24 in ’24 Challenge – Book 8 “The Botany of Desire” by Michael Pollan

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan was one of the books that I received as part of my Advent parcel (see here for what I thought that the book would be like). It is the eighth book of the 24 that I have planned to read over the three summer months in a probably futile effort to reduce my to-be-read pile. I am actually reading more or less on schedule to complete the list in the time I have allocated but writing up the reviews afterwards is taking longer.

This is a science book about plants which means that it doesn’t immediately excite me. The author has chosen four plants and examines their relationship with humanity – apples, potatoes, tulips and marijuana. He argues that while plants often change and evolve to fit their environment that humanity has also changed to make a better environment for the plants. It’s an interesting argument and the author does pursue it in the text but he devotes most of his time to talking historically about how these plants became so desired and how humanity used them.

I was more drawn to the history than the botany but the book didn’t completely engage me because the writer is American and assumed that I knew some things about American history that I didn’t (the legend of Johnny Appleseed, for example). The author also talks about his own experience of growing the four crops which is interesting. At the end of the book he examines the issues of monoculture farming and genetic modification – he deals with some fears but raises some new issues.

I learned lots of information about how these plants reproduce and their importance in human society but more from the point of view of the plants than from the social history of people. In the end this book didn’t work for me because I am not the person for whom it is written because of my limited interest in science, and especially botany. I am glad that I did read it and I certainly didn’t hate it but it didn’t enthuse me with a wish to read more of the same.