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The Cabaret of Plants: Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination
"Highly entertaining…Mabey gets us to look at life from the plants’ point of view." —Constance Casey, New York Times
The Cabaret of Plants is a masterful, globe-trotting exploration of the relationship between humans and the kingdom of plants by the renowned naturalist Richard Mabey.
A rich, sweeping, and wonderfully readable work of botanical history, The Cabaret of Plants explores dozens of plant species that for millennia have challenged our imaginations, awoken our wonder, and upturned our ideas about history, science, beauty, and belief. Going back to the beginnings of human history, Mabey shows how flowers, trees, and plants have been central to human experience not just as sources of food and medicine but as objects of worship, actors in creation myths, and symbols of war and peace, life and death.
Writing in a celebrated style that the Economist calls “delightful and casually learned,” Mabey takes readers from the Himalayas to Madagascar to the Amazon to our own backyards. He ranges through the work of writers, artists, and scientists such as da Vinci, Keats, Darwin, and van Gogh and across nearly 40,000 years of human Ice Age images of plant life in ancient cave art and the earliest representations of the Garden of Eden; Newton’s apple and gravity, Priestley’s sprig of mint and photosynthesis, and Wordsworth’s daffodils; the history of cultivated plants such as maize, ginseng, and cotton; and the ways the sturdy oak became the symbol of British nationhood and the giant sequoia came to epitomize the spirit of America.
Complemented by dozens of full-color illustrations, The Cabaret of Plants is the magnum opus of a great naturalist and an extraordinary exploration of the deeply interwined history of humans and the natural world.
The Cabaret of Plants is a masterful, globe-trotting exploration of the relationship between humans and the kingdom of plants by the renowned naturalist Richard Mabey.
A rich, sweeping, and wonderfully readable work of botanical history, The Cabaret of Plants explores dozens of plant species that for millennia have challenged our imaginations, awoken our wonder, and upturned our ideas about history, science, beauty, and belief. Going back to the beginnings of human history, Mabey shows how flowers, trees, and plants have been central to human experience not just as sources of food and medicine but as objects of worship, actors in creation myths, and symbols of war and peace, life and death.
Writing in a celebrated style that the Economist calls “delightful and casually learned,” Mabey takes readers from the Himalayas to Madagascar to the Amazon to our own backyards. He ranges through the work of writers, artists, and scientists such as da Vinci, Keats, Darwin, and van Gogh and across nearly 40,000 years of human Ice Age images of plant life in ancient cave art and the earliest representations of the Garden of Eden; Newton’s apple and gravity, Priestley’s sprig of mint and photosynthesis, and Wordsworth’s daffodils; the history of cultivated plants such as maize, ginseng, and cotton; and the ways the sturdy oak became the symbol of British nationhood and the giant sequoia came to epitomize the spirit of America.
Complemented by dozens of full-color illustrations, The Cabaret of Plants is the magnum opus of a great naturalist and an extraordinary exploration of the deeply interwined history of humans and the natural world.
385 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2016
219 people are currently reading
4627 people want to read
About the author
Richard Mabey
107 books166 followersRichard Mabey is one of England's greatest nature writers. He is author of some thirty books including Nature Cure which was shortlisted for the Whitbread, Ondaatje and Ackerley Awards.
A regular commentator on the radio and in the national press, he is also a Director of the arts and conservation charity Common Ground and Vice-President of the Open Spaces Society. He lives in Norfolk.
A regular commentator on the radio and in the national press, he is also a Director of the arts and conservation charity Common Ground and Vice-President of the Open Spaces Society. He lives in Norfolk.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews
September 23, 2016
The introduction was long & full of fuzzy ideas. I'm interested in a scientific look at the plants & he drifts into poetry & criticizes a conservationist for using economic arguments! Ridiculous. Economics is a powerful drive & one that needs to be addressed to have any realistic hope. He's amazed that rare native species appeared along a track he bulldozed through his property. I find a lot amazing about that statement, but it's not the tenacity of the plants. He also mentions how a community of plants work together to survive as if they are thinking beings rather than opportunistic & symbiotic. Please! No, this isn't for me.
I didn't care for the narration much either. Abandoned.
I didn't care for the narration much either. Abandoned.
