intelligence” as “most like humans.” We might not say it in so many words, but that’s really the beans of it. That’s a pretty circular definition when applied to ourselves, isn’t it?

Thinking about this reminds me of Ender’s Game, a bit. The buggers. Because people perceived them as unthinking and unintelligent and, most importantly, unfeeling, they were to be exterminated— like the bugs they were thought to be. But in actuality, it was just that the hive queens were the only real decision-making minds, and the buggers existed in a very different kind of consciousness, and communicated in ways humans weren’t aware of, but they were no less “intelligent” — something only Ender was able to recognize.

The author mentions a Star Trek (I think it was) episode in which an alien species who lives and moves on a much faster time frame than us (much as we live and move faster than plants, who take weeks to, say, move into sunlight, instead of seconds) comes to earth and thinks we’re no more sentient than rocks, simply because they don’t perceive us as even moving— we’re to them what plants are to us!

Plants are not intelligent like us. No one is intelligent like us, because we made up the word intelligent and it only fairly applies to us, since we define it by ourselves. But every species, if they had words, would define intelligence as most like themselves. So judging any other species by ours is clumsy, egotistic, and pointless.

That’s a major prejudice that we have to be aware of when dismissing plants as little more than rocks. It’s a prejudice that for thousands of years prevented us from recognizing that animals have rights (admittedly, a few people persist under the delusion that there is nothing immoral about vivisecting a dog, but for the most part, even people who support animal testing recognize it’s “a necessary evil” or something along those lines).

I also loved the puns just casually thrown in and unacknowledged. “A most FRUITFUL correspondence.” “We hope this will help PLANT some doubts.”

Charming, thought-provoking, credible little book. ...more

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Aug 21, 2018 shatine added it

Shelves: nonfiction, nonfiction-plants

I've never read a book that sounded more like it was written by an indignant plant. ...more

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May 16, 2019 Ali rated it liked it

It's a quick and easy read, despite the fact that the book aims at scientific approach.
I found myself under an impression that i was reading a rough draft for student's thesis...
for a serious science book it often lacked scientific basis and felt too superficial. for a popular read - well, it is ok if you like plants or whatever.
it has some curious moments, but it doesn't rock the world. ...more

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Sep 20, 2015 Sally rated it liked it

Shelves: science

This is a manifesto rather than a textbook, by one of the chief scientists in plant behavior, who seeks to convince the reader that plants are indeed intelligent creatures rather than life forms barely above the minerals. The author and his research have taken a lot of criticism based on the assumed fact that plants cannot be conscious, so this is a subject he feels very strongly about. He points out that our evaluation of intelligence derives largely from observing motion, and because plants ar ...more

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Mar 19, 2016 Robert Teeter rated it liked it

Shelves: plants

This small book by an Italian scientist and science journalist makes the case that plants have been underestimated and that they have a kind of “intelligence.” They convinced me — but only for some definitions of intelligence.

The book begins with a survey of ideas about plants in the past. The three major monotheistic religions mostly ignore plants, though Mancuso and Viola point out that Judaism forbids the gratuitous destruction of trees and has a holiday to celebrate their new year. Most phil ...more

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Apr 30, 2019 Raluca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: absolute-favorites, thought-challenging, natural-sciences, non-fiction, reviewed, 2019

Ever stumble upon a compelling subject, read a book about it, desire to read more but find nothing else?

That's what happened to me when, years ago, I stumbled upon Daniel Chamovitz's What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses. It explained everything from plant senses (sight, touch, smell, taste, phototropism, geotropism etc.) to how plants communicate. Everything was done in a friendly scientific manner that brought plenty of proof and showed you how these plant mechanisms work. (For an ev ...more

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Feb 11, 2020 Am Y rated it did not like it

Really repetitive. If we cut away the terrible repetition, this book would only be a quarter its current length. The author drones on again and again about how plants are wise but we don't want to believe it. Look, the reason why the majority of people are picking up this book is because we're already open to the concept of plant intelligence and want to find out more about it right? We don't need a lecture about how humans credit animals and all other living things as having "intelligence", but ...more

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Sep 05, 2017 Mila rated it it was amazing

Such passion for plants! Very thought provoking.

