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Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants
From world-renowned scientist Jane Goodall, as seen in the new National Geographic documentary Jane , comes a fascinating examination of the critical role that trees and plants play in our world.
From world-renowned scientist Jane Goodall, as seen in the new National Geographic documentary Jane , comes a fascinating examination of the critical role that trees and plants play in our world.
Seeds of Hope takes us from Goodall's home in England to her home-away-from-home in Africa, deep inside the Gombe forest, where she and the chimpanzees are enchanted by the fig and plum trees they encounter. She introduces us to botanists around the world, as well as places where hope for plants can be found, such as The Millennium Seed Bank. She shows us the secret world of plants with all their mysteries and potential for healing our bodies as well as Planet Earth.
Looking at the world as an adventurer, scientist, and devotee of sustainable foods and gardening--and setting forth simple goals we can all take to protect the plants around us--Goodall delivers an enlightening story of the wonders we can find in our own backyards.
From world-renowned scientist Jane Goodall, as seen in the new National Geographic documentary Jane , comes a fascinating examination of the critical role that trees and plants play in our world.
Seeds of Hope takes us from Goodall's home in England to her home-away-from-home in Africa, deep inside the Gombe forest, where she and the chimpanzees are enchanted by the fig and plum trees they encounter. She introduces us to botanists around the world, as well as places where hope for plants can be found, such as The Millennium Seed Bank. She shows us the secret world of plants with all their mysteries and potential for healing our bodies as well as Planet Earth.
Looking at the world as an adventurer, scientist, and devotee of sustainable foods and gardening--and setting forth simple goals we can all take to protect the plants around us--Goodall delivers an enlightening story of the wonders we can find in our own backyards.
432 pages, Paperback
First published April 2, 2013
279 people are currently reading
4738 people want to read
About the author
Jane Goodall
244 books2,578 followersFor the Australian academic and mystery writer, see Professor Jane R. Goodall.
Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace was a world-renowned ethologist and activist inspiring greater understanding and action on behalf of the natural world every single day.
Dr. Goodall was best known for groundbreaking studies of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, transformative research that continues to this day as the longest-running wild chimpanzee study in the world. Dr. Goodall was the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, a global conservation, advocacy, animal welfare, research, and youth empowerment organization, including her global Roots & Shoots program.
Dr. Goodall had worked extensively on climate action, human rights, conservation, and animal welfare issues for decades, and was a central voice in the work to advance environmental progress.
Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace was a world-renowned ethologist and activist inspiring greater understanding and action on behalf of the natural world every single day.
Dr. Goodall was best known for groundbreaking studies of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, transformative research that continues to this day as the longest-running wild chimpanzee study in the world. Dr. Goodall was the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, a global conservation, advocacy, animal welfare, research, and youth empowerment organization, including her global Roots & Shoots program.
Dr. Goodall had worked extensively on climate action, human rights, conservation, and animal welfare issues for decades, and was a central voice in the work to advance environmental progress.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 239 reviews
April 2, 2014
I received an advanced reader copy through a GoodReads giveaway. I would not have finished the book if I did not feel it was my responsibility to give a free gift book a decent chance. I give it 2.5 stars and rounded up because I personally did not really like it or feel it was memorable but I know that it will appeal to a certain type of earth-loving person. This just isn't my thing but I respect her and what she has to say.
I will admit that I know very little about plants, shy away from most animals and especially don't like insects, so I went into this hoping to learn some new things. I enjoyed certain parts of the book - the first chapter really shows her child-like way of looking at plants and made me feel a bit guilty about not knowing how many or what kinds of trees are outside my door, so I resolved to learn and observe more about them. She talks about plants and their tiny details the way my 5-year-old gets excited about them, and that's a good lesson for us all. I liked reading about plants that heal (since medicine is more my speed than the plant world) and how some seeds need animal's to partially digest them or need to utilize fire before they can germinate. The section on plant hunters was like a little textbook within the book; interesting to read as long as I'm not expected to remember those people.
I did, however, feel out of place when she talked about agriculture like it was the enemy. I'm sorry that farmers ruined some of the land she grew up around, but people need to eat, right? I'm not fully on either side but I felt a little pinch inside when she made it sound like industrialization was the end of the world as we know it. For much of the book, I felt depressed and am glad it ended with some hope. I liked the story of the tree that survived the atomic bomb and the tree that survived 9/11.
Most of the book is long-winded and slow-going. The anecdotes don't have transitions between them and it makes for a choppy read. The captions are detailed and repeat what the text says, so you could probably get by in scanning the pictures without reading much of the book in most places.
I probably won't go plant a garden tomorrow or visit the jungles or rainforests of the world, but I will try to look more closely at the plants growing in the sidewalk cracks, try to appreciate the tiny cottonwood blossoms outside my window, look for untarnished, perfect leaves as we hike, and maybe plan a trip to the Redwood forest.
Overall, I found this was an easy book to put down and have no desire to pick up again. I didn't hate it but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it either. I say, go watch Disney's "The Lorax" and check out a good photography book about plants instead.
I will admit that I know very little about plants, shy away from most animals and especially don't like insects, so I went into this hoping to learn some new things. I enjoyed certain parts of the book - the first chapter really shows her child-like way of looking at plants and made me feel a bit guilty about not knowing how many or what kinds of trees are outside my door, so I resolved to learn and observe more about them. She talks about plants and their tiny details the way my 5-year-old gets excited about them, and that's a good lesson for us all. I liked reading about plants that heal (since medicine is more my speed than the plant world) and how some seeds need animal's to partially digest them or need to utilize fire before they can germinate. The section on plant hunters was like a little textbook within the book; interesting to read as long as I'm not expected to remember those people.
I did, however, feel out of place when she talked about agriculture like it was the enemy. I'm sorry that farmers ruined some of the land she grew up around, but people need to eat, right? I'm not fully on either side but I felt a little pinch inside when she made it sound like industrialization was the end of the world as we know it. For much of the book, I felt depressed and am glad it ended with some hope. I liked the story of the tree that survived the atomic bomb and the tree that survived 9/11.
