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 Fascinating read December 22, 2007
Josh More
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Botany of Desire was recommended to me last summer. It covers the stories of four plants: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. Interestingly, it reads similarly to The Beak of the Finch in that it discusses the nature of evolution. However, unlike the finches, the focus of this book is on how communion with humans, rather than isolation, has driven the evolution of these plants. While there are many items of interest in this book, I will primarily focus on what I did not know prior to reading it.
Apples
The story of the apple starts with John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed. What I didn't know here was that the apple was spread throughout the new world as a source of alcohol rather than food. It makes perfect historical sense, but I had never given it much thought. The "apple cider" and "applejack" about which I had previously read without consideration was a form of moonshine that was extremely potent and must have gone a long way towards making frontier life more bearable. The fact that apples spread the taste of "sweetness" was also something that I had not previously appreciated. Before the European honey bees swarmed the US, and before cane and beet sugar were available, most people would seldom get to taste that flavor, so it was to be savored.
Another thing that I didn't know about apples was that they don't breed true. Like most kids, I tried planting apple trees from seed, but I never stayed interested in the project for the 4-6 years it would take to actually get apples from the resulting progeny. If I had, I would have found out that each seed has randomized genetics, and therefore makes entirely different types of apples. (I now imagine each apple to be like Doctor Who, playing genetic Russian roulette with each seed.) So, all the apples we eat are cloned.
Tulips
The tulip story wasn't quite so interesting, because I was already aware of the tulip boom and associated economic disaster. What was interesting was the "college" system of bidding on tulips. Apparently, if you wanted to "invest" in tulip futures, you first went to the bar. (That would have been a huge warning for me but hey, I'm not Dutch, what do I know?) Once there, the seller and bidder would each write down a price, and hand the slates to a pair of trusted proxies. The proxies would then dicker over the price and return something that they thought was fair. If they both agreed, the deal went through and both parties paid a fee for doing business. If they both disagreed, the deal was canceled. If only one disagreed, he had to pay a fine. . . The fees and fines then went to buying drinks for everyone at the bar.
Yeah. Day trading looks like a reputable career in comparison.
Marijuana
The marijuana story was fascinating for someone who only ever thought of the plant as "ditch weed". Apparently, since it was criminalized, the "gardeners" have been tinkering with the genetics trying to balance the best of the different plants, maximizing the THC and minimizing the other toxic chemicals. The descriptions of modern grow rooms were astonishing, describing the millions of dollars in technology needed to grow these hybrids, the billions that they're worth and frighteningly, how growers get just as habituated to the cash flow and genetic improvement process as the buyers do to the product.
Another interesting side observation that Michael Pollan made was that the incidents of shamans/visionaries have gone down as global nutrition levels have gone up. Not sure if I buy the link, but it was interesting to consider.
Potato(e)s
The potato section was mostly about direct genetic manipulation by the Monsanto corporation. It's supposed to be a story about control, but actually reads like a story about blind hope and arrogance. It gets into a natural insecticide known as Bt that Monsanto merged into potato(e)s. While this has been around for millennia, it has never existed in sufficient concentration to promote evolutionary resistance until now. The nightmare scenario is that of breeding super-insects that are not only immune to our existing insecticides, but also immune to the natural ones -- resulting in a population explosion of pest-insects that utterly destroys the global food supply. Monsanto's answer is basically "we'll deal with that when it happens".
I can follow the logic, but have my doubts that it would get quite so bad. Again though, it's interesting to think about.
The other item of interest from this section was about "net necrosis" in Russet Burbanks. When I was young, I remember getting the occasional french fry that had a dark spot. This was caused by net necrosis -- a harmless spotting of the potato. The large fast food companies believe (probably correctly) that their customers do not like spotty fries, so they will refuse an entire batch if one potato shows this condition. So, to prevent this from happening, the commercial potato producers spray the entire field with nerve toxin, and keep all of their people out of the fields for up to five days to keep them from being killed.
Then they sell the potato(e)s to us to eat.
I already had potato(e)s on my "organic-only" list for pesticide reasons. After reading this book, they're going to stay there.