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May 30, 2016 Alison Lilly rated it liked it

Fascinating subject, lots of potential -- TERRIBLE writing. The overly-casual tone came off as sloppy, while the arguments were poorly structured and often lacked depth (as well as citations and specific examples of the research being discussed). The book reads like the rough draft transcription of a rambling conversation with an absent-minded professor. There are glimpses of a more complete and convincing argument in support of plant intelligence that could have been made, but instead the text ...more

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Dec 25, 2020 Renee Roberts rated it did not like it · review of another edition

In short, this book is a major disappointment, and I recommend avoiding it. One star because I finished it.

In my own belief system, the soul is your life force, and I know animals have souls. So what about plants? They are living things, that we can propagate but not create. Do they have a soul of sorts? I've read about aspen forests that respond across their width to a threat on one edge; do other plants communicate in some way? I was hoping for a book that explored this kind of wondering from ...more

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Dec 24, 2020 Yulia Tell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I enjoyed the concepts and questions that book poses including our definition of intellect, communication, etc. But it feels at times that the authors are too predictable in what and how they write, and keep reiterating the same idea in a few different ways.

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Aug 10, 2018 Patrick Thrapp rated it really liked it

Interesting perspective. I enjoyed the deep dive into the subject.

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Oct 05, 2018 Sarahalateeqi rated it really liked it

A brilliant book if you want to know more about plants intelligence.

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Aug 09, 2018 Summer rated it it was amazing

Plants are aliens and you can’t convince me otherwise

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Aug 02, 2018 Gina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: possible-bookclub

This was a fascinating read. Although it is non-fiction it was such fun and interesting to read.

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Mar 15, 2018 Tom Roth rated it liked it

Shelves: science

Quite a disappointment. The language was not very scientific. I understand that it is a popular science book, but the writing in this book was too popular. For example, it literally said that plants CHOSE not to concentrate their organs in one place... In addition, it contained a lot of teleological descriptions of plant evolution.
The science that the book mentions is probably known to most biologists. At least, for me it was, and I do not specialize in plant biology. The only thing they add is ...more

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Nov 09, 2020 Anda rated it liked it

Shelves: 50book-2020, non-fiction

We may resent those we depend on, because they don't make us feel completely free. In short we're so dependent on plants that we do everything we can not to think about them. Perhaps we don't wish to remember that our very survival is linked to the plant world, because that makes us feel weak, hardly masters of the universe! Of course this argument is partly intended to be provocative, but it may be useful in clarifying the balance of power between us and the plant world. p 39

Comestible (edible) We may resent those we depend on, because they don't make us feel completely free. In short we're so dependent on plants that we do everything we can not to think about them. Perhaps we don't wish to remember that our very survival is linked to the plant world, because that makes us feel weak, hardly masters of the universe! Of course this argument is partly intended to be provocative, but it may be useful in clarifying the balance of power between us and the plant world. p 39

Comestible (edible) plants are numerous but most cannot be cultivated on an industrial scale because of the way they've evolved. They're wild, like tigers and bears. Dog on the other hand, evolved from wolves as a new species, through discovering that living symbiotically with humans was easier and more convenient than fighting for survival. ... Certain plants have adopted a similar evolutionary strategy: by feeding humans they have been protected from insects s, provided with nourishment, and, especially, propagated until they've spread to the far reaches of the planet. p 41

As we saw in the first chapter, the idea that the plant world is composed of sensorily deprived beings came to us whole from ancient Greece. It passed unchanged through the Renaissance - as depicted in the famous "Pyramid of Living Things" in which plants exist but nether feel nor think - as well as through the more exacting screening of the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution, which should have exposed this model as absurd. p46