Most of the book is long-winded and slow-going. The anecdotes don't have transitions between them and it makes for a choppy read. The captions are detailed and repeat what the text says, so you could probably get by in scanning the pictures without reading much of the book in most places.
I probably won't go plant a garden tomorrow or visit the jungles or rainforests of the world, but I will try to look more closely at the plants growing in the sidewalk cracks, try to appreciate the tiny cottonwood blossoms outside my window, look for untarnished, perfect leaves as we hike, and maybe plan a trip to the Redwood forest.
Overall, I found this was an easy book to put down and have no desire to pick up again. I didn't hate it but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it either. I say, go watch Disney's "The Lorax" and check out a good photography book about plants instead.
November 1, 2024
I've been reading this book because I am curious to what other people are saying about plants, and this book truly delivered. I've been introduced to some past plant drama in the world and that was incredible lore that should have been taught in history.
Apparently, when people first discovered tulips, they were so intensely valuable and popular, that people would trade huge amounts of money, diamonds, or even acres of land, for just one bulb. People were pre-paying for bulbs that didn't even exist yet, they would pre-order bulbs that are not yet even made. One servant ate a bulb thinking it was an onion and he got jail time for it. And I mean they're all correct, tulips just are that good.
There was also a lot of, much sadder drama about orchids; I didn't know this, but they originally grow very high up in the trees, and people were competing for discovering new and rare species. These rare and exotic species would then be displayed in rich people's gardens. Because they became so valuable, poachers would go trough the forests and take almost all of the orchids in there, making them near extinct in nature. This was resolved by orchid gardeners carefully growing them, multiplying and sharing to the point where they were sold commercially, which lessened their value on the black market, so there was no need to pillage them from the forests anymore. Growing rare plants is protection of them!
The book goes on to talk about botanic gardens, herbariums, and the value of collecting and archiving plant material, which is then showing us the effects of climate change, and stores valuable information about what is happening to the plants. It made me want to start a herbarium for sure, I'm always stressed about the loss of local plants, and it's happening more and more as green areas are cleared out.
The book touches upon plants that people have found harmful, such as plants that people make drugs out of; she clears it out to us that these plants are sacred to the native people who grew up with them, and creating drugs from them is in fact, abuse of these plants, and offensive to the communities who hold them sacred, and use them in appropriate doses as medicine. The book talks a lot about plant medicine! Apparently the pharmacy companies have been learning the knowledge about medicinal plants from native people who knew how to use plant medicine, and then the pharmacy would make medicine from those same plants, and profit off of it, without giving any credit or profit to the communities they got this knowledge from, which is not great. But then the demand for this medicine would go so high, they would go and gather all, or almost all medicinal plants from the areas where native people lived, devastating their medical supplies and natural habitats. Book goes on to question the ethics of acquiring medicine in this way, and never informing people where it came from, or what was sacrifices in order for the world to have it.
Similar things happened with valuable crops that are grown in native areas; once the demand for these crops grew, big monocrop fields were established, damaging the land and the local ecosystem, killing millions of animals who lived there, and sometimes forcing people or children into modern slavery, in order to grow them. Coffee, cocoa beans, vanilla beans, palm oil; they've been described as specifically devastating for the communities and the environment. But the book doesn't condemn these foods at all, instead the author goes on to describe, what has been done to improve this. Instead of monocrops, which are devastating for the environment, people are now taught to grow fruit trees in the same fields as coffee, which makes the coffee plants healthier and stronger, and creates and environment where some plants and animals can thrive. I personally don't believe you should have only 2 or 3 plants in a big area, I think you need about 3 millions, but it's a progress from monocrops.
The author describes finding and helping the local farmers who found ways to healthy, natural and non-damaging growing of these plants, and she helped them sell it! She also encourages buying organic food because it helps if the demand for non-monocrop food is growing.
Now there's a section of the book standing strongly against GMO foods, and for some reason I never heard any arguments against gmo, I didn't understand much about the harm coming from them, so I was very curious to hear this. The author explained how 47 million dollars was spent just for lobbying for GMO, which explains why all my information on gmo was positive, and I remember hearing it was 'the best way to reduce world hunger', but the world hunger is still a problem, so it obviously did not succeed. But now I have a better understanding of what it is.
GMO foods were specifically developed to have pesticides inside of them, so they'd be poisonous to pests, but not to people eating them. The research on whether they're poisonous to animals showed that the animals who ate them long term, had their inner organs irritated, enlarged, stomach infections, and had higher risk of cancer. So it was not proven to be safe, but it ended up in the stores anyway; the author says that about 70% of food in american supermarkets has unlabelled gmo, which is scary to think about. She also explains that this is the reason so many people in america are now trying to grow food at home, they don't want to be poisoned by pesticides.
GMO foods were specifically designed to support monocrops, and to protect them pests; this worked out in creating more and more bugs that are resistant to the pesticides, and farmers have reported the appearance of 'superbugs', which are resistant to any kind of pesticide. There's now also 'superweeds', which are resistant to herbicide. The industry is trying to develop new pesticides and new herbicides, in order to counter these new problems, but it is obvious that they're only sinking deeper and deeper; monocrops are unsustainable. Poisoning the earth and the plants, and even the seeds, is not going to lead to the end of world hunger. Farmers are often ending up losing their entire farms due to new bugs that are now thriving because all of their competition has been eliminated by pesticides, they're now the only bug and they can eat up the entire crop easily.
The other problem of GMO crops is that they're spreading their seeds and mixing with the natural crops, making them into GMO crops as well. According to the author the canola crops has already been lost, now all canola existing is genetically modified.
I'm dissatisfied with this knowledge, but it's better to know and be aware rather than to be in the dark. The author suggests designing living spaces that have gardens in them, and encouraging local community to garden, as well as planting city gardens, where food would grow for everyone. She goes on to describe the efforts of universities and cities who already had built their own living gardens in order to support the community, and how it worked to create a more beautiful, life-sustaining, happier place. She even explained how having local gardens makes the crime rate lower.
I loved this book, it had the environment awareness that can only be compared to Greta Thunberg's book, it described trees and plants so lovingly, and the connection people have with them. It showed me there's so many people fighting to save the forests and grasslands and native plants, and it's an effort that will make a big difference to how we get to live on this planet in the future.
