Description

The book that helped make Michael PollantheNew York Timesbestselling author ofCookedandThe Omnivores Dilemmaone of the most trusted food experts in America

In 1637 one Dutchman paid as much for a single tulip bulb as the going price of a town house in Amsterdam Three and a half centuries later Amsterdam is once again the mecca for people who care passionately about one particular plantthough this time the obsessions revolves around the intoxicating effects of marijuana rather than the visual beauty of the tulip How could flowers of all things become such objects of desire that they can drive men to financial ruin

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 humankindss most basic yearningsand by doing so made themselves indispensable For just as weve benefited from these plants the plants in the grand coevolutionary 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