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Cosi' parlo' la pianta. Un viaggio straordinario tra scoperte scientifiche e incontri personali con le piante
“Non tutte le culture”, scrive Suzanne Simard nell’introduzione a questo libro, “soffrono del complesso di superiorità antropocentrico, ma quella attualmente più potente e dominante sulla faccia della Terra sì, e ha provocato diverse crisi su scala mondiale. Per evitare il disastro socio-ecologico, servirà una rivoluzione. Bisognerà decostruire l’approccio riduzionista e provinciale che ci contraddistingue, per comprendere la vita e inventare modi completamente nuovi di intendere il mondo”.
È proprio questa la meta del viaggio visionario – e necessario – di Monica Gagliano: muovendosi tra autobiografia e indagine scientifica, Così parlò la pianta ci spinge a considerare le piante non come oggetti, bensì come esseri dotati di soggettività, coscienza e volontà, e dunque capaci di un punto di vista e di una voce distinti. Gagliano racconta i suoi incontri ravvicinati con le piante, ma anche con sciamani delle piante, indigeni che hanno conservato le tradizioni e mistici di tutto il mondo, integrando poi tutte queste esperienze con una rigorosa presentazione delle recenti e importanti scoperte scientifiche sulla comunicazione e la cognizione nel mondo vegetale, ambito di ricerca nel quale lei stessa svolge un ruolo di primo piano. Perché “il mondo vegetale non ha mai smesso di insegnare agli esseri umani, e noi, ascoltando, non abbiamo mai smesso di imparare”. Così parlò la pianta è un invito all’ascolto, al dialogo e al confronto, per un cambiamento che è ancora possibile.
È proprio questa la meta del viaggio visionario – e necessario – di Monica Gagliano: muovendosi tra autobiografia e indagine scientifica, Così parlò la pianta ci spinge a considerare le piante non come oggetti, bensì come esseri dotati di soggettività, coscienza e volontà, e dunque capaci di un punto di vista e di una voce distinti. Gagliano racconta i suoi incontri ravvicinati con le piante, ma anche con sciamani delle piante, indigeni che hanno conservato le tradizioni e mistici di tutto il mondo, integrando poi tutte queste esperienze con una rigorosa presentazione delle recenti e importanti scoperte scientifiche sulla comunicazione e la cognizione nel mondo vegetale, ambito di ricerca nel quale lei stessa svolge un ruolo di primo piano. Perché “il mondo vegetale non ha mai smesso di insegnare agli esseri umani, e noi, ascoltando, non abbiamo mai smesso di imparare”. Così parlò la pianta è un invito all’ascolto, al dialogo e al confronto, per un cambiamento che è ancora possibile.
216 pages, Paperback
First published November 13, 2018
216 people are currently reading
4256 people want to read
About the author
Monica Gagliano
8 books108 followersMONICA GAGLIANO is Research Associate Professor of Evolutionary Ecology. She is currently based at Southern Cross University where she leads the BI Lab – Biological Intelligence Lab. She is the author of numerous scientific articles in the fields of animal and plant behavioural and evolutionary ecology, and is the co-editor of The Green Thread: Dialogues with the Vegetal World (Lexington Books, 2015), The Language of Plants: Science, Philosophy and Literature (Minnesota University Press, 2017), Memory and Learning in Plants (Springer, 2018) and The Mind of Plants (2021). Her work has extended the concept of cognition (including perception, learning processes, memory and consciousness) in plants. Gagliano has pioneered the brand-new research field of plant bioacoustics, for the first time experimentally demonstrating that plants emit their own 'voices' and, moreover, detect and respond to the sounds of their environments.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
March 31, 2019
DNFed after chapter 1; only made it that far because I was sure the whole book couldn't be what it seemed to be in the first 17 pages. It was.
