出版社: Random House Trade Paperbacks
副标题: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
出版年: 2002-5-28
页数: 271
定价: USD 17.00
装帧: Paperback
ISBN: 9780375760396
内容简介 · · · · · ·
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 indispens...
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
作者简介 · · · · · ·
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.
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The Botany of Desire的书评 · · · · · · ( 全部 58 条 )
我想这本书应该是王毅教授的学生翻了教授挂名的吧
> 更多书评 58篇
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在这本书的论坛里发言这本书的其他版本 · · · · · · ( 全部13 )
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Random House (2001)暂无评分 11人读过
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订阅关于The Botany of Desire的评论:
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0 有用 Cal 2021-12-27 06:02:16
nothing new
0 有用 一把一个仙人掌 2020-12-07 11:15:05
A New Perspective for my life
1 有用 Heather的冬天 2014-12-21 08:48:41
讲了四种植物:苹果郁金香大麻和土豆,可惜内容和书名不是很相符。土豆一章很震撼,有关GMO。
0 有用 未时 2019-07-03 12:12:08
Who is being manipulated...
1 有用 涵哥吉祥🌈 2019-12-28 13:26:34
12月一口气读了四五本michael的书,直到这本终于有点倦怠读不下去了。读“苹果”一章,我连着喝了几杯三四年没有碰过的cider,依旧难喝哈哈。读完“土豆”,我想着我可以和麦当劳彻底永生再见了
0 有用 海龟的向日葵 2023-04-27 17:10:44 云南
从植物的视角分析历史脉络,思想风潮和植物本身。灵动,丰富,很有启发,甚至讽刺。没看最后一章土豆。
0 有用 Cal 2021-12-27 06:02:16
nothing new
0 有用 Denni 2021-12-07 22:22:15
“artificial selection" and the eternal struggle btw Apollonian and Dionysian desires.
0 有用 arale 2021-09-24 15:04:13
从人类与植物关系的角度,讨论了很多有意思的议题,比如进化,欲望,意识,美,多元,垄断等等,多层次分析了基因编辑的利弊。
0 有用 #阿芙佳朵凊# 2021-06-21 09:13:38
感覺是Michael Pollan裡比較讓我失望的一本,鬱金香部分挺無聊的,大麻部分我是帶著bias聽過去的。土豆部分比較有意思但聽到Monsanto大概就知道後面是什麼走向了(果然這公司幾十年如一日的差口碑啊)