Apparently, when people first discovered tulips, they were so intensely valuable and popular, that people would trade huge amounts of money, diamonds, or even acres of land, for just one bulb. People were pre-paying for bulbs that didn't even exist yet, they would pre-order bulbs that are not yet even made. One servant ate a bulb thinking it was an onion and he got jail time for it. And I mean they're all correct, tulips just are that good.
There was also a lot of, much sadder drama about orchids; I didn't know this, but they originally grow very high up in the trees, and people were competing for discovering new and rare species. These rare and exotic species would then be displayed in rich people's gardens. Because they became so valuable, poachers would go trough the forests and take almost all of the orchids in there, making them near extinct in nature. This was resolved by orchid gardeners carefully growing them, multiplying and sharing to the point where they were sold commercially, which lessened their value on the black market, so there was no need to pillage them from the forests anymore. Growing rare plants is protection of them!
The book goes on to talk about botanic gardens, herbariums, and the value of collecting and archiving plant material, which is then showing us the effects of climate change, and stores valuable information about what is happening to the plants. It made me want to start a herbarium for sure, I'm always stressed about the loss of local plants, and it's happening more and more as green areas are cleared out.
The book touches upon plants that people have found harmful, such as plants that people make drugs out of; she clears it out to us that these plants are sacred to the native people who grew up with them, and creating drugs from them is in fact, abuse of these plants, and offensive to the communities who hold them sacred, and use them in appropriate doses as medicine. The book talks a lot about plant medicine! Apparently the pharmacy companies have been learning the knowledge about medicinal plants from native people who knew how to use plant medicine, and then the pharmacy would make medicine from those same plants, and profit off of it, without giving any credit or profit to the communities they got this knowledge from, which is not great. But then the demand for this medicine would go so high, they would go and gather all, or almost all medicinal plants from the areas where native people lived, devastating their medical supplies and natural habitats. Book goes on to question the ethics of acquiring medicine in this way, and never informing people where it came from, or what was sacrifices in order for the world to have it.
Similar things happened with valuable crops that are grown in native areas; once the demand for these crops grew, big monocrop fields were established, damaging the land and the local ecosystem, killing millions of animals who lived there, and sometimes forcing people or children into modern slavery, in order to grow them. Coffee, cocoa beans, vanilla beans, palm oil; they've been described as specifically devastating for the communities and the environment. But the book doesn't condemn these foods at all, instead the author goes on to describe, what has been done to improve this. Instead of monocrops, which are devastating for the environment, people are now taught to grow fruit trees in the same fields as coffee, which makes the coffee plants healthier and stronger, and creates and environment where some plants and animals can thrive. I personally don't believe you should have only 2 or 3 plants in a big area, I think you need about 3 millions, but it's a progress from monocrops.
The author describes finding and helping the local farmers who found ways to healthy, natural and non-damaging growing of these plants, and she helped them sell it! She also encourages buying organic food because it helps if the demand for non-monocrop food is growing.
Now there's a section of the book standing strongly against GMO foods, and for some reason I never heard any arguments against gmo, I didn't understand much about the harm coming from them, so I was very curious to hear this. The author explained how 47 million dollars was spent just for lobbying for GMO, which explains why all my information on gmo was positive, and I remember hearing it was 'the best way to reduce world hunger', but the world hunger is still a problem, so it obviously did not succeed. But now I have a better understanding of what it is.
GMO foods were specifically developed to have pesticides inside of them, so they'd be poisonous to pests, but not to people eating them. The research on whether they're poisonous to animals showed that the animals who ate them long term, had their inner organs irritated, enlarged, stomach infections, and had higher risk of cancer. So it was not proven to be safe, but it ended up in the stores anyway; the author says that about 70% of food in american supermarkets has unlabelled gmo, which is scary to think about. She also explains that this is the reason so many people in america are now trying to grow food at home, they don't want to be poisoned by pesticides.
GMO foods were specifically designed to support monocrops, and to protect them pests; this worked out in creating more and more bugs that are resistant to the pesticides, and farmers have reported the appearance of 'superbugs', which are resistant to any kind of pesticide. There's now also 'superweeds', which are resistant to herbicide. The industry is trying to develop new pesticides and new herbicides, in order to counter these new problems, but it is obvious that they're only sinking deeper and deeper; monocrops are unsustainable. Poisoning the earth and the plants, and even the seeds, is not going to lead to the end of world hunger. Farmers are often ending up losing their entire farms due to new bugs that are now thriving because all of their competition has been eliminated by pesticides, they're now the only bug and they can eat up the entire crop easily.
The other problem of GMO crops is that they're spreading their seeds and mixing with the natural crops, making them into GMO crops as well. According to the author the canola crops has already been lost, now all canola existing is genetically modified.
I'm dissatisfied with this knowledge, but it's better to know and be aware rather than to be in the dark. The author suggests designing living spaces that have gardens in them, and encouraging local community to garden, as well as planting city gardens, where food would grow for everyone. She goes on to describe the efforts of universities and cities who already had built their own living gardens in order to support the community, and how it worked to create a more beautiful, life-sustaining, happier place. She even explained how having local gardens makes the crime rate lower.
I loved this book, it had the environment awareness that can only be compared to Greta Thunberg's book, it described trees and plants so lovingly, and the connection people have with them. It showed me there's so many people fighting to save the forests and grasslands and native plants, and it's an effort that will make a big difference to how we get to live on this planet in the future.
October 2, 2025
Good bye and God speed Jane.
I'm a huge fan of Jane Goodall and she can do no wrong in my mind, so I may not be the most objective reviewer of her work. In this book she writes of everything plant or seed related, from her own experience as child spent during the war in her country garden in Bournemouth, England to the time spent studying chimpanzee in Gombe. There are chapters on seed banks, helpful and harmful plants, history of agricultural, and a particularly intense chapter on GMOs, Monsanto, and the food industry.