Sight - moves with the light

But what is smell for, in the plant world? Plants use "smells" - that is, molecules called BVOCs ( Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds ) to receive information from their environment and to communicate with each other and with insects, something that goes on continually. All smells produced by plants - for example those produced by rosemary basil and licorice - are equivalent to precise messages: they are the plants' 'words' or lexicon! Millions of different chemical compounds function like signals in a real plant language, about which we know very little. We do know that each compound transmits precise information, such as warnings of imminent danger, or messages of attraction or repulsion, or something else. ... But why do sage, rosemary, licorice give off their typical scents even when they're not in flower? All we know is that they have their reasons: producing those smells costs energy, and no plant would waste energy uselessly! It's still a long road from this simple observation to the possibility of interpreting these plant messages with certainty. p54

The results were astonishing: the veins given musical treatment didn't just grow better than those which had nothing to listen to, they also ripened earlier and produced grapes richer in flavour, colour and polyphenols. // What's more, the music kept insects away, by disorienting them. The use of music made possible a drastic reduction in the use of insecticide, and a new, revolutionary branch of agricultural biology came into being: agricultural phonobiology. p 75

Selfishness or altruism: which is more useful? // In evolutionary terms, which is more rewarding- behaviour we call selfish, or behaviour we call altruistic? The jury is still out on that question. ... The discovery that plants adopt altruistic behaviours towards kin is revelatory because it opens up two possibilities, both revolutionary: either plants are much more evolved organisms than we thought, and thus are altruistic; or altruism and cooperation are actually primitive forms of life, where pure competition had always been thought to rule, with victory going to the stronger. p 95

The most notorious examples are orchids: according to some estimates, about one-third of existing orchid species, to guarantee themselves a successful pollination, use strategies that in human terms could only be described as fraudulent. These plants make use of insects, too, but by deceiving them and getting them to transport pollen without the insect's receiving any benefit in return. p 113

From a plant's perspective, it would be worth the trouble to make friends with these strange bipeds, and even to benefit from their services! Are we sure they haven't used their manipulative skills on us too, creating flowers, fruits, fragrances, flowers, and colours that please our species? Maybe plants produce them just for that reason: because they please us, who in turn propagate them throughout the world, care for them, protect them. When we think of the marvellous gifts plants give us - from perfumes to the wonderful, multicoloured forms that have inspired so many artists - let's not be too surprised at our good fortune. Nobody does anything for nothing, and at least for certain species, we're the best allies on the planet. p 115

Think about it: the stock market tells us the worth of businesses all over the world, effectively dominates politics, and has considerable influence over our individual fates, all without any central control. Indeed, there's no entity dedicated to overseeing its overall functioning: investors know only a limited number of companies within their portfolios, and simply follow market rules. Ultimately the behaviour of the stock exchange derives solely from the interactions of individual investors. Like the tips of a root system, or ants in a swarm, they amount to nothing by them selves, but together develop incredible capacities. ... In the animal world, swarms are formed by a great number of people, mammals, insects, or birds. But in plants, these dynamics actually come into play inside one plant, between its roots. In short, every single plant is a swarm! p 146 ...more

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Jan 12, 2015 Melek rated it liked it

Shelves: read-to-review, non-fiction

I should check my reading history to be sure, but this might be the first non-fiction book that I disliked this much.

For one thing, what was that first chapter? It got better after a while, but the first half was downright ridiculous. While the rest wasn't that bad, I kept feeling like the writer(s) was/were (how many writers does this book have, one or two? I can't be certain) just shoving their thoughts down my throat instead of giving me facts. Or let's say, just giving facts, as the book was ...more

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Dec 18, 2015 Dona rated it liked it

Great ideas, interesting points of view but it is a "easy" book with answers that are really simple, with not so much explanations.
Green intelligence deserve a better book. ...more

