Product Description

A farmer cultivates genetically modified potatoes so that a customer at McDonald's half a world away can enjoy a long, golden french fry. A gardener plants tulip bulbs in the autumn and in the spring has a riotous patch of colour to admire. Two simple examples of how humans act on nature to get what we want. Or are they? What if those potatoes and tulips have evolved to gratify certain human desires so that humans will help them multiply? What if, in other words, these plants are using us just as we use them? In blending history, memoir and superb science writing, Pollan tells the story of four domesticated species - the apple, the tulip, marijuana and the potato. All four plants are integral to our everyday lives and Pollan demonstrates how each has thrived by satisfying one of humankind's most basic desires. Weaving fascinating anecdote and accessible science, Pollan takes the reader on an absorbing journey through the landscape of botany and desire. It is a journey that will change the way we think about our place in nature

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17050 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Customer Reviews

Plants and Humans Influence Each Other for Mutual Benefit!
"What existential difference is there between the human being's role in this (or any) garden and the bumblebees?" "Did I choose to plant these potatoes, or did the potato make me do it? With profound questions like these, Michael Pollan pollinates your mind with a new world view of our relationships with plants, one in which humans are not at the center. The book focuses on four primary examples of how plants provide benefits to humans that lead humans to benefit the plants (apples for sweetness, tulips for beauty, marijuana for intoxication, and the potato for control over nature's food supply). You will learn many new facts in the process that will fascinate you. The book's main value is that you will learn that we need to be more thoughtful in how we assist in the evolution of plant species.

The book builds on Darwin's original observations about how artificial evolution occurs (evolution directed by human efforts). So-called domesticated species thrive while the wild ones we admire often do not. Compare dogs to wolves as an example. Mr. Pollan challenges the mental separation we make between wild and domesticated species successfully in the book.

The apple section was my favorite. You will learn that John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) was a rather odd fellow who was actually in the business of raising and selling apple trees. He planted a few seeds at the homes where he stayed overnight on his travels. Mr. Chapman had apple tree nurseries all over Ohio and Indiana, which he started 2-3 years before he expected an influx of settlers. Homesteading laws required these settlers to plant 50 apple or pears trees in order to take title to the land. And these apples were for making hard apple cider, not eating apples. He was the "American Dionysus" in Mr. Pollan's view. Apple trees need to be grafted to make good eating apples. Chapman's trees produced many genetic variations, which are good for the species. Apple trees became more narrow in their genes after other sources for alcohol and sweetness became available (from cane sugar). Now, the ancient genes of apple trees are being kept in living form from Kazakhstan, before they are lost due to economic development.

Tulips were the source of the famous Tulipmania in Holland. Rare colors occurred due to viruses. Those became extremely valuable during the tulip boom market in the 17th century. Now, growers try to keep the viruses out and we have much more dull, consistent species. We have probably lost much beauty in favor of order in the process.

The intoxicants in marijuana are probably caused by toxins that the plants make to kill off insects. Because the plant is a weed, it grows very rapidly. There is a hilarious story about the author's experiences in growing two plants that you will love. As the antidrug war progressed, marijuana became a hothouse plant and was bred and developed to grow much more rapidly under humid, high-light conditions indoors. You will read about modern commercial farms in Holland.

The potato story is the most complex. The Irish potato famine related to monoculture. The Incas had always planted a variety of potatoes to avoid the risk of disease. Now, biotechnology has added an insecticide to the leaves of potato plants, taking monoculture one step further. Interestingly, the insects are already becoming resistant to the insecticide. Are we building a new risk to famine with this approach? How will genetically altered potatoes affect humans? Is having consistent french fries at fast food places enough of an incentive to take this risk? These are the kinds of questions raised by this chapter.

Mr. Pollan has described a "dance of human and plant desire that left neither the plants nor the people . . . unchanged."