Always kind and hopeful of the future she ends the book with a story of a tree that survived 9/11. After much loving care it was replanted at the memorial site. The book is fact filled but written in an easy to read, thoughful, conversational style typical of Jane Goodall. Although I found the facts interesting, the best part of the book for me was when she recounted her personal experiences with gardens or jungles or just nature in general. She seems to have a great capacity for kindness and an innate wisdom and has, I think, led an extraordinary life. There are several photographs and illustrations and about 5o pages of notes.
I'm a huge fan of Jane Goodall and she can do no wrong in my mind, so I may not be the most objective reviewer of her work. In this book she writes of everything plant or seed related, from her own experience as child spent during the war in her country garden in Bournemouth, England to the time spent studying chimpanzee in Gombe. There are chapters on seed banks, helpful and harmful plants, history of agricultural, and a particularly intense chapter on GMOs, Monsanto, and the food industry.
Always kind and hopeful of the future she ends the book with a story of a tree that survived 9/11. After much loving care it was replanted at the memorial site. The book is fact filled but written in an easy to read, thoughful, conversational style typical of Jane Goodall. Although I found the facts interesting, the best part of the book for me was when she recounted her personal experiences with gardens or jungles or just nature in general. She seems to have a great capacity for kindness and an innate wisdom and has, I think, led an extraordinary life. There are several photographs and illustrations and about 5o pages of notes.
May 5, 2015
Yes, I have a signed Jane Goodall book- be jealous! This book was amazing and really inspired me to make changes in my lifestyle. I never knew plants could be so interesting!
February 21, 2019
So enjoyable and educational. This woman is a modern miracle.
March 29, 2014
I won this book in the Goodreads First Reads Program.
This book is an excellent introduction to the importance of plants. Reading this book by Jane Goodall feels like you are sitting in a garden or a forest discussing plants with her. The importance of plants and their future is presented in a very personal way. It conveys the horrors that have been done to nature, and the hope that we can fix it.
I enjoyed reading this book. Not only was the information presented in an engaging way, it also provides a variety of topics so anyone can discover what is important to them in nature. If you like history there is information about people that have gathered and preserved plants, the discovery of different plants, and the history of farming. If you care about how your coffee, tea, produce, or other plant related products are grown different methods of farming are discussed. If you want to know what you can do to protect plants and nature, there are different programs mentioned you could get involved with.
if you like history, science, activism, or finding out what you can do in your own life with plants, you will find something in this book that will interest and inspire you.
This book is an excellent introduction to the importance of plants. Reading this book by Jane Goodall feels like you are sitting in a garden or a forest discussing plants with her. The importance of plants and their future is presented in a very personal way. It conveys the horrors that have been done to nature, and the hope that we can fix it.
I enjoyed reading this book. Not only was the information presented in an engaging way, it also provides a variety of topics so anyone can discover what is important to them in nature. If you like history there is information about people that have gathered and preserved plants, the discovery of different plants, and the history of farming. If you care about how your coffee, tea, produce, or other plant related products are grown different methods of farming are discussed. If you want to know what you can do to protect plants and nature, there are different programs mentioned you could get involved with.
if you like history, science, activism, or finding out what you can do in your own life with plants, you will find something in this book that will interest and inspire you.
November 9, 2013
Amazing… What a special glimpse into the world of plants, given by a woman who has lived and seen it all.
It was quite a joy to see this world through Jane's eyes. It brought back all the wonder that we already knew and loved about the plant kingdom and added new pieces to the puzzle that we are so happy to have found!
Mahalo Ms. Goodall!
It was quite a joy to see this world through Jane's eyes. It brought back all the wonder that we already knew and loved about the plant kingdom and added new pieces to the puzzle that we are so happy to have found!
Mahalo Ms. Goodall!
maybe
February 1, 2020I think I will stick to her book on chimpanzees instead.
October 1, 2018
There are portions of this book that are truly inspiring and engrossing, but there are also portions of this book that read as naive -- sometimes painfully so. (The sections on "controversial" plants, especially, where Goodall emphasises repeatedly that "poor" plants are "innocent" but people are abusing them. Eh. )
May 1, 2023
Audiobook read well by author. Free on Libby. Very informative and covered a wide range of topics. Very similar to Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire. Long but I appreciate the bits of cultural significance and historical context given.
November 15, 2024
I’m honestly sad I didn’t like this book as much as I thought I would. It comes off very out of touch and a little haughty. I also realize this is a personal opinion book from her but the amount of fear mongering and bias on subjects she admits to not being qualified in is not it. I understand she had experts review but even then the studies chosen were extremely selective and not representative of certain topics.
I did enjoy the plant facts through out this book and personal experiences. I think moving into the plant world is very fitting for her love of the natural world. I’m also glad she took the time to write about plants and the massive role they play in our environment. Overall, not my fave book from her, sorry Jane 🫶🏼🫶🏼
I did enjoy the plant facts through out this book and personal experiences. I think moving into the plant world is very fitting for her love of the natural world. I’m also glad she took the time to write about plants and the massive role they play in our environment. Overall, not my fave book from her, sorry Jane 🫶🏼🫶🏼
May 4, 2014
So, the only thing I ever really knew about Jane Goodall was that she was the lady who worked with chimpanzees. That's it. Turns out, she has done a lot more than that. And a lot of that had to do with plants.
From an early age, Goodall loved plants, and even had a special tree at her grandmother's house. While off fighting to save the chimpanzees she was studying the local vegetation as well. In this book there are some accounts of her own experience, but it is also a book of history and current activities in regards to the plant world and the development of world crops. She covers GMO's, plantations, poisonous plants, beneficial plants and much more. The actual book is broken into four parts. My Love For the Natural World, which is just Goodall's history with plants. Hunting, Gathering and Gardening, which talks about the different gardens and seed banks in the world and even has a special section on orchids. Uses and Abuses of Plants, which includes sections on healing, drug plants, plantations, mono-crops and GMO's. And the Way Forward which shows what is going on now to help preserve some of the different plants of the world that are rapidly becoming extinct.
Goodall is almost always polite. When faced with distasteful topics she kind of side steps around the people who are making it bad and instead focuses on those who are doing good and making differences. So nothing is scathing in this book in regards to anyone. And a lot of her personal stories are very nice too. It's easy to see she was close to her family and enjoyed spending time with her grandmother and the garden that she had.