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Apr 14, 2019 Joantine Berghuijs rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book encourages us to better appreciate plants among all forms of life than has been done so far. And not to regard them as "lower" or "less developed" organisms than animals. The authors show:
- That plants make up at least 99.5% of the living biomass, and therefore animals (including humans) only 0.5%.
- That we only know 5 to 10% of all plant species, and that 95% use them for our most important medicines.
- That because of their sedentary way of life, plants have developed totally differen This book encourages us to better appreciate plants among all forms of life than has been done so far. And not to regard them as "lower" or "less developed" organisms than animals. The authors show:
- That plants make up at least 99.5% of the living biomass, and therefore animals (including humans) only 0.5%.
- That we only know 5 to 10% of all plant species, and that 95% use them for our most important medicines.
- That because of their sedentary way of life, plants have developed totally different strategies for growth, defense, reproduction, competition and communication than animals. And that we have only partially unraveled those strategies.
- That plants are essential for all life. Plants are the mediators between the sun and the animal world through photosynthesis. If animals died out, plants could still survive. Not the other way around.
- That we are directly or indirectly dependent on plants for almost everything we need. This is not just about food, but also about oil and the fuels and plastics produced from it, about medicines, about mental health, etc.
- That no part of the plant is so essential that it cannot grow again - one of plants’ survival strategies.
- That plants are equipped with senses, which are not concentrated in one organ as in animals, but present throughout the entire plant. Not only can they see, hear, taste, smell and feel, but they also have around 15 other senses.
- That they communicate (within the plant, with each other, and with animals), that they sleep and can remember.
- That they "trade" with other species, with examples of ‘fair’ practices (where both partners benefit) or ‘unfair’ practices (where only the plant benefits). Plants are even able to manipulate other species.
- That the root system controls the plant as a sort of collective brain or scattered intelligence.

The book is written in a very accessible way, by a professor in collaboration with a science journalist. It is certainly scientifically sound material, even though he does not give references innfootnotes. However, in the last pages the authors give a number of titles for those who want to read more.

I already knew a lot of the facts that the authors present, partly through the beautiful 3-part documentary The Kingdom of Plants made by David Attenborough. But this book places everything in a broader perspective: that of life on earth as a whole. It again illustrates the connectedness of all life, the exchange, cooperation or exploitation, the general striving of all living beings for survival, prosperity and well-being. And it teaches you as a person to be modest: our extinction is not disastrous for the whole of life on earth.
That man is seen as arrogant in his opinion that he is the most important species on earth and that he controls all life, raises a question. We may not represent much in terms of biomass, but we do have enormous influence, largely in a negative sense, on the other life on the planet. Is importance dependent on biomass?
Another question is to what extent the plant intelligence takes place through automatic processes or has a ‘free will’. The authors do show that a lot of signals come together in the roots, among other things about soil moisture and the locations of all kinds of nutrients, and that therefore complex 'decisions' must be made and priorities set, for example about the direction in which the root system will continue to grow. But even then you could see these processes as ‘instinct.’ The basic question, of course, is that about consciousness. However, we ourselves do not even know exactly what consciousness is. The authors do not speak about it. They do, however, talk about ‘emergent traits’: traits that do not emerge in an individual, but in a community of individuals. Like with ants and swarms of starlings. Because of its scattered senses and properties, the plant can actually be considered as a community of individuals, in which case such emergent qualities as their so-called intelligence can arise.
Finally, I find it somewhat annoying that through the entire book we are told how stupid it is that people have never fully recognized the value, the superiority almost, of plants.

...more

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Oct 30, 2019 Grazyna Nawrocka rated it it was amazing

Shelves: anthro-and-psycho-logy

I expected the book to tell me about somebody measuring waves from plants, which were exposed to various harm. No, it was not about it. The general conclusion from the work is that our knowledge of plants is very limited.

