Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulop, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, the plants have also benefited at least as much from their association with us. So who is really domesticating whom?
On the sixth anniversary of its original publication, Pollan’s scientific twist on the human/plant symbiosis makes its audio debut. Pollan preaches a unique sort of romantic environmentalism where humans and plants satisfy each other’s desires for survival, enjoyment, satisfaction and escape. He uses the apple, tulip, Cannabis and potato to develop his ideas, offering the histories of each and how they developed reciprocal relationships with the humans with whom each interacted. Scott Brick exudes excitement and breathes life into the recording—the timbre of his voice offering just the right touch of humor and depth. Listeners will feel like Brick truly loves the book and loves reading it aloud. It’s a great combination for listeners: interesting subject, great writing and wonderful reading. Definitely not to be missed.
About the Author
Michael Pollan, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, is the author of Second Nature and A Place of My Own, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1997. His writing has received numerous awards, including the QPB New Visions prize (for Second Nature), the James Beard Award, and the first Reuters—World Conservation Union Global Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism. Pollan teaches writing in the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He is married to the painter, Judith Belzer; they have a son, Issac.
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