This book covers some controversial topics. Goodall is a pretty large name and she blasts GMO's and other crop practices pretty hard. There's going to be some mad people as a result. But, since I'm anti-GMO I'm perfectly fine with what she has to say. If you don't believe the same way though, you won't be happy. You have been warned. She did bring up a bunch of topics I knew nothing about and found incredibly interesting. Like the amount of methane that is produced by rice paddies. I always thought rice was a pretty good crop, but on a large scale that doesn't appear to be the case. Just little facts like that make the book well worth reading. And the pleasant tone, despite the hard topics, makes it very engaging and easy to read.
I enjoyed this book by Goodall and because of that would probably read more of her books. She takes an interesting topic and introduces readers to all parts of it.
**This book was received as a Goodreads Giveaway**
Seeds of Hope
Copyright 2014
420 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2014
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
From an early age, Goodall loved plants, and even had a special tree at her grandmother's house. While off fighting to save the chimpanzees she was studying the local vegetation as well. In this book there are some accounts of her own experience, but it is also a book of history and current activities in regards to the plant world and the development of world crops. She covers GMO's, plantations, poisonous plants, beneficial plants and much more. The actual book is broken into four parts. My Love For the Natural World, which is just Goodall's history with plants. Hunting, Gathering and Gardening, which talks about the different gardens and seed banks in the world and even has a special section on orchids. Uses and Abuses of Plants, which includes sections on healing, drug plants, plantations, mono-crops and GMO's. And the Way Forward which shows what is going on now to help preserve some of the different plants of the world that are rapidly becoming extinct.
Goodall is almost always polite. When faced with distasteful topics she kind of side steps around the people who are making it bad and instead focuses on those who are doing good and making differences. So nothing is scathing in this book in regards to anyone. And a lot of her personal stories are very nice too. It's easy to see she was close to her family and enjoyed spending time with her grandmother and the garden that she had.
This book covers some controversial topics. Goodall is a pretty large name and she blasts GMO's and other crop practices pretty hard. There's going to be some mad people as a result. But, since I'm anti-GMO I'm perfectly fine with what she has to say. If you don't believe the same way though, you won't be happy. You have been warned. She did bring up a bunch of topics I knew nothing about and found incredibly interesting. Like the amount of methane that is produced by rice paddies. I always thought rice was a pretty good crop, but on a large scale that doesn't appear to be the case. Just little facts like that make the book well worth reading. And the pleasant tone, despite the hard topics, makes it very engaging and easy to read.
I enjoyed this book by Goodall and because of that would probably read more of her books. She takes an interesting topic and introduces readers to all parts of it.
**This book was received as a Goodreads Giveaway**
Seeds of Hope
Copyright 2014
420 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2014
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
January 21, 2018
I gave this book four stars because I thought Goodall did a very good job discussing practically every issue related to plants in a way that made them accessible to the lay person. It's an easy book to read. Also, it contains amazing, even beautiful, stories about individual plants and trees around the world and things that individuals and groups from various backgrounds have done or are doing to foster the healthy growth and continuing presence of vegetation on earth. Goodall is both a spiritual and scientific person with a Ph.D's understanding, and all of this came across clearly.
As far my enjoyment of the book goes, there are two or three chapters that I really enjoyed. The last two, in particular, about humanity's destructiveness and constructiveness, that were both depressing and hopeful. They were compelling for me. I didn't find much of the rest of the book riveting. Quite the opposite. I had a hard time sticking with it for more than 30 to 45 minutes. This was due to Goodall's voice which was not appealing to me. I don't want to say why because that might spoil it for those who might otherwise love it. For me, I think I'd rather hear her on the podium.
Her opening chapter, in which she describes how she came to love plants and particularly a favourite beech tree, was wonderful. It made me wonder for why she chose to study chimpanzees rather than trees.
As far my enjoyment of the book goes, there are two or three chapters that I really enjoyed. The last two, in particular, about humanity's destructiveness and constructiveness, that were both depressing and hopeful. They were compelling for me. I didn't find much of the rest of the book riveting. Quite the opposite. I had a hard time sticking with it for more than 30 to 45 minutes. This was due to Goodall's voice which was not appealing to me. I don't want to say why because that might spoil it for those who might otherwise love it. For me, I think I'd rather hear her on the podium.
Her opening chapter, in which she describes how she came to love plants and particularly a favourite beech tree, was wonderful. It made me wonder for why she chose to study chimpanzees rather than trees.
January 27, 2018
Renowned naturalist and bestselling author Jane Goodall examines the critical role that trees and plants play in our world.
In her wise and elegant new book, Jane Goodall blends her experience in nature with her enthusiasm for botany to give readers a deeper understanding of the world around us.
Long before her work with chimpanzees, Goodall's passion for the natural world sprouted in the backyard of her childhood home in England, where she climbed her beech tree and made elderberry wine with her grandmother. The garden her family began then, she continues to enjoy today.
SEEDS OF HOPE takes us from England to Goodall's home-away-from-home in Africa, deep inside the Gombe forest, where she and the chimpanzees are enchanted by the fig and plum trees they encounter. She introduces us to botanists around the world, as well as places where hope for plants can be found, such as The Millennium Seed Bank, where one billion seeds are preserved. She shows us the secret world of plants with all their mysteries and potential for healing our bodies as well as Planet Earth.
Looking at the world as an adventurer, scientist, and devotee of sustainable foods and gardening-and setting forth simple goals we can all take to protect the plants around us-Jane Goodall delivers an enlightening story of the wonders we can find in our own backyards.
In her wise and elegant new book, Jane Goodall blends her experience in nature with her enthusiasm for botany to give readers a deeper understanding of the world around us.
Long before her work with chimpanzees, Goodall's passion for the natural world sprouted in the backyard of her childhood home in England, where she climbed her beech tree and made elderberry wine with her grandmother. The garden her family began then, she continues to enjoy today.
SEEDS OF HOPE takes us from England to Goodall's home-away-from-home in Africa, deep inside the Gombe forest, where she and the chimpanzees are enchanted by the fig and plum trees they encounter. She introduces us to botanists around the world, as well as places where hope for plants can be found, such as The Millennium Seed Bank, where one billion seeds are preserved. She shows us the secret world of plants with all their mysteries and potential for healing our bodies as well as Planet Earth.