January 24, 2022
The publisher’s description calls this a botanical history, but it is really much more. Yes, Mabey begins with plants and cave art and proceeds through the present with human reactions to plants. Mabey fills the book throughout with beautifully written examples covering art, exploration, science of the eras, literature and his own obvious pleasure in plants. He is not an academically trained botanist (in fact he studied philosophy) and that might irk those with a hard-core science bent. He has done the right kind of research for this kind of book. I think it makes the book so much more relatable to the generalist and is just beautifully written.
Mabey clearly tells the reader what his feelings are about plant/man relationships in the introduction and helpfully reiterates his themes in the end. “I rejoice in the fact that we share hormones and sensory skills, but hope that we can respectfully maintain the independence of our kingdoms, not as irrevocably separate orders, but as two linked pathways to the challenges of being alive.”
In between the introduction and the book’s end, the author finds all sorts of plants to examine and discusses human response through the ages—ancient times, the ages of western civilization such as 18th century rationalism, romantic era, modern era and the relationships between plants and people in the many non-western locations that many of the plants came from. Many sources are cited and Mabey is fond of speaking of plants in art, photography, myth and literature as well as science.
Everyone who reads the book will probably have favorite sections. Mine were the chapters on trees and woodland plants, and the popular 19th century fascinations followed by the lessening of this enthusiasm by a more difficult scientific approach. If you love exotics, photography or the fern craze there are special chapters for you too.
Just short of a five star for me. Great information that may challenge your opinions.
Mabey clearly tells the reader what his feelings are about plant/man relationships in the introduction and helpfully reiterates his themes in the end. “I rejoice in the fact that we share hormones and sensory skills, but hope that we can respectfully maintain the independence of our kingdoms, not as irrevocably separate orders, but as two linked pathways to the challenges of being alive.”
In between the introduction and the book’s end, the author finds all sorts of plants to examine and discusses human response through the ages—ancient times, the ages of western civilization such as 18th century rationalism, romantic era, modern era and the relationships between plants and people in the many non-western locations that many of the plants came from. Many sources are cited and Mabey is fond of speaking of plants in art, photography, myth and literature as well as science.
Everyone who reads the book will probably have favorite sections. Mine were the chapters on trees and woodland plants, and the popular 19th century fascinations followed by the lessening of this enthusiasm by a more difficult scientific approach. If you love exotics, photography or the fern craze there are special chapters for you too.
Just short of a five star for me. Great information that may challenge your opinions.
January 11, 2016
Richard Mabey, noted British naturalist, has produced an impassioned plea for accepting plants on their own terms by demonstrating the diverse and still imperfectly understood life processes of plants that take place for the purposes of plants themselves rather than for those of humans. In the process, he documents the ways in which humans have incorporated plants into our own hubristic and anthropocentric view of the world. This intent is signaled in his working subtitle, "A Romantic Flora," which was expanded, perhaps by that most elusive of creatures, a talented editor, into "Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination."
Mabey, the author of the quirky and strangely addictive Weeds: In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants, presents his argument in the form of essay chapters, each replete with the erudition of one who read philosophy at St. Catherine's at Oxford but humanized by personal anecdotes of a lifetime of relationships with plants. Mabey's wonder at the incredible complexity of plants is infectious and invites the reader to learn more. To that end, he includes resources in the notes that will serve to lead down any number of rabbit holes for those who love plants.
He does include a number of controversial opinions that deserve attention. Among those are his arguments that the current archaeological trend to regard some ecosystems (such as that of the Amazon basin) as largely human constructs do not give sufficient attention to co-evolutionary processes that over millions of years have produced elaborate collaborations of plants, insects, fungi, and mammals that make the ecosystems work; his contention that the current trend in the environmental movement (particularly among environmental scientists) to emphasize the "ecological services" provided by plants as their reasons for existence degrades plants to the role of servants of "higher" life forms (particularly humans); and his assertion that despite the significant contributions of plants to human life (in agriculture, horticulture, myth, medicine, art, etc.), they are life forms that deserve respect and understanding for their own unique characteristics wholly apart from any human utility they may have.
Mabey is an engaging writer who has the ability to give us new perspectives on those (largely) green sedentary beings who form much of the background of our lives through intriguing historical
narratives, personal anecdotes, and reports of scientific research. Highly recommended.