His key point is that we should be sure to include strong biodiversity in our approaches. Nature can create more variation faster than fledgling biotechnology industry can. Time has proven that biodiversity has many advantages for humans while monoculture has usually proven to have at least one major drawback. In reality, we can probably have both.

If you are like me, you will find Mr. Pollan's personal experiences with the plants and his investigations of the historical figures to be fascinating. He is a good story teller, and a fine writer.

After you read this book, take a walk through a park or a garden and think about Mr. Pollan's argument. Then consider how these principles can be applied to help ideas change, improve, and grow in more valuable ways.

Look at life from many different perspectives . . . and live more intelligently and beneficially!

A quartette of posies
Right. Let's get the one fault out of the way quickly. This book isn't "a plant's-eye view of the world." It could be better subtitled "A Botanical Biography." No matter. This well-researched and wonderfully written group of essays examines the world of four mundane plants, the apple, tulip, hemp and potatoe. Pollan describes how each have played major roles in human affairs.

In America, "Johnny Appleseed" is a giant figure in the mythology of the Ohio Valley. Pollan describes the life of his real-life counterpart, John Chapman. Apart from repeats of the Disney film of this character, it would be interesting to know how many remember the migratory apple orchardist of the early 19th Century today. In reviving Chapman's memory [I'd never heard of him - there is no Canadian counterpart.], Pollan takes us on a well-developed history of this valuable fruit. An emigrant from ancient Kazakhstan, it may have been brought to the West along the famous silk road, according to Pollan. Along with the silk came the process of grafting, invented by the Chinese. Pollan's reminds us that an apple's taste, which we usually consider a human reaction, was attractive to many animals, leading to its wide propagation.

Pollan moves from fruit to flower. The tulip, that quintessential symbol of the Netherlands, was the first flower to influence major economic activity. He describes the frantic "tulipomania" that swept that country in the 17th Century. Beautiful flowers are desired by most people, but to insects, Pollan notes, it means pollen and nectar. Flowers need insects to ensure pollination - no insects, no more flowers. Pollan suggests our own view of "beauty" derives from these evolutionary roots.

Pollan's choice of hemp, in its use as marijuana, will have raised a few eyebrows. As a symbol of "intoxication," he opens the essay with a description of plant toxins. Toxins, Pollan reminds us, are capable of rendering the victim dead, or at least incapacitated. Since plants and animals have a history of coevolution, deadly toxins are often counterproductive. Besides, making them ties up much of the plant's resources. Evolution led many plants to produce toxins that merely confuse or disable the predator. Enter the human. Plant chemistry is the basis of nearly all pharmaceuticals. Pollan notes the properties of nicotine and caffeine on animals. Marijuana's effects, as he notes, have a potential that goes beyond body chemistry. His account of "mary jane" plants behind his barn is easily the most
entertaining episode in the book.

Returning to edible [for humans] plants, Pollan re-introduces us to the potato - often overlooked, but of immense value. He views the potato as the ideal symbol for the rise of agriculture. "Agriculture is, by its very nature, brutally reductive, simplifying nature's incredibly complexity so something humanly manageable." This simplification has made the crop potato susceptible to blights, as the Irish learned to their dismay. Pollan, a consummate gardener, examines the possibilities of the Monsanto genetically-engineered NewLeaf potato. It has its own insecticide locked in its DNA. The experiment leads him to visit potato farmers for some enlightening exchanges of ideas and opinion.

This book seizes your attention from the first pager. Pollan's polished style and easy wit holds your interest throughout. Whether you've ever gardened for fruits, vegetables or flowers, you will be captivated by these offerings. It's a difficult book to put down, and taking it up again may offer missed rewards later. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Fascinating
I found this book captivating and very easy to read. Michael Pollen has a great style, witty but very informative, I know quite a bit about plants but he had really done his research. The book is divided into his 4 plants of choice, apple, tulip, cannabis and potato, all have a great story and significance to humans, but they in turn have used us for their own ends..