Looking at the world as an adventurer, scientist, and devotee of sustainable foods and gardening-and setting forth simple goals we can all take to protect the plants around us-Jane Goodall delivers an enlightening story of the wonders we can find in our own backyards.
September 7, 2013
Read this book before looking at the reviews. Apparently the release of this book was held back awaiting corrections and plagiarism concerns. I was not on a fact checking mission when I started to read this but some outstanding dating issues started to appear as listed in the three examples shown within:
Page 75, "Three hundred and fifty years have gone by since he published the results of his long deliberations in 1753,"
1753 plus 350 makes the current year 2113
Page 182 "They collected, in 1878, samples"
Napoleonic conquest of Egypt, try 1798.
Page 221, "from near the Arctic to the Equator, from sea level to the plains of Tibet, four thousand miles above sea level"
Why be accurate? a meter or a mile no big thing.
With bloopers like this, was the editor sleep? And how much of the internal debate about GMOs is objective?
Page 75, "Three hundred and fifty years have gone by since he published the results of his long deliberations in 1753,"
1753 plus 350 makes the current year 2113
Page 182 "They collected, in 1878, samples"
Napoleonic conquest of Egypt, try 1798.
Page 221, "from near the Arctic to the Equator, from sea level to the plains of Tibet, four thousand miles above sea level"
Why be accurate? a meter or a mile no big thing.
With bloopers like this, was the editor sleep? And how much of the internal debate about GMOs is objective?
October 17, 2019
Let's all admit it, if this book was not written by Jane Goodall only a small percentage of people would read it.
I was expecting a naturalist's take on forests, plants and vegetation in general.
Was pleasantly surprised to read about her memories and childhood experiences.
What I also read though was, shamans, having a two way communication with trees, pseudoscience and complete lack of scientific evidence and "poor and abused" plants.
I was expecting a naturalist's take on forests, plants and vegetation in general.
Was pleasantly surprised to read about her memories and childhood experiences.
What I also read though was, shamans, having a two way communication with trees, pseudoscience and complete lack of scientific evidence and "poor and abused" plants.
November 2, 2017
Expansive (unfocused?) exploration of the things Jane Goodall knows and learned about plants. I am inclined to agree with her position on most things, and found her anecdotes inspiring.
April 2, 2018
What can I say. It’s Jane Goodall talking about forests and seeds and GM development and seeds. I have learned much. I have reinforced some of what I was already aware of.
I have been genuinely terrified by the sections on the new Super Weeds.
I have been inspired.
I read this as an audio book. I think I will take the opportunity to revisit it via a paper book in the future.
I may not always agree completely with some of Ms Goodalls forays into moralising, but that’s okay.
Recommend to everyone. We all and our planet can only benefit by as many people as possible learning about the vital but so fragile balance of nature. We literally can not survive without that balance being respected and understood and changes made.
I have been genuinely terrified by the sections on the new Super Weeds.
I have been inspired.
I read this as an audio book. I think I will take the opportunity to revisit it via a paper book in the future.
I may not always agree completely with some of Ms Goodalls forays into moralising, but that’s okay.
Recommend to everyone. We all and our planet can only benefit by as many people as possible learning about the vital but so fragile balance of nature. We literally can not survive without that balance being respected and understood and changes made.
April 16, 2020
Most people know Jane Goodall as the "chimp lady", but she also had a great fondness for all nature, trees in particular. In this book, she describes the ways in which trees are a necessary part of nature and advocates for protecting them. She talks about famous trees around the world and efforts to preserve them whenever possible. You will look at trees differently after reading this book!
August 15, 2020
The book really should be titled “I’m old and about to die, the world is in a horrible place, so good luck 👋🏼.” The book really didn’t give me hope, and while there are sections of the book that are really interesting, it’s mixed with parts that are very sad, and some of the ideas in the book are presented as fact, but lacks rigorous scientific standards.
June 1, 2024
What an absolute train wreck. I couldn't even finish this painfully disappointing book. Despite the writing feeling like it was from a grade school text book, I was moving along okay until I got to the history of botany. Where THE Jane Goodall not only glorified white colonialism and imperialism but goes so far as to describe the "brave explorers" facing "hostile Africans" and "savage Indians." Jane spent most of her life in Africa and while her disposition leads me to believe she is not a racist person, this book really made me question someone I looked up to. At the very least, she didn't proof read the ghost writer and that's not really okay either. A very weird and unfortunate book.
November 5, 2019
An absolutely phenomenal view of our natural resources, how we as society has chosen to use and alter them, and what we need to do to save them.
Jane goes into depth on how the small seeds and plants have just as big of an impact as the towering trees. It is written with so much passion and I think everyone should be educated on how much more we need to care for plants in our world.
Jane goes into depth on how the small seeds and plants have just as big of an impact as the towering trees. It is written with so much passion and I think everyone should be educated on how much more we need to care for plants in our world.
April 23, 2021
I did enjoy this book. It was difficult at times to listen to the atrocities that humans have done to our planet. I do think it is a bit counterintuitive to have her travel so much when that is a major contributor to the world's pollution is air travel.
June 8, 2022
Everyone should read this book. I am filled with gratitude and awe for the people like Jane Goodall whose quiet fighting and foresight are working to save our planet and the species in it. It’s a massive job, but every decision, every little improvement counts.
July 17, 2018
If you are concerned about our Earth and our lack of care for her, this book is for you. Goodall is a calm, quiet story teller with a voice worthy of listening to.
January 8, 2025
I love the heart-based first chapter and wished the rest of the book could have been less in the head and more in the Heart Like It was
June 14, 2025
3.5 stars
October 30, 2025
Beautiful, fascinating, spiritual book !!!
If you love nature, trees and plants, it is a must to read this book. It is also a spiritual experience!!
If you love nature, trees and plants, it is a must to read this book. It is also a spiritual experience!!
