The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan. © 2002 Random House. ISBN 9780375760396. Paperback. Popular Science. 304 pages. $16.00 US. Source: local bookstore purchase.

A half-cooked book makes for indigestion.

This book was promising. The premise behind the book intrigues — that plants can attract or manipulate humans just like hummingbirds or bees. It is likewise laudable for an author to focus on the history behind ‘ordinary’, often ignored plants like the Apple, Tulip, Cannibas and Potato — showing how ‘extraordinary’ they really are. But that’s where the book’s merits end.

Not only did parts of the book seem poorly researched, but there was a sense of being haphazardly thrown together — i.e. the author kept going round and round saying the same things in different ways, as if he wasn’t sure he’d proved his point … or maybe he just enjoyed his own lyrical voice. The pages dragged on and the reader realizes he/she is still in the same territory as 20 pages previously. What Pollan said in 300 pages could most certainly have been said in 150 … maybe less. One thing is for sure: his editor failed miserably. Read more

Jenn