Mabey, the author of the quirky and strangely addictive Weeds: In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants, presents his argument in the form of essay chapters, each replete with the erudition of one who read philosophy at St. Catherine's at Oxford but humanized by personal anecdotes of a lifetime of relationships with plants. Mabey's wonder at the incredible complexity of plants is infectious and invites the reader to learn more. To that end, he includes resources in the notes that will serve to lead down any number of rabbit holes for those who love plants.
He does include a number of controversial opinions that deserve attention. Among those are his arguments that the current archaeological trend to regard some ecosystems (such as that of the Amazon basin) as largely human constructs do not give sufficient attention to co-evolutionary processes that over millions of years have produced elaborate collaborations of plants, insects, fungi, and mammals that make the ecosystems work; his contention that the current trend in the environmental movement (particularly among environmental scientists) to emphasize the "ecological services" provided by plants as their reasons for existence degrades plants to the role of servants of "higher" life forms (particularly humans); and his assertion that despite the significant contributions of plants to human life (in agriculture, horticulture, myth, medicine, art, etc.), they are life forms that deserve respect and understanding for their own unique characteristics wholly apart from any human utility they may have.
Mabey is an engaging writer who has the ability to give us new perspectives on those (largely) green sedentary beings who form much of the background of our lives through intriguing historical
narratives, personal anecdotes, and reports of scientific research. Highly recommended.
December 26, 2020
This one is actually pretty good, but it kept losing the competition to other, more interesting books. I've had it out twice, and probably read about half of it. I could get it out again, but likely won't. Returned unfinished.
May 22, 2016
Can I possibly need more research on the subject after reading Mabey's wonderful book? This is a comprehensive and very enjoyable work on various species of plants and their relationship with mankind. If you would like to learn which trees possessed mystical characteristics for our ancestors, and which were suspected of having wondrous medicinal properties, this is great place to start. If you need to check a phrase "floral gangbang" off your literary bucket list, look no further. Lovely book that pays tribute to nature in all its weird, creative, and shameless glory.
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January 13, 2016Imagine if plants wrote their biography; it would be this book. Mabey takes readers through a fascinating look at our leafy green friends over the last 40,000 years. Even if you don't have a green thumb, you'll be amazed by what you learn. It's a beautiful-looking book, too - it would make a great gift!
Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/category/all-the-...
Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/category/all-the-...
February 28, 2017
A whole string of essays about cool plants: giant Amazonian water-lilies, ancient pagan yews, ferns, daffodils...I learned a lot, and Mabey's writing has flashes of inspiration. But it doesn't quite hold together. I wish there was a clearer theme, a direction for all of these sketches. But rather the overweening idea is, "PLANTS - they're quite something, huh?" Which is hard to disagree with.
December 17, 2022
An elaborate collection full of scientific insights and literary parallels.
December 17, 2022
A great offering from the king of nature writing.
This is the type of book to be read in short bursts as it is almost like an almanac of clever plants, trees, shrubs and their effect on us humans.
The colour illustrations are absolutely beautiful and really enhance the enjoyment of reading, with some featured 1800's, Victorian and vintage illustrations.
The nice thing about this book is being able to dip in and out of it as you please.
A thoroughly enjoyable and suitably visual book on plants.
This is the type of book to be read in short bursts as it is almost like an almanac of clever plants, trees, shrubs and their effect on us humans.
The colour illustrations are absolutely beautiful and really enhance the enjoyment of reading, with some featured 1800's, Victorian and vintage illustrations.
The nice thing about this book is being able to dip in and out of it as you please.
A thoroughly enjoyable and suitably visual book on plants.
April 4, 2016
Published 2015
Author: Richard Mabey
I received this book as a Christmas present after I'd seen an article about it in a magazine. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Cabaret of Plants which was a combination of fact and myth I loved the vegetable lamb. There were illustrations dotted around which I thought complimented the book. Being an avid gardener this book was entertaining and informative. I'd not come across Richard Mabey before but will definitely check out his other works. If you enjoy finding out about the history of plants and trees this book is for you. It's easy to dip in and out.
Author: Richard Mabey
I received this book as a Christmas present after I'd seen an article about it in a magazine. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Cabaret of Plants which was a combination of fact and myth I loved the vegetable lamb. There were illustrations dotted around which I thought complimented the book. Being an avid gardener this book was entertaining and informative. I'd not come across Richard Mabey before but will definitely check out his other works. If you enjoy finding out about the history of plants and trees this book is for you. It's easy to dip in and out.