April 21, 2023
*3.5 stars
Enjoyable and informative
Some of the information seemed repetitive because I've read so many similar books. However, I still found the book well written,encouraging and discouraging at the same time (live the paradox!). For others less familiar with the subject matter there is a wealth of topics to make you pause and consider your actions and your role in this.
Books like these make you ponder what the hell it is we think we are doing as a species. The book also makes a call to activism and all of us doing our share to protect, preserve, and propagate, the plants and ideas that the author presents.
Well worth your time.
Happy reading
Enjoyable and informative
Some of the information seemed repetitive because I've read so many similar books. However, I still found the book well written,encouraging and discouraging at the same time (live the paradox!). For others less familiar with the subject matter there is a wealth of topics to make you pause and consider your actions and your role in this.
Books like these make you ponder what the hell it is we think we are doing as a species. The book also makes a call to activism and all of us doing our share to protect, preserve, and propagate, the plants and ideas that the author presents.
Well worth your time.
Happy reading
December 23, 2021
I love Jane so I was ambitious and wanted to read this book although at times I didn’t find it so interesting…Hm…ok, I am not right. There were many interesting facts… I did not know that trees communicate with one another…I was amazed by the passion of the first plant hunters who risked their lives to bring back home to Europe all sorts of seeds of exotic plants… And I laughed when one of the plant hunters was attacked by robbers and when they saw that he had in his bag just plants, they believed it was bad luck to kill a mad man so they left him alone. Hm, gotta love these proto-geeks. What left me more than bewildered was the fact that animals know what plants have healing powers for them…Well, that is a mystery… How do they know? Hm… Ok, they smell them, but how do they know? The universe is more mysterious than I thought, really.
“How did traditional healers first learn about the healing properties of plants? Through trial and error? Some kind of instinct? Or perhaps, from watching animals?
About a century ago a Tanzanian medicine man, Babu Kalunde, discovered that the roots of a plant known as mulengelele to the local Watongwe people, was powerful medicine, and as a result probably saved the lives of many people in his village when there was an epidemic of a dysentery-like illness. Babu had watched a young porcupine, who had symptoms similar to the sick people, digging up a mulengelele and eating its roots. He was amazed, as he had thought that the plant was extremely poisonous. But now the situation was desperate, so Babu took a tiny dose himself. There were no ill effects, so he persuaded the sick people to try the plant—and it helped. To this day the Watongwe use mulengelele as medicine. Babu’s grandson, now a respected elder and healer himself, uses it to treat a number of different diseases.
Many dogs eat grass from time to time. I have known many dogs over the years—two of them zealously selected blade after blade, chewing them up with great gusto. Occasionally this would cause them to vomit.
There has been much speculation as to why dogs eat grass. Some believe that they just like the taste—as I love eating spinach leaves. Others think dogs do it instinctively when they feel unwell, to stimulate a vomiting response, which may help them to get rid of whatever made them feel sick. There is a school of thought that believes the grass may help to clear the intestines of parasites. Or that the dog needs more fiber in the diet: one poodle, who had regularly eaten grass for eight years, stopped once she was fed a high-fiber diet.
That animals have an instinct to cure themselves seems pretty conclusive. A recent study showed that female monarch butterflies infected with a deadly parasite lay their eggs on a particular species of milkweed that reduces the risk of the caterpillars becoming infected. They thus provide their young with medicine. Other tests show that sick domestic animals, when given a choice of foods, mineral supplements, and so on, will choose one known to be useful in treating their symptoms, perhaps detecting the medicinal properties through smell.
On a number of occasions, when one of the Gombe chimpanzees had an infected wound, we “laced” bananas with tetracycline by making a cigarette-sized hole at one end, dropping in the powder, and pressing the opening closed. We tried to follow the sick individual for four days, offering one of the bananas four times a day. What amazed me was that whereas a sick chimpanzee accepted and ate the fruit without hesitation, once he or she was better, such bananas were rejected after a cursory sniff.
It should not be surprising that chimpanzees are also able to treat some of their own illnesses. In the 1960s, during the early years of my study at Gombe, we used to check the chimpanzees’ dung to get some idea of the frequency with which they ate different foods. We found many seeds that had been swallowed along with the fruit—the plant was using the chimps to distribute its progeny. And every so often we found long, narrow leaves with stiff hairs underneath that had been swallowed whole. I pressed them (after a thorough washing!), along with the other food plants, and sent them to Bernard Verdcourt to identify at the herbarium in Nairobi. They were, he said, leaves of Aspilia pluriseta, of the daisy family.
Richard Wrangham, before he became an eminent professor at Harvard, had studied chimpanzee feeding behavior at Gombe and he noticed that the chimpanzees used their tongues and lips to roll Aspilia leaves into a sort of cylinder, with the plant hairs on the outside. Instead of chewing them, they would then swallow them whole. When he heard that the local villagers used this plant as medicine as well, we were all excited.
Since then Dr. Mike Huffman has made detailed studies of the use of Aspilia by chimpanzees, lowland gorillas, and bonobos. At first it was suspected that the leaves contained some kind of chemical, but in fact it is the physical characteristics of the leaves that are significant—as they pass through the stomach and intestines, the stiff hairs flush out the nematodes and tapeworms that tend to multiply during the rainy season.
Some hundred miles south of Gombe is the Mahale Mountains National Park, site of an intensive chimpanzee study carried out by the Japanese since 1966. There the chimpanzees make use of the extraordinarily bitter pith of Vernonia amygdalina, also of the daisy family. This plant, found in most African countries, is used by people as a treatment for, among other things, malaria, internal parasites, and lack of appetite. It is also used by chimpanzees infested in the rainy season with the nodule worm Oesophagostomum stephanostomum. Mike told me of two cases when chimpanzees who were clearly sick—they had lost weight, were lethargic, and were known to have a nematode infestation—had spent time chewing Vernonia pith. Between twenty and twenty-four hours afterward, both showed definite signs of recovery.
Subsequent research in the lab has shown that Vernonia pith is indeed effective against certain microorganisms that infect both chimpanzees and humans. The scientists also isolated two chemical compounds from the pith that actually suppressed egg-laying activity in a common parasitic worm. How chimpanzees know they should take these medicinal plants is still a mystery. Mike suspects the chimps—and many other animals—are actually using even more plant species as medicines.