There are millions of roots. At the end of each root there is a part that recognizes beneficial or harmful elements in the environment (even ones that are a few meters away), and directs growth according to information it gets (analyzing data, making choices - definitely parts I expected the book to tell me about somebody measuring waves from plants, which were exposed to various harm. No, it was not about it. The general conclusion from the work is that our knowledge of plants is very limited.

There are millions of roots. At the end of each root there is a part that recognizes beneficial or harmful elements in the environment (even ones that are a few meters away), and directs growth according to information it gets (analyzing data, making choices - definitely parts of intelligence). Author calls it "distributed intelligence," or "emergent behaviors" which are very typical of swarms or flocks of birds. I disagree with the author, when he explains this group behavior by need to keep the same distance between members, and completely rejects concept of telepathy. His idea would work only if swarms or flocks never changed direction of their movement, and in the moment they changed it, if members would bump into each other. We know it is not what happens, so keeping same distance, without some kind of coordination is not a sufficient explanation of the behaviors. He also suspects that plants like citronella, basil, (plants that issue fragrance even in absence of flowers) might use the scent to conduit messages. Whole book examines thoroughly all aspects of plants' behavior and is founded on scientific research, which includes Aristotle, Darwin, and others.

It is a very interesting work of popular science, and I'd recommend it to anybody. Now, like always I'll list some fascinating trifles, that I found funny.

During times of Inquisition not only witches, but also plants like garlic, parsley and fennel were put on trial, as tools used for witchcraft. I object! Plants could not have spoken in their defense! Then again, during Inquisition I don't think anybody cared about defendants.

Future: plantoids - robots based on flora, "Greenternet" - network which monitors environmental parameters continuously, and in real time (the same way the roots and leaves do it). The last one I'm going to quote: "phytocomputers - computers that use new algorithms based on the capacities and calculating system of plants ('unconventional computing')." HA! ...more

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Aug 14, 2017 Gerrit rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: natural-history

A very interesting read. It has made me realize that I conflate "intelligence" with "consciousness". Although Mancuso suggests that plants can remember and learn things, he does not convincingly argue this case. This may be because the book is aimed at the general public and hence very technical details are not discussed. It also may be that, although Mancuso argues strongly against an animal-centric perspective on intelligence, I still have not sufficiently shed it.

The book does show that plant A very interesting read. It has made me realize that I conflate "intelligence" with "consciousness". Although Mancuso suggests that plants can remember and learn things, he does not convincingly argue this case. This may be because the book is aimed at the general public and hence very technical details are not discussed. It also may be that, although Mancuso argues strongly against an animal-centric perspective on intelligence, I still have not sufficiently shed it.

The book does show that plants have amazing sensory capabilities and are able to actively respond to the data they gather about the world. The review of the varied senses and behaviours of plants is fascinating and demonstrates that plants really are not the passive organisms they are perceived to be.

They are able to detect problems and arrive at intelligent solutions, modifying their behaviour accordingly. In the absence of consciousness, I would suggest that this falls under the Dennet's "competence without comprehension" nomer. This is not to say that this signifies a significant divide between plants and animals and us. After all, most (or at least very much) of what we do is also not consciously comprehended and reasoned out.

Some of my disagreements may stem from the translation. The translation is less than perfect and has spelling errors (as an archaeologist I found the use of "bronstijd" where "bronsttijd" was meant most amusing), there is a lack of synonym-use making some sentences annoyingly repetitive.

Most problematic is that the meaning of the author may be distorted in some passages. Throughout the book, Mancuso argues that plants should be studied in light of evolution. The central thesis is that plants as passive organisms would have gone extinct long ago in Darwinian competition. Yet towards the end (p.133) the book states that Darwin realised that plants have capabilities that cannot be explained evolutionarily. This seems to represent a misunderstanding by the translator and leaves open the possibility that more subtle examples occur elsewhere in the book. ...more

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Nov 11, 2018 Carol rated it liked it

I am mixed about this book. I am already an environmentalist and an avid gardener, so I don’t need to be convinced about the importance of plans. I fully believe that we do ourselves and our world and incredibly dangerous to ourselves when we eradicate trees and green spaces. So in that way, I was already convinced. And I learned a lot of fascinating things about a variety of plants that I didn’t already know. That’s where the three stars come from. The missing stars are from applying the word i ...more

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Nov 22, 2019 Ann rated it liked it

Shelves: science, 2019, own-it

The main goal of this small booklet, barely 160 pages without notes, is to kick a popular audience out of its antropocentric definition of intelligence and to make people aware that 99% of life on Earth has more significance then being a mere part of the scenery.