November 18, 2018
I left the ease of reading short entertaining books when I saw the cover of this book and was simply drawn in. It is a varied feast of botany and the history thereof, livened with experiences of discovery, study and depiction of found natural treasures as well as mysteries. The author is passionate on the topic, so the pace is similar to a novel one must get to the end of.
April 1, 2016
huge overview and history of plants and humans, mainly, but not exclusively, from uk and westerns' perspectives, fun reading, great writer. wonderful color illustrations. end notes and references and additional reading and good picture credits pages and index,
June 12, 2022
Ein leidenschaftliches Buch, das meinen Blick auf die Pflanzenwelt und auch auf die Geschichte von Mensch und Natur vielfältig erweitern konnte.
Die Kapitel sind relativ kurz gestaltet und behandeln je verschiedene Pflanzen, weshalb ich empfehlen kann, das Buch Kapitel für Kapitel über einen längeren Zeitraum zu lesen. Am Stück mag es wohlmöglich etwas überwältigend wirken, es wäre aber Schade, es nicht ganz Zuende zu lesen.
Besonders die letzten Seiten haben mir sehr gefallen.
Die Kapitel sind relativ kurz gestaltet und behandeln je verschiedene Pflanzen, weshalb ich empfehlen kann, das Buch Kapitel für Kapitel über einen längeren Zeitraum zu lesen. Am Stück mag es wohlmöglich etwas überwältigend wirken, es wäre aber Schade, es nicht ganz Zuende zu lesen.
Besonders die letzten Seiten haben mir sehr gefallen.
December 2, 2024
3.5 stars
This book me on a journey through the world of plants and how humans have interacted with these fascinating creatures throughout history. It fell short of what I was expecting but it was a pleasant and interesting read nonetheless, and the author is simply a wonderful writer.
This book me on a journey through the world of plants and how humans have interacted with these fascinating creatures throughout history. It fell short of what I was expecting but it was a pleasant and interesting read nonetheless, and the author is simply a wonderful writer.
October 22, 2017
It took me 2 attempts to read this book which shows how my own emotional wellbeing affects my reading. This was a Xmas present & when I started reading it I failed to engage with it at all. I did meet Mabey once. He is a great admirer of the poet John Clare, who I love. I was preparing to write my herbal medicine dissertation & was hoping to look at plants mentioned by Clare in his poetry & hoped Mabey could give me advice. He wasn't very helpful. One of the herbal medicine textbooks I often used was edited by Mabey & I thought he would be a supporter of herbal medicine. When I read "Nature Cure" I was expecting herbal medicine to be part of the cure. It wasn't. It is a lovely book. I read the chapter about Ginseng (in The Cabaret of Plants) & was infuriated. It was an attack on what he saw as the joke of the Doctrine of Signatures- the idea that the appearance of a plant signifies its medical properties. I am a herbalist & am very aware that this Doctrine is not as simple as Mabey suggests & is a very small part of herbal medicine & that Lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis) is really helpful in chest complaints (its leaves look like lungs & have white milky dots which can appear like possible discolouration or problem in the lungs) Its appearance & its use are coincidental. Other plants have similarly shaped & coloured leaves & have no medicinal use.
This turned me against the book. I was bored by the early chapters.
After a few months I thought I would look at it again & was absolutely delighted by it. I will have to re read the first few chapters. Although Mabey attempts to write in a "scientific" manner the characters of the plants and his inquisitiveness & clarity of writing produce a wonderful read. Plants are simply fantastic and Mabey reflects this brilliantly. Do they possess intelligence, how do they adapt so well to a changing environment, what is their relationship with insects, who initiates these relationships. The plants are the stars of this book & Mabey reflects this beautifully & thought provokingly. This book is an absolute gem & enters the world of plants in a way that I have never read before. It goes beyond a scientific view & seems to accept that the world of plants can be beyond our understanding & that our imagination and our use of art adds to a world that hopefully we will never truly understand & that science cannot explain.
This turned me against the book. I was bored by the early chapters.
After a few months I thought I would look at it again & was absolutely delighted by it. I will have to re read the first few chapters. Although Mabey attempts to write in a "scientific" manner the characters of the plants and his inquisitiveness & clarity of writing produce a wonderful read. Plants are simply fantastic and Mabey reflects this brilliantly. Do they possess intelligence, how do they adapt so well to a changing environment, what is their relationship with insects, who initiates these relationships. The plants are the stars of this book & Mabey reflects this beautifully & thought provokingly. This book is an absolute gem & enters the world of plants in a way that I have never read before. It goes beyond a scientific view & seems to accept that the world of plants can be beyond our understanding & that our imagination and our use of art adds to a world that hopefully we will never truly understand & that science cannot explain.
