The Age of Seeds: How Plants Hacked Time and Why Our Future Depends on It

by Fiona McMillan-Webster

Plants evolved seeds to hack time. Thanks to seeds they can cast their genes forward into the future, enabling species to endure across seasons, years, and occasionally millennia.

When a 2000-year-old extinct date palm seed was discovered, no one expected it to still be alive. But it sprouted a healthy young date palm.

That seeds produced millennia ago could still be viable today suggests seeds are capable of extreme lifespans.
Yet many seeds, including those crucial to our everyday lives, don't live very long at all. In The Age of Seeds Fiona McMillan-Webster tells the astonishing story of seed longevity, the crucial role they play in our everyday lives, and what that might mean for our future.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science

329 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 26, 2022

Reviews

[Patricio Palomino · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing book with super interesting explanations on the biology behind seeds as well as their evolutionary history and their cultural significance. McMillan created such an engaging book and I can tell how much research and commitment was put into this book based on all the people she interviewed from everywhere in the world.
I absolutely loved the first chapter, the story behind the 2,000 year old Judean date palm seed that sprouted recently was very interesting.
My only complaint with the book is that some chapters were a bit repetitive in the middle of the book, and it was hard to keep reading about the seed banks for what felt like forever. But the last chapters were amazing and overall such a good read!

[Reid Eberwein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got a bit too dry at the end, but enjoyed learning about the intricacies of seeds and seedbanks

[Ruth Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating stuff!

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thought this book would be great and then BAM zionism chapter 1. Have no interest in the rest of the book or the viewpoints of someone who’s pro Israel.

[john chaplin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superbly written book on what could potentially be a fairly dry topic. I am a surgeon and although I understand a lot about aspects of biology, I don’t know much about plants. I learned an extraordinary amount of fascinating information about plants, seeds, origins of life, indigenous communities and the preparation by dedicated scientists and others to manage the difficult future we will face as a species due to extinctions and climate effects we are responsible for. The presentation of this information by the author was superb and it made compelling reading. Thank you.

[Marco Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

5.7/10. It was good enough to finish, and the parts relating to seedbanks particularly grabbed me. I felt the narrative meandered a little too much, parts felt shoehorned in because the author wanted to share something they found interesting without necessarily being justified in its inclusion. The author's voice and tone grated on me mildly. Not a book I personally enjoyed a great deal but I wouldn't go as far as saying it's bad. I'm sure others would enjoy it more than me, especially if they had less background knowledge on the subject so the whole book felt fresher and newer.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely interesting, well written study of the evolution of seeds, especially their ability to survive sometimes thousands of years. There are accounts of many of the seed banks in the world including the deeply buried Norwegian Svalbard one.
5/5 (For people interested in plant evolution!)

[Kira Carlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just excellent. Going on my permanent collection shelf to be reread at intervals.

[Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful mix of science and storytelling, charting the life of seeds and their importance to culture and identity.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and interesting facets of plant evolution brought together to make a very enjoyable and informative read.