Michael Pollan is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine as well as a contributing editor at Harper’s magazine. He is the author of two prizewinning books: Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education and A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder. Pollan lives in Connecticut with his wife and son.
In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan argues that the answer lies at the heart of the intimately reciprocal relationship between people and plants. In telling the stories of four familiar plant species that are deeply woven into the fabric of our lives, Pollan illustrates how they evolved to satisfy humankinds’s most basic yearnings — and by doing so made themselves indispensable. For, just as we’ve benefited from these plants, the plants, in the grand co-evolutionary scheme that Pollan evokes so brilliantly, have done well by us. The sweetness of apples, for example, induced the early Americans to spread the species, giving the tree a whole new continent in which to blossom. So who is really domesticating whom?
Weaving fascinating anecdotes and accessible science into gorgeous prose, Pollan takes us on an absorbing journey that will change the way we think about our place in nature.
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Working in his garden one day, Michael Pollan hit pay dirt in the form of an idea: do plants, he wondered, use humans as much as we use them? While the question is not entirely original, the way Pollan examines this complex coevolution by looking at the natural world from the perspective of plants is unique. The result is a fascinating and engaging look at the true nature of domestication.
In making his point, Pollan focuses on the relationship between humans and four specific plants: apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes. He uses the history of John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) to illustrate how both the apple's sweetness and its role in the production of alcoholic cider made it appealing to settlers moving west, thus greatly expanding the plant's range. He also explains how human manipulation of the plant has weakened it, so that "modern apples require more pesticide than any other food crop." The tulipomania of 17th-century Holland is a backdrop for his examination of the role the tulip's beauty played in wildly influencing human behavior to both the benefit and detriment of the plant (the markings that made the tulip so attractive to the Dutch were actually caused by a virus). His excellent discussion of the potato combines a history of the plant with a prime example of how biotechnology is changing our relationship to nature. As part of his research, Pollan visited the Monsanto company headquarters and planted some of their NewLeaf brand potatoes in his gardenseeds that had been genetically engineered to produce their own insecticide. Though they worked as advertised, he made some startling discoveries, primarily that the NewLeaf plants themselves are registered as a pesticide by the EPA and that federal law prohibits anyone from reaping more than one crop per seed packet. And in a interesting aside, he explains how a global desire for consistently perfect French fries contributes to both damaging monoculture and the genetic engineering necessary to support it.
Pollan has read widely on the subject and elegantly combines literary, historical, philosophical, and scientific references with engaging anecdotes, giving readers much to ponder while weeding their gardens. Shawn Carkonen
發表於2024-11-25
The Botany of Desire 2024 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載
書是很有意思,但是翻譯得太可怕瞭,編輯也不把把關。 如第一部分關於蘋果的,蘋果可以做成酒,……黃油!!你見過蘋果作的黃油嗎??肯定是 BUTTER, 這裏是果醬。爛糊糊的都可以叫做BUTTER。就算編輯不懂英文,這種毛病還是看得齣的吧。 另外很多句子看得齣王毅很努力瞭,也想...
評分人間四月,桃花始盛。我們多少會受天氣的感染,情緒也會帶上當天氣候的色彩。約翰•巴勒斯說過,“人就像一隻煙囪,有那麼幾天通煙狀況良好,有時候可能一點都不通暢,而秘密主要在於空氣狀況。”據說歌德在高溫天氣下工作起來特彆舒暢,天纔的事情常人總是難以想象。跟多數...
評分一個農業工作者的遠方 第一部分:書評 終於他媽的讀完瞭,在離我們的生物化學課結束還有5分鍾的時候。本書的最後一個部分,我們的主角,一個叫做“賣殼兒·破鑼”老頭,被一個邪惡土豆打敗瞭,被打得落花流水,神誌不清,其幕後黑手是邪惡的孟山都!我擦!下課鈴響瞭,我...
評分原版看瞭一半,覺得讀英文還是比較費力,然後藉瞭譯本,發現中文也很費力。。。對照著看完瞭,畢竟內容很有意思。對植物、人對自然的所謂改造都一些新的想法
評分書是很有意思,但是翻譯得太可怕瞭,編輯也不把把關。 如第一部分關於蘋果的,蘋果可以做成酒,……黃油!!你見過蘋果作的黃油嗎??肯定是 BUTTER, 這裏是果醬。爛糊糊的都可以叫做BUTTER。就算編輯不懂英文,這種毛病還是看得齣的吧。 另外很多句子看得齣王毅很努力瞭,也想...
圖書標籤: 植物 科普 自然 botany 美國 哲學 植物之書 food
讀完第一章實在受不瞭瞭,作者思維很跳躍而散文般的文風實在是太難follow,但是Conclusion很驚艷,the agency of botany, coevolutionary relation, BIODIVERSITY
評分I just can't emphasize enough how important and wonderful this book is. For anyone who eats food (which is pretty much everyone), this is a must read.
評分First read of Michael Pollan that made me fall in love with his writing, intellect, and humanity. It is a little gem of non-friction writing that helps you see the world from a different angle.
評分寫的挺囉嗦的,而且是文學式囉嗦,不像槍炮玫瑰是學術式囉嗦。內容不是很切題,有點標題黨,更多的是人類對於植物的欲望。
評分蘋果那篇寫得太沉悶瞭,差點兒沒看下去。
The Botany of Desire 2024 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載