June 6, 2018
An excellent book . Ecology at it's best . Fascinating historical perspective on plants.
October 18, 2017
Richard Mabey is my new favourite science writer. There is so much information here that I could re-read many times. I did jot down a few favourites while reading:
- in Mexico there are 160 species of oak, 109 of which grow nowhere else.
- Orchids grow in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. If you go stay in the spa town of Lisdoonvarna.
- 14,000 years ago plants crossed the land bridges which still joined Britain to the continent.
- Ginseng is the original panacea
- the vegetable mudfish - Samphire - a spine-free marine cactus, edible, treated like asparagus, grows in mud
- Venus flytrap aka tipitiwitchet
- painting olive trees is so difficult because of the way the light shines through the leaves constantly changes the colours
- Victorian's were crazy about ferns
- the Amazon lily sounds awesome with its enormous circular leaf that children can stand on
- the huge stinky Titan Arum
- the Vegetable Lamb - a myth that a plant was part animal (cotton)
- Wordsworth's daffodils may have been found by his sister
- the Green Men (faces on trees)
- in Mexico there are 160 species of oak, 109 of which grow nowhere else.
- Orchids grow in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. If you go stay in the spa town of Lisdoonvarna.
- 14,000 years ago plants crossed the land bridges which still joined Britain to the continent.
- Ginseng is the original panacea
- the vegetable mudfish - Samphire - a spine-free marine cactus, edible, treated like asparagus, grows in mud
- Venus flytrap aka tipitiwitchet
- painting olive trees is so difficult because of the way the light shines through the leaves constantly changes the colours
- Victorian's were crazy about ferns
- the Amazon lily sounds awesome with its enormous circular leaf that children can stand on
- the huge stinky Titan Arum
- the Vegetable Lamb - a myth that a plant was part animal (cotton)
- Wordsworth's daffodils may have been found by his sister
- the Green Men (faces on trees)
April 16, 2016
As a fiction writer, I love to read some non-fiction every now and then. I also find plants fascinating. This book indulged both of these interests. Richard Mabey has florid prose, but his love of plants and enthusiasm shines through; he questions the modern commoditization of nature, of how humans see plants and plant intelligence. He has picked fascinating examples of plants that have defied what humans believe plants should be and he has explored our historical relationship with fauna. He also has a love of botanical art and photography, leading to riveting anecdotes. It took me a while to get through this weighty tome, but I think that's probably because it is packed with information to digest before moving on. As said, the prose are flowery (appropriately so perhaps) and the illustrations are beautiful. It is a book you could easily dip in and out of, but I enjoyed reading it from start to finish.
December 28, 2022
The premise and illustrations drew me in but actually reading this is very tedious. The language used is so overly flowery (pun not intended lol) that any points I can see he's trying to say are just camouflaged among empty words.
Not sure if I have the patience to finish this (p.53).
Not sure if I have the patience to finish this (p.53).
February 1, 2016
3.5, maybe 4stars. I'm not sure as yet! Well written, with some lovely pictures. The subject matter may interest others a bit more than it did me.
March 25, 2017
A collection of naturalist essays on plants, how humans conceive of and interact with them through history, and how our understanding of plants are likewise limited by our own mammalian concepts of how our own senses work and what constitutes demonstrable intelligence.
I greatly enjoyed many parts of this book, I poked away at it over a number of months, I don't think it needs to be read very quickly, as the chapters often stand alone. It is a very Euro/Victorian centred book in the sense that it spends a fair bit of time talking about when many of these plants were "discovered" (by Europeans) and given their taxonomical names. It's interesting to learn about, but bears mentioning, that it deals with humanity's conception of plants, but not quite from a wide range of cultural sources since all the essays are by one person.
I greatly enjoyed many parts of this book, I poked away at it over a number of months, I don't think it needs to be read very quickly, as the chapters often stand alone. It is a very Euro/Victorian centred book in the sense that it spends a fair bit of time talking about when many of these plants were "discovered" (by Europeans) and given their taxonomical names. It's interesting to learn about, but bears mentioning, that it deals with humanity's conception of plants, but not quite from a wide range of cultural sources since all the essays are by one person.
