The Mind of Plants: Narratives of Vegetal Intelligence

by John C. Ryan (Editor), Patrícia Vieira (editor), Monica Gagliano (Editor)

Explorations of plant consciousness and human interactions with the natural world.
From apples to ayahuasca, coffee to kurrajong, passionflower to peyote, plants are conscious beings. How they interact with each other, with  humanity and with the world at large has long been studied by researchers, scientists and spiritual teachers and seekers. The Mind of Narratives of Vegetal Intelligence brings together works from all these disciplines and more in a collection of essays that highlights what we know and what we intuit about botanical life.
The Mind of Plants, featuring a foreword by Dennis McKenna, is a collection of short essays, narratives and poetry on plants and their interaction with humans. Contributors include Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of the New York Times’ best seller Braiding Sweetgrass,  Jeremy Narby, John Kinsella, Luis Eduardo Luna, Megan Kaminski and dozens more. The book’s editors, John C. Ryan, Patrícia Vieira and Monica Gagliano – each of whom also contributed works to the collection – weave together essays, personal reflections and poems paired with intricate illustrations by José María Pout.
Recent scientific research in the field of plant cognition highlights the capacity of botanical life to discern between options and learn from prior experiences or, in other words, to think. The Mind of Plants includes texts that interpret this concept broadly. As Mckenna writes in his foreword, “What the reader will find here, expressed in poetry and prose, are stories that are infused with cherished memories and inspired celebrations of unique relationships with a group of organisms that are alien and unlike us in every way, yet touch human lives in myriad ways.”

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Plants, Science, Ecology

528 pages, Paperback

Published November 16, 2021

About the author

This is the disambiguation profile for otherwise unseparated authors publishing as John C. Ryan

See also:
John C. Ryan = Romance, Historical Fiction
John C. Ryan = Fiction, Biographical Fiction, WWII

Reviews

[Irene]

As is usual for anthologies, this was uneven. Some essays were technical, some leaned into storytelling and personal experience. I was unmoved by the poetry interludes, but I'm a difficult audience. A few essays were irritating. A few were enthralling. Your personal relationship to each plant and the writer's culture will influence how you are affected by each essay. Overall, it's worth the read.

[Theresa Jump]

A wonderful collection of essays and artwork from a wide-variety of plant lovers.

There's an accompanying website with video of the authors speaking about their beloved plant. Clever!

[greeen]

I just finished listening to the audiobook and will now - as soon as I'm done writing this review - buy the paperback and re-read most, if not all, of the chapters. With the authors of this book, I found my people. With each chapter, I found validation of my own perceptions of plants. By the end, I found direction. One of my strongest takeaways from this book is that opening up to plant intelligence and reconnecting with plant wisdom and teachings is the first step in decolonizing minds and living appropriately within the web of life.

I give this book all the stars.

[Layne]

In the book, there is the line: “Poor is poetry in science today, devoid of imagination”. The contributors certainly challenge that idea by delivering new perspectives on the magnificent world of plants. This book fueled my child-like curiosity and made me walk around with eyes wide open.

[Jessi Madrid]

I had a hard time getting into this book, which was frustrating because working with plants is my job. I wasn't actually able to finish this book. I will try reading this book again in the near future, in hopes that I can read the book in its entirety this time.

This book was recieved as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Charissa Shepard]

I found this book really thought-provoking and insightful. Each person brings something different, just like each plant. Even if you just read a few of the essays on the plants you care about, it is worth the time.

[Gavin]

It would have been really helpful to embed place names in the stories, such as, "I was hiking in the mountains of Peru." The nationality of the authors might also have helped readers know whether they should know the plant under discussion and set the scene for the botanic and cultural story to follow.

It may also have been wise to pull in stories that were slightly more alike. I appreciate the attempt to show many different truths. The editors pulled together some really great stories, and I learned interesting things about some of the plants described. But if the goal of the book was a plant-like structure, we should consider plant associations. A cactus doesn't grow next to a cedar. Likewise, the Venn diagram of an audience who will enjoy plant poetry and scientific research and spiritual guru-ism pretty small.

Robin Wall Kimerer's story was hands down the one I enjoyed most. I also enjoyed learning about plants like yoco. I got a little exasperated at times with other authors: Not every plant is trying to be your spirit guide. I personally also didn't get much out of the poetry.

I'm not sure to whom I would recommend this book, and I am pretty involved in the plant world. I would, however, definitely recommend R.W. Kimerer's contribution.

[Mizzy Mint]

Very good book overall. There a mix of science of plants, personal memories and stories, and poetry. The author mentions how use of metaphor can help us understand the processes of plants better. That there is the issue of anthropomorphizing plants or attributing human or animal processes to their actions to help explain how they exists. One instance is then they described the "brain" of the plant as being something that exists throughout the in the entirety of the plant.
I loved the entirety of the book, but if I had to pick a favorite(s), I would say it was olives, cannabis, yoko, peyote, and passionflower; those were definitely my favorite sections.
I really liked how the speaker for the section on cannabis mentioned they did their test privately (so as not to be judged or not taken seriously). They would first study and do experiments all day, then in the n smoke, go on a run and keep a pen and pad on him to jot down all the ideas he came up with while high and on his run reviewing the days experiments. The following day he would look through the notes to determine what was useful and what was useless hideas (he didn't use this word, but it is).
The section on peyote was fun because of the discussion that some people would not approach the plant with the right mindset and amount of respect, thus having a bad experience. Otherwise they would feel such a sense of spiritual openness. I really loved the discussion in this section
I loved this book and definitely recommend this to anyone who loves plants and is interested in various plants affect human consciousness.

[EmberMantles]

A lot of the entries felt like they weren't really about the mind of plants, just a more general "this is how I've experienced this plant". I didn't dislike those essays, they just felt like they weren't really within the theme of the collection.

I did skip the essay on coffee when the author described how they refused an mri because "these researchers are only looking at coffee-deprived brains". The framing felt like they were saying that anybody who doesn't drink coffee is coffee-deprived, which felt a little ridiculous in context of the author's admission to drinking 6 cups every day.