Michael Pollan's book is based on one very simple, elegant and
initially unsettling idea: instead of thinking of human beings as
subjects, who act on the natural world to make it respond to our
wishes, we should think of the natural world as acting equally on
us. In the same way that flowers and bees have a mutually
advantageous arrangement, so do humans and the plants we cultivate:
we may think that we have chosen to farm potatoes but they have
also chosen us as a way of propagating themselves. It sounds fey,
but it's not - Pollan isn't talking about conscious intent but
evolutionary strategies. He develops his argument through four
examples: the apple, the tulip, the marijuana plant and the potato.
The key to each is the desire human beings have for a particular
quality - sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control. Pollan is
never less than engrossing as he traces the history of our
relationship with each species. All have been domesticated by
humans, but all have also flourished as a result of our desire for
them. Arguably, the book isn't really about botany at all -
Pollan's remit allows him to talk about biochemistry, genetic
engineering, evolution, the nature of consciousness, our historical
and legal attitudes towards drugs, and much else. The chapter on
marijuana is particularly compelling. Pollan shows that the US
clampdown on the drug in the 1980s and 1990s forced marijuana
growers to cultivate the plant indoors, under artificial light,
with the unexpected consequence that the marijuana grown under
those conditions flowered earlier and with a vastly increased
potency. His account of how the drug mimics the brain's own
chemicals that enable us to forget - and why forgetting is an
important function of the brain - is startling. The chapter on the
potato, unpromising as it sounds, contains probably one of the best
accounts of genetic modification, its potential benefits and, more
importantly, its potential hazards, that you will find. As with the
rest of the book, Pollan's explanation is beautifully clear and
never less than engaging. Unusually for a science book, this is a
rattling good read: well-informed, intelligent and original,
without ever being dry or patronizing. Quite an achievement.
(Kirkus UK)
A farmer cultivates genetically modified potatoes so that a customer at McDonald’s 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.
Click here to read an extract. ‘While sowing seeds, this most aptly named of authors asked himself what the 'existential difference' was between his role in the garden and that of a bumblebee. The answer is reached via a charmingly whimsical methodology. Through a mixture of science, philosophy and memoir, Pollan argues that plants have evolved to satisfy the desires of man — just as they have the needs of insects — in order to ensure the survival of their genes. The DNA of a tulip, for example, with petals attenuated like sabres, 'contains detailed instructions on how best to catch the eye not of a bee but of an Ottoman Turk'. This 'co-evolutionary' exchange for mutual benefit is elaborated through four plant types (the apple tree, tulip, marijuana plant and potato) and four desires. This is an immensely enjoyable and accessible book, the provocation of the argument (particularly in regard to GM crops) living on long after the closing sentence’ —
Daily Telegraph ‘An immensely readable and thought-provoking book’ ——
Independent‘Pollan’s wonderful exploration of four plants (apple, tulip, marijuana, potato) bears a close similarity to two other equally brilliant studies of comestibles: Margaret Visser's Much Depends on Dinner (corn, salt, butter, rice etc) and Henry Hobhouse's Seeds of Change (quinine, sugar, tea, cotton). There is, however, a difference in Pollan's viewpoint. While Visser and Hobhouse explore man's exploitation, Pollan takes the plant's viewpoint. In the case of marijuana, he suggests that the intoxicating element, known as THC, may be there in order 'to discombobulate the insects ... that prey on the plant'. However, he also quotes a botanist who suggests that the most obvious evolutionary advantage of THC was 'the psychoactive properties which attracted human attention and caused the plant to be spread around the world'. Are we being used by the plant, rather than vice versa? In the case of the tulip, this suggestion appears to fall down. The virus which causes the blooms to 'break' into exotic swirls of colour - and prompted the outburst of tulipomania - also eventually kills the plants. But, suggests Pollan, 'what if the question is instead considered from the vantage point of the virus?' Erudite and entertaining, Pollan's book is a roller-coaster ride for the intellect’ —
Independent
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