October 27, 2025
(Sarebbe un 2.75)
Allora, allora diciamo che la potenzialità c'era per via dell'argomento, ma la realizzazione è stata a tratti deludente. Al di là del fatto che alcuni capitoli mi hanno interessata molto mentre altri non mi hanno preso per nulla, le premesse con cui è stato aperto il libro promettevano una prosa più frizzante e più connessa a discipline di vario tipo (e.g. economia, letteratura arte ecc.).
Mi ha molto delusa la conclusione, composta evidentemente in fretta e furia, e direi piuttosto tronca.
Forse, se per ogni pianta nominata (o almeno per un'ottima parte delle specie citate) fosse stata fornita un'immagine opportunamente indicata, avrei potuto apprezzare di più le lunghe descrizioni proposte
Allora, allora diciamo che la potenzialità c'era per via dell'argomento, ma la realizzazione è stata a tratti deludente. Al di là del fatto che alcuni capitoli mi hanno interessata molto mentre altri non mi hanno preso per nulla, le premesse con cui è stato aperto il libro promettevano una prosa più frizzante e più connessa a discipline di vario tipo (e.g. economia, letteratura arte ecc.).
Mi ha molto delusa la conclusione, composta evidentemente in fretta e furia, e direi piuttosto tronca.
Forse, se per ogni pianta nominata (o almeno per un'ottima parte delle specie citate) fosse stata fornita un'immagine opportunamente indicata, avrei potuto apprezzare di più le lunghe descrizioni proposte
September 3, 2021
I enjoyed this book overall, but some of the references and source material are a little tired. How many books do I have to read that source Plato's cave allegory or talk about human-centric perspectives of plant biology? Aren't there newer references and perspectives to pull from? For me it also lacked the more flowery prose of some other natureish authors.
If you've read a great deal on the topic of science and plants, maybe skip this one. But if you haven't, it's a great combination of science and culture that gives interesting perspectives of plants that you may not have considered.
If you've read a great deal on the topic of science and plants, maybe skip this one. But if you haven't, it's a great combination of science and culture that gives interesting perspectives of plants that you may not have considered.
January 15, 2021
Mabey uses a lot of beautiful language in this. There are certainly a lot of enjoyable moments, some great well researched information. A loosely carved argument. But with all that said, it felt a bit like I was dragging my feet through it. So much so that I put it down for 4 years before finishing it this week. The information is interesting, but the anecdotal associations were verbose and for me didn't add much.
not bad, not great. Loses points for being such an effort to get through even though I consciously wanted to like it. 3.25/5
not bad, not great. Loses points for being such an effort to get through even though I consciously wanted to like it. 3.25/5
April 16, 2021
植物有沒有智能？你可以果斷地否定。往下一層的問題是：何謂智能？你會笑我詭辯，我也不否認，畢竟醉翁之意不在酒－－弦外之音是，為什麼智能一定要先有腦袋？Mabey 涵及這個話題的篇幅寥寥，但可不是沒機心的留白，回想整本書，不就是在揭露植物在天擇下的智慧嗎？
我深明、也想到十萬個一般意義下和我當下「智能」的差異，例如我們面對陌生環境也能或多或少應變，而植物無法。可 Gagliano 對怕醜草適應的研究（末章）， 不正反映少數植物也發展出「習慣」、甚至「記憶」，一些人類智能引以為傲的才藝嗎？Mabey 給了個很有力的說法，我們的腦袋是由脈衝和化學物質驅動；而植物除了會運用電流和化學反應，還有更複雜的機制被陸續發現，運作起來比我的詭辯更擬人。譼如大片樹林藉著地下菌層發展出網絡，讓夏季綻放的樹向被擋了陽光的小樹發送營養，以換取冬季時那些耐寒的小樹報答。大自然的經濟學，是百萬年間演化出來的，比人類自以為覺悟時還要早得多。簡單來說，我們有的它都有，我們沒有的它都有，你只是還未聽過變色龍藤的尊姓大名。
這片 Wood Wide Web，正是溝通。人類曾經以為動物不會說話，因為我們把嘴巴嘰嘰呱呱看作溝通的本質，沒想到海豚是用人耳聽不見的超聲波對話；同理，植物不會算微積分，但演化的結果不比人腦簡單，倘若我們繼續自我放大，我們將會錯過更多大自然的奇蹟。沒有人留心王蓮的網狀葉脈，就沒有第一屆世博會（1851）那霧閣雲窗的水晶宮了。