Generally
Really, most of the book was a fascinating read, but the only bit that probably changed my life is the net necrosis stuff. That said, it's a well written book and the author's voice rings through so it's more than a selection of facts. If you like plants, it's worth reading. If you don't like plants, but enjoy thinking, read it... you might start liking plants.
Of course, if you are botanophobic, you should avoid it (and I commend you for reading this far without fleeing in terror).
Literary History December 15, 2007
E.T. (Cambridge, MA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Michael Pollan is a journalist, a plant-lover, and a curious man. The combination of these results in some brilliant and enthralling prose on the human relation to plant life in a way that is new to the non-biologists in the audience.
 Good backround December 10, 2007
Member of a Book Club (Mid Atlantic, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this after reading "The Omnivore's Dilemina".
It's good. The tulip frenzy has been in the news lately and this has an interesting write up about that.
I also really enjoyed the write-up about apples! That's a bit of American History I didn't know about. I think it's a good read for someone interested in food.
somewhat uneven, but enjoyable December 4, 2007
K. Josic (Houston, TX USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you come to this book with the right expectations, it is actually an
enjoyable read. This is not really a popular science book, since it does
not seemed to be balanced or sufficiently researched for the most part.
However, Pollan's writing is engaging and humorous. He does present
a number of interesting hypothesis, ranging from the thought provoking
to the silly.
Unfortunately, the first chapter on apples is the weakest in the
collection. However, the book does pick up in the next chapter, and I
think the last two chapters are the strongest. The chapter on potatoes
is engaging and, in parts, scary. It certainly needs to be taken with a
grain of salt. However, I think his main point that we simply do not
know what the long term effects of modern agricultural practices will
be is a sound one.
A Fascinating Read October 7, 2007
Cory Richardson
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan challenges the notion that mankind can control the natural world, subjugating plants to the will of the gardener. Through a discussion of four plants closely associated with human cultivation: apple, tulip, marijuana, and potato, Pollan demonstrates that organisms which possess traits desirable to the gardener have been able manipulate humans to cultivate them. Each plant has a different strategy for assuring that humans will continue to include it in their gardens. The apple, for example, is an extremely diverse species whose seeds contain millions of possible variations of both the fruit produced and the tree itself. Whether one is looking to make hard cider or munch on a crisp green fruit, the apple tree has the genetic code to produce the fruit humans look for.
In The Botany of Desire, Pollan focuses on the four plants mentioned above, placing each plant in a category, and explains how plants within that category possess characteristics which make them desirable to humans. The apple and other fruits appeal to our sense of taste, and, if fermented, our desire for inebriation. The tulip appeals to mankind's sense of beauty; marijuana, our desire to achieve an altered state of mind; the potato our need for nourishment and desire to genetically engineer crops. In short, each of these plants is successful in an evolutionary sense because it causes us to cultivate it.
Although Pollan's book is an intriguing read, I found it unsettling that he often rattles off facts and figures without citing a direct source, such as the assertion on page 219: "a potato farmer in Idaho spends roughly $1,950 an acre (mainly on chemicals, electricity and water)." Pollan does include a few pages of sources in the back of his book, but he could make a stronger argument that would stand up to academic scrutiny with the addition of endnotes.
In addition to a vast amount of research and traveling prior to writing this book, Pollan makes The Botany of Desire a quality literary work by using recurring themes to tie the four parts of the book together. Through returning to his garden at many points over the course of the book, Pollan is able to tie all four of his subjects into a common space. Approaching the reader as a fellow gardener gives him or her a sense of connection to Pollan and his garden. By the end of the book, I felt as though I knew Michael Pollan and his garden intimately. Another example of this continuity is Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and revelry. Dionysus appears in both chapters one and three, were Pollan relates him to cider, Johnny Appleseed, and mind-altering substances.
Overall, Pollan's clear style and journalistic narrative flows easily and keeps the reader entertained throughout the book. He makes effective use of descriptive details and personal experiences to relate to the reader as he argues his theme of plants manipulating humans to include them in their gardens. The Botany of Desire is a must read for anyone interested in how plants we encounter on a daily basis cause us to cultivate them around the globe.
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