Trade Paperback
2002 · New York
by Pollan, Michael
New York: Random House, 2002. Reprint. Trade Paperback. Very Good. 5x0x7. Reprint. Ink gift note on front cover verso. 2002 Trade Paperback. xxv, 271 pp. 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 flowersâ 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 desiresâsweetness, beauty, intoxication, and controlâwith the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankindâs most basic yearnings. And just as weâve benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. So who is really domesticating whom (Inventory #: 2332159)