Alice in the Land of Plants: Biology of Plants and Their Importance for Planet Earth

by Yiannis Manetas

Why is it that plants do not need to move? How does a nonmotile organism have sex or defend itself? Why are some plants virtually immortal? What is the mechanism that allows plants to exploit a practically inexhaustible extraterrestrial energy source? How do plants regulate the composition of our planet’s atmosphere? Why have there not been mass extinctions among plants as there have been among animals? How do plants communicate with one another? In the end, are plants intelligent organisms? These are some of the questions the author discusses to demonstrate that plants are wrongly considered to be simple organisms lacking specific behaviour and intelligence. This book promises to be as pleasant a surprise as Alice’s experience in the white rabbit’s warren, in which she encountered a world very different from ours. The author explains the biology of plants following Einstein's maxim that everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

392 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a pleasant botany book for the interested layman. Explains neatly and clearly the basics of plant physology without going into molecular detail.
A bit baffling the fact that it's published by an academic press, making it practically invisible to the target audience, which is unfortunate because it is quite a charming read.