Here's the first chapter: Gagliano has some prophetic dreams and goes to South America, where she smokes the bark of a tree who apparently tells her the uses of said tree. She sees vague red shapes and the phrase 'everything is connected' and thinks, ah! everything connected by blood! This was already quite a leap for me, to assume that this was somehow communicating with plants, but of course she assures the reader that she had problems too, and later, the tree reveals (through, again, vague imagery and dreamlike concepts) that... blood and oxygen have a relationship. To a scientist who, I believe, already had a PhD before this. Really? She then claims that this tree 'taught' her that blood carries oxygen throughout the body. I have no idea how that is possible given that 1) the tree did not directly say anything, it '''sent''' her colors while she was high off its bark, 2) she derived the conclusions herself from said messages, and 3) any scientist would have already known this. Hell, I knew that. This is fourth grade biology anyone could draw out of their subconscious mind, and Gagliano is passing it off as plant communication?
"Oryngham," a small fern tells her (again, while she's high.) "That is the plant word for thank you."
Is it? Is it really? A word easily pronounceable in English? And, hell, why would that be the word? Why not have the word be something plants actually demonstrably do, like a change in chemicals or a shift in the wind or, hell, noises plants actually do make? How the hell is this specific word a 'thank you' when nobody has ever heard it from a plant? Am I seriously the only one who cannot comprehend why in the hell anyone is rating this highly?
Received from a Goodreads giveaway; obviously that hasn't affected my thoughts on the book. I was absolutely prepared to hear, based on scientific reasoning, why plants are actually conscious and capable of communication (because I do believe they could be, if not are) but Gagliano makes no attempt to bridge the gap between her stoned ramblings and the understandably skeptical audience. All I can say is please don't attempt to pass this book off as 'science'.
Here's the first chapter: Gagliano has some prophetic dreams and goes to South America, where she smokes the bark of a tree who apparently tells her the uses of said tree. She sees vague red shapes and the phrase 'everything is connected' and thinks, ah! everything connected by blood! This was already quite a leap for me, to assume that this was somehow communicating with plants, but of course she assures the reader that she had problems too, and later, the tree reveals (through, again, vague imagery and dreamlike concepts) that... blood and oxygen have a relationship. To a scientist who, I believe, already had a PhD before this. Really? She then claims that this tree 'taught' her that blood carries oxygen throughout the body. I have no idea how that is possible given that 1) the tree did not directly say anything, it '''sent''' her colors while she was high off its bark, 2) she derived the conclusions herself from said messages, and 3) any scientist would have already known this. Hell, I knew that. This is fourth grade biology anyone could draw out of their subconscious mind, and Gagliano is passing it off as plant communication?
"Oryngham," a small fern tells her (again, while she's high.) "That is the plant word for thank you."
Is it? Is it really? A word easily pronounceable in English? And, hell, why would that be the word? Why not have the word be something plants actually demonstrably do, like a change in chemicals or a shift in the wind or, hell, noises plants actually do make? How the hell is this specific word a 'thank you' when nobody has ever heard it from a plant? Am I seriously the only one who cannot comprehend why in the hell anyone is rating this highly?
Received from a Goodreads giveaway; obviously that hasn't affected my thoughts on the book. I was absolutely prepared to hear, based on scientific reasoning, why plants are actually conscious and capable of communication (because I do believe they could be, if not are) but Gagliano makes no attempt to bridge the gap between her stoned ramblings and the understandably skeptical audience. All I can say is please don't attempt to pass this book off as 'science'.
December 30, 2020
It is a shame that this book is *so bad*, because I think that research should have a place for Gagliano, whose research into sound wave influence on pea plants is really significant (which is what brought me to this book). And it is obvious from this book that this is because she brings a different set of assumptions than the field is used to (and that she applies a toolkit learned from behavioural studies into marine life). And trying things differently can be a very good thing. BUT - just because her assumptions are not those of Aristotelian/Enlightenment thinking doesn't make them less rigid or any more valid. Gagliano starts this book with a plea to the reader to set aside their own biases, then hits the reader with her own: that plants are communicating through her with us, for starters, revelations she has largely gained through use of natural hallucinogens (so many detailed accounts of visions here). It's not a worldview I have sympathy with, obviously, but the thing I found *really* infuriating was her inability to see it as just as rigid and wedded to assumptions as the "plants cannot cooperate/sense" that she is critiquing. There is also very little engaging with other's ideas: she utilises a lot of Indigenous American ceremonies, but these are not contextualised. Most individuals are given only first names (although in defence, they may have requested this). Her academic peers appear only as her supporters or critics, never with their own ideas. It seems to Gagliano, this is her quest alone - she is the special one.
