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'A joy to read ... mind-expanding' Book of the Week, Guardian 'A
bold and brave paean to our planet's ligneous, leafy kingdom'
Telegraph 'An impressive exploration and dazzling insight into the
lives of plants' Reaction Book Digest What is it like to be a
plant? It's not a question we might think to contemplate, even
though many of us live surrounded by plants. Science has long
explored the wonderful ways in which plants communicate, behave and
shape their environments: from chemical warfare to turning their
predators to cannibalism. But they're usually just the backdrop to
our frenetic animal lives. While plants may not have brains or move
around as we do, cutting-edge science is revealing that they have
astonishing inner worlds of an alternate kind to ours. They can
plan ahead, learn, recognise their relatives, assess risks and make
decisions. They can even be put to sleep. Innovative new tools
might allow us to actually see them do these things - from
electrophysiological recordings to MRI and PET scans. If you can
look in the right way, a world full of drama unfurls. In PLANTA
SAPIENS, Professor Paco Calvo offers a bold new perspective on
plant biology and cognitive science. Using the latest scientific
findings, Calvo challenges us to make an imaginative leap into a
world that is so close and yet so alien - one that will expand our
understanding of our own minds. From their rich subjective
experiences to how they are inspiring novel ways of approaching the
ecological crisis, PLANTA SAPIENS is a dazzling exploration of the
lives of plants and a call to approach how we think about the
natural world in a new, maverick way.
Decades of research document plants’ impressive abilities: they
communicate with each other, manipulate other species, and move in
sophisticated ways. Lesser known, however, is that although plants
may not have brains, their internal workings reveal a system not
unlike the neuronal networks running through our own bodies. They
can learn and remember, possessing an intelligence that allows them
to behave in flexible, forward-looking, and goal-directed ways. In
Planta Sapiens, Paco Calvo, a leading figure in the philosophy of
plant signaling and behavior, offers an entirely new perspective on
plants’ worlds, showing for the first time how we can use tools
developed to study animal cognition in a quest to understand plant
intelligence. Plants learn from experience: wild strawberries can
be taught to link light intensity with nutrient levels in the soil,
and flowers can time pollen production to pollinator visits. Plants
have social intelligence, releasing chemicals from their roots and
leaves to speak to and identify one another. They make decisions
about where to invest their growth, judging risk based on the
resources available. Their individual preferences vary,
too—plants have personalities. Calvo also illuminates how plants
inspire technological advancements, from robotics to AI. Most
importantly, he demonstrates that plants are not objects: they have
their own agency. If we recognize plants as actors alongside us in
the climate crisis—rather than seeing them simply as resources
for carbon capture and food production—plants may just be able to
help us tackle our most urgent problems.
Decades of research document plants’ impressive abilities: they
communicate with each other, manipulate other species, and move in
sophisticated ways. Lesser known, however, is that although plants
may not have brains, their internal workings reveal a system not
unlike the neuronal networks running through our own bodies. They
can learn and remember, possessing an intelligence that allows them
to behave in flexible, forward-looking, and goal-directed ways. In
Planta Sapiens, Paco Calvo, a leading figure in the philosophy of
plant signaling and behavior, offers an entirely new perspective on
plants’ worlds, showing for the first time how we can use tools
developed to study animal cognition in a quest to understand plant
intelligence. Plants learn from experience: wild strawberries can
be taught to link light intensity with nutrient levels in the soil,
and flowers can time pollen production to pollinator visits. Plants
have social intelligence, releasing chemicals from their roots and
leaves to speak to and identify one another. They make decisions
about where to invest their growth, judging risk based on the
resources available. Their individual preferences vary,
too—plants have personalities. Calvo also illuminates how plants
inspire technological advancements, from robotics to AI. Most
importantly, he demonstrates that plants are not objects: they have
their own agency. If we recognize plants as actors alongside us in
the climate crisis—rather than seeing them simply as resources
for carbon capture and food production—plants may just be able to
help us tackle our most urgent problems.
'A joy to read ... mind-expanding' Book of the Week, Guardian 'A
bold and brave paean to our planet's ligneous, leafy kingdom'
Telegraph 'An impressive exploration and dazzling insight into the
lives of plants' Reaction Book Digest What is it like to be a
plant? It's not a question we might think to contemplate, even
though many of us live surrounded by plants. Science has long
explored the wonderful ways in which plants communicate, behave and
shape their environments: from chemical warfare to turning their
predators to cannibalism. But they're usually just the backdrop to
our frenetic animal lives. While plants may not have brains or move
around as we do, cutting-edge science is revealing that they have
astonishing inner worlds of an alternate kind to ours. They can
plan ahead, learn, recognise their relatives, assess risks and make
decisions. They can even be put to sleep. Innovative new tools
might allow us to actually see them do these things - from
electrophysiological recordings to MRI and PET scans. If you can
look in the right way, a world full of drama unfurls. In PLANTA
SAPIENS, Professor Paco Calvo offers a bold new perspective on
plant biology and cognitive science. Using the latest scientific
findings, Calvo challenges us to make an imaginative leap into a
world that is so close and yet so alien - one that will expand our
understanding of our own minds. From their rich subjective
experiences to how they are inspiring novel ways of approaching the
ecological crisis, PLANTA SAPIENS is a dazzling exploration of the
lives of plants and a call to approach how we think about the
natural world in a new, maverick way.
Have you ever sat and watched a plant? The very idea itself might
seem strange. We like to watch things that move, that do something.
But in fact, plants are doing a great deal too - plants behave, as
animals do - they are just doing it on a very different timescale.
They cannot move about freely like animals do, so they grow into
space instead and make new chemicals to interact with the species
around them. Not only that, but what causes them to do these
things, what drives this behaviour, is far more similar than we
humans, with our speedy, animal-centric perceptions, have always
assumed. If we learn to look differently, we might be amazed at
what we find. We are dismantling the traditional hierarchies of
nature: we are becoming increasingly aware of the interior lives of
other species and how much we share with them. We are also coming
to understand that there are many more ways to be intelligent than
we have previously believed. We can't see ourselves as the only,
privileged intelligent life on Earth any more. And if we are to
save the global biome, we must not. PLANTA SAPIENS opens up the
plant kingdom like never before and will transform how you view
other forms of life, to see plants as allies in tackling global
problems rather than as mere resources; as teachers from whom we
can learn about our own minds.
The author of Feathers and Eggshells is a teenager with a passion
for wild birds. Here Natalie Lawrence takes us on an extended tour
of her favourite bird watching area - Hampstead Heath in London - a
suburban haven for wildlife, comprising different habitats for
birds. From the mating dance of the Great Crested Grebe, to the
delicacy of the Treecreeper's beak, she reveals the beauty and
diversity of the local bird life, using drawings and photographs,
prose and poetry.Feathers and Eggshells will appeal to all who can
relate to a childhood passion and especially those who love birds
in a natural setting.
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