我深明、也想到十萬個一般意義下和我當下「智能」的差異，例如我們面對陌生環境也能或多或少應變，而植物無法。可 Gagliano 對怕醜草適應的研究（末章）， 不正反映少數植物也發展出「習慣」、甚至「記憶」，一些人類智能引以為傲的才藝嗎？Mabey 給了個很有力的說法，我們的腦袋是由脈衝和化學物質驅動；而植物除了會運用電流和化學反應，還有更複雜的機制被陸續發現，運作起來比我的詭辯更擬人。譼如大片樹林藉著地下菌層發展出網絡，讓夏季綻放的樹向被擋了陽光的小樹發送營養，以換取冬季時那些耐寒的小樹報答。大自然的經濟學，是百萬年間演化出來的，比人類自以為覺悟時還要早得多。簡單來說，我們有的它都有，我們沒有的它都有，你只是還未聽過變色龍藤的尊姓大名。
這片 Wood Wide Web，正是溝通。人類曾經以為動物不會說話，因為我們把嘴巴嘰嘰呱呱看作溝通的本質，沒想到海豚是用人耳聽不見的超聲波對話；同理，植物不會算微積分，但演化的結果不比人腦簡單，倘若我們繼續自我放大，我們將會錯過更多大自然的奇蹟。沒有人留心王蓮的網狀葉脈，就沒有第一屆世博會（1851）那霧閣雲窗的水晶宮了。
September 24, 2017
a chapter on the Sequoias references a famous illustration, "Impromptu Ball on the Stump of a Sequoia”. The image is of a party of middle class Nineteenth Century Americans dancing, in full ball attire, on the stump of a tree that was estimated to be at least 1, 200 years old. It is truly an expression of everything disgusting at the heart of Western industrial capitalism
June 4, 2021
Many wonderful hidden gems in this book that luckily I didn’t miss out on by giving up after the waffly introduction!
April 23, 2023
Po znakomitym wstępie oczekiwania miałam bardzo wysokie. Ostatecznie trochę mnie rozczarowała, ale wciąż jest to książka warta uwagi ze względu na oryginalne podejście autora do botaniki.
September 26, 2020
Really interesting survey of plant life and its interconnectedness. Mabey discusses both common and unusual species, historical trends and cutting edge discoveries
August 15, 2018
3.5 stars.
Audiobook, Reader was good.
I found some of the essays a bit uneven in holding my interest others were engrossing.
I enjoyed the essay on prehistoric peoples and plants but am skeptical about the viewpoint. We really don't know the intent of prehistoric paintings or how ancient people perceived plants. We live in a time where so many people are divorced from nature they could not describe or name one plant around them. Others are very knowledgeable. Which perception of us will be that of the future?
The essay on the process of discovery of photosynthesis was quite interesting.
My favourite was the essay about the East India Company and the impact it had on the development of botanical illustration. As so often the case in the past and present colonialism, while a lot of knowledge and art were produced, the element of exploitation was present.
This link (midway down) shows a few samples.
https://www.botanicalartandartists.co...
As so often the case with audiobooks, though handy for those with limited eyesight, the lack of illustrations, a table of contents and lack of ability to jump back and forth to specific areas diminishes to some extent a book like this.
Audiobook, Reader was good.
I found some of the essays a bit uneven in holding my interest others were engrossing.
I enjoyed the essay on prehistoric peoples and plants but am skeptical about the viewpoint. We really don't know the intent of prehistoric paintings or how ancient people perceived plants. We live in a time where so many people are divorced from nature they could not describe or name one plant around them. Others are very knowledgeable. Which perception of us will be that of the future?
The essay on the process of discovery of photosynthesis was quite interesting.
My favourite was the essay about the East India Company and the impact it had on the development of botanical illustration. As so often the case in the past and present colonialism, while a lot of knowledge and art were produced, the element of exploitation was present.
This link (midway down) shows a few samples.
https://www.botanicalartandartists.co...
As so often the case with audiobooks, though handy for those with limited eyesight, the lack of illustrations, a table of contents and lack of ability to jump back and forth to specific areas diminishes to some extent a book like this.
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