The book almost went from one star to two because her descriptions of her experiments are interesting, and give enough relevant detail to understand her methods. I have some sneaking admiration for her refusal to shift her research into frameworks and proposals that conflict with her values. But writing the review shifted me back again - moving into this kind of ego-centric rigidity is not an improvement.
The book almost went from one star to two because her descriptions of her experiments are interesting, and give enough relevant detail to understand her methods. I have some sneaking admiration for her refusal to shift her research into frameworks and proposals that conflict with her values. But writing the review shifted me back again - moving into this kind of ego-centric rigidity is not an improvement.
November 24, 2018
I have never read a book like this before, but that is to Monica Gagliano’s great credit. Her book makes a profound and iconoclastic statement, challenging most of our preconceptions about what science is.
How the author carries out her work, and indeed lives her life, is as fascinating as it is inspirational. Throughout her scientific career she has been guided by plant spirits – whom she encounters with the help of different shamans, through dieta, that is, ingesting parts of a plant initially under supervision but later alone, and a ‘vision quest,’ in which she has to lie still fasting for four days up a mountain in California. These plant spirits practically dictate how to set up Gagliano’s experiments which, for example, demonstrate associative learning in garden peas and that corn kernels emit ‘chirpy clicks’ to others, who modify their behaviour upon hearing them. It is not an exaggeration to say these findings should completely change how we view plants, from passive, insensate, inferior even, to active, communicative, volitional beings.
Some readers may well think this is too fantastical to be true, but Gagliano’s book tells us that we all can be so much more – if only we listened to plants and became who we always have been from the beginning, by ‘de-educating’ ourselves from the mind-forged manacles laid down by Aristotle and reinforced over the centuries - leading us to be infinitely poorer as individuals and a species, and resulting in the ecological collapse of the world around us.
I have a number of overwhelming impressions. First, that Dr Gagliano is an incredibly courageous person. She is very brave just to study plant sentience and to travel to parts of the world most of us wouldn’t. My second impression is the importance of what the author is trying to communicate; I too wonder whether the evidence presented by Gagliano – and others such as Suzanne Simard (who wrote Thus Spoke the Plant’s foreword), Peter Wohlleben, Matthew Hall, Stefano Mancuso, and philosophers such as Michael Marder, will create a new paradigm in which plant sentience is accepted and valued rather than scorned. My third and perhaps greatest impression, is that while this is a book about plants it is most certainly is also about our relationship with them and hence about ourselves.
Did I find some of Gagliano’s metaphysics challenging, yes, and I will need to re-read this book in order to gain a better understanding. But I also find Dr Gagliano’s scientific papers (of which there are around 60 and counting, excluding edited books) difficult; but this is emphatically a reflection on me not the author. I think Gagliano’s ultimate message is that to be heard plants need a “commitment to a nonhierarchical respect, a space of communion in which we come to understand the world and the pathway toward understanding each other.” This, Gagliano says, is only the beginning. Perhaps so, but what a radical refreshing new start this would be.
How the author carries out her work, and indeed lives her life, is as fascinating as it is inspirational. Throughout her scientific career she has been guided by plant spirits – whom she encounters with the help of different shamans, through dieta, that is, ingesting parts of a plant initially under supervision but later alone, and a ‘vision quest,’ in which she has to lie still fasting for four days up a mountain in California. These plant spirits practically dictate how to set up Gagliano’s experiments which, for example, demonstrate associative learning in garden peas and that corn kernels emit ‘chirpy clicks’ to others, who modify their behaviour upon hearing them. It is not an exaggeration to say these findings should completely change how we view plants, from passive, insensate, inferior even, to active, communicative, volitional beings.
Some readers may well think this is too fantastical to be true, but Gagliano’s book tells us that we all can be so much more – if only we listened to plants and became who we always have been from the beginning, by ‘de-educating’ ourselves