And not only as medicines: in Calcutta, S. Sengupta and other naturalists observed that a pair of house sparrows lined their nests with neem leaves at hatching time. It seems they somehow know that the leaves act as a pesticide. To make sure that it had not been an accidental choice, the nest lining was removed—again the birds selected neem leaves as a replacement.”
Really?? How do they know?? Peeps stop eating animals... I mean can’t you see how intelligent they are?
Ok…Now I was also very upset about GMOs and Agribusiness and again I realize that if these peeps don’t change their ways for the good of the planet and we don’t stop making babies we will all gonna die. I love the Japanese peeps, just watched a video of Salari about them. They want no kids, no sex, no wife or husband. Hm…Seems like an ideal life.
“How did traditional healers first learn about the healing properties of plants? Through trial and error? Some kind of instinct? Or perhaps, from watching animals?
About a century ago a Tanzanian medicine man, Babu Kalunde, discovered that the roots of a plant known as mulengelele to the local Watongwe people, was powerful medicine, and as a result probably saved the lives of many people in his village when there was an epidemic of a dysentery-like illness. Babu had watched a young porcupine, who had symptoms similar to the sick people, digging up a mulengelele and eating its roots. He was amazed, as he had thought that the plant was extremely poisonous. But now the situation was desperate, so Babu took a tiny dose himself. There were no ill effects, so he persuaded the sick people to try the plant—and it helped. To this day the Watongwe use mulengelele as medicine. Babu’s grandson, now a respected elder and healer himself, uses it to treat a number of different diseases.
Many dogs eat grass from time to time. I have known many dogs over the years—two of them zealously selected blade after blade, chewing them up with great gusto. Occasionally this would cause them to vomit.
There has been much speculation as to why dogs eat grass. Some believe that they just like the taste—as I love eating spinach leaves. Others think dogs do it instinctively when they feel unwell, to stimulate a vomiting response, which may help them to get rid of whatever made them feel sick. There is a school of thought that believes the grass may help to clear the intestines of parasites. Or that the dog needs more fiber in the diet: one poodle, who had regularly eaten grass for eight years, stopped once she was fed a high-fiber diet.
That animals have an instinct to cure themselves seems pretty conclusive. A recent study showed that female monarch butterflies infected with a deadly parasite lay their eggs on a particular species of milkweed that reduces the risk of the caterpillars becoming infected. They thus provide their young with medicine. Other tests show that sick domestic animals, when given a choice of foods, mineral supplements, and so on, will choose one known to be useful in treating their symptoms, perhaps detecting the medicinal properties through smell.
On a number of occasions, when one of the Gombe chimpanzees had an infected wound, we “laced” bananas with tetracycline by making a cigarette-sized hole at one end, dropping in the powder, and pressing the opening closed. We tried to follow the sick individual for four days, offering one of the bananas four times a day. What amazed me was that whereas a sick chimpanzee accepted and ate the fruit without hesitation, once he or she was better, such bananas were rejected after a cursory sniff.
It should not be surprising that chimpanzees are also able to treat some of their own illnesses. In the 1960s, during the early years of my study at Gombe, we used to check the chimpanzees’ dung to get some idea of the frequency with which they ate different foods. We found many seeds that had been swallowed along with the fruit—the plant was using the chimps to distribute its progeny. And every so often we found long, narrow leaves with stiff hairs underneath that had been swallowed whole. I pressed them (after a thorough washing!), along with the other food plants, and sent them to Bernard Verdcourt to identify at the herbarium in Nairobi. They were, he said, leaves of Aspilia pluriseta, of the daisy family.
Richard Wrangham, before he became an eminent professor at Harvard, had studied chimpanzee feeding behavior at Gombe and he noticed that the chimpanzees used their tongues and lips to roll Aspilia leaves into a sort of cylinder, with the plant hairs on the outside. Instead of chewing them, they would then swallow them whole. When he heard that the local villagers used this plant as medicine as well, we were all excited.
Since then Dr. Mike Huffman has made detailed studies of the use of Aspilia by chimpanzees, lowland gorillas, and bonobos. At first it was suspected that the leaves contained some kind of chemical, but in fact it is the physical characteristics of the leaves that are significant—as they pass through the stomach and intestines, the stiff hairs flush out the nematodes and tapeworms that tend to multiply during the rainy season.
Some hundred miles south of Gombe is the Mahale Mountains National Park, site of an intensive chimpanzee study carried out by the Japanese since 1966. There the chimpanzees make use of the extraordinarily bitter pith of Vernonia amygdalina, also of the daisy family. This plant, found in most African countries, is used by people as a treatment for, among other things, malaria, internal parasites, and lack of appetite. It is also used by chimpanzees infested in the rainy season with the nodule worm Oesophagostomum stephanostomum. Mike told me of two cases when chimpanzees who were clearly sick—they had lost weight, were lethargic, and were known to have a nematode infestation—had spent time chewing Vernonia pith. Between twenty and twenty-four hours afterward, both showed definite signs of recovery.
Subsequent research in the lab has shown that Vernonia pith is indeed effective against certain microorganisms that infect both chimpanzees and humans. The scientists also isolated two chemical compounds from the pith that actually suppressed egg-laying activity in a common parasitic worm. How chimpanzees know they should take these medicinal plants is still a mystery. Mike suspects the chimps—and many other animals—are actually using even more plant species as medicines.
And not only as medicines: in Calcutta, S. Sengupta and other naturalists observed that a pair of house sparrows lined their nests with neem leaves at hatching time. It seems they somehow know that the leaves act as a pesticide. To make sure that it had not been an accidental choice, the nest lining was removed—again the birds selected neem leaves as a replacement.”
Really?? How do they know?? Peeps stop eating animals... I mean can’t you see how intelligent they are?
Ok…Now I was also very upset about GMOs and Agribusiness and again I realize that if these peeps don’t change their ways for the good of the planet and we don’t stop making babies we will all gonna die. I love the Japanese peeps, just watched a video of Salari about them. They want no kids, no sex, no wife or husband. Hm…Seems like an ideal life.
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