Not only plant intelligence but also plant senses are explained.
As a starting point to learn more about plants this is a good read.

The Aliens Are Here (Plant Intelligence as a Model for Understanding Extraterrestrial Intelligence)
The stu The main goal of this small booklet, barely 160 pages without notes, is to kick a popular audience out of its antropocentric definition of intelligence and to make people aware that 99% of life on Earth has more significance then being a mere part of the scenery.

Not only plant intelligence but also plant senses are explained.
As a starting point to learn more about plants this is a good read.

The Aliens Are Here (Plant Intelligence as a Model for Understanding Extraterrestrial Intelligence)
The study of plant intelligence points up a very interesting aspet of research on intelligence in general: how difficult it is for us humans to understand living systems that think differently from us. Indeed, we only seem able to appreciate intelligences that are very similar to ours. The same kind of problems surface, when intelligence is spoken of in reference to organisms without a brain (...) Our brain bias leads us to deny the existence of any sort of thinking capacity - an attitude that seems based more on traditions and preconceptions than on scientific reasoning. And yet the study of plant intelligence could turn out to be fundamental for the progress of humanity; in fact, it would enable us to look at our own mind with different eyes.
Suppose that one day we came into contat with an intelligent alien liefe form: would we be able to, if not communicate with it, at least recognize it? Probably not. It seems that we humans, unable to conceive of intelligences fifferent from ours, are in continual search of our own intelligence, lost somewhere in space. If alien forms of intelligence should really exist, they would have evolved in organisms very different from us. Their chemistry would be different fro mours and they would inhabit envieronments totally unlike those that we know.
How could we ever hope to recognize them when we can't discern the intelligence of plants, organisms with which we share a great part of our evolutionary history, the same cellular structure, the same environment, the same needs? ...more

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Apr 18, 2021 Ana-Maria rated it really liked it

This is a short and very clear, even pedagogical short book that showcases the argument that plants are intelligent creatures, and that means that they are able to collect information about their environments through various senses (many more than the human senses) and to process that information, make a decision and make a behavioral strategy.
"The most recent studies of the plant world have demonstrated that plants are sentient (and thus are endowed with senses), that they communicate (with ea ...more

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Sep 25, 2020 Aditya Chaudhary rated it it was amazing

I just loved how the author made the book really crisp and concise without compromising on the quantity or quality of the text. It's always nice to have an easy read non-fiction book that can be shelved under Biology.

It is a tough job making botany and associated sciences accessible for the layman, but this book does it really, really well. Zoology and the actions of the organisms studied in the discipline are somewhat more relatable, or rather - more noticeable and tangible. It is very easy to ...more

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About Stefano Mancuso

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Stefano Mancuso is the Director of the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology (LINV) in Florence, Italy, a founder of the International Society for Plant Signaling and Behavior, and a professor at the University of Florence. His books and papers have been published in numerous international magazines and journals, and La Repubblica newspaper has listed him among the twenty people who will ...more

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“Most people who bother to think about plants at all tend to regard them as the mute, immobile furniture of our world—useful enough, and generally attractive, but obviously second-class citizens in the republic of life on Earth.” — 0 likes

“On the basis of decades of experiments, plants are starting to be regarded as beings capable of calculation and choice, learning and memory. A few years ago, Switzerland, amid much less rational polemics, became the first country in the world to affirm the rights of plants with a special declaration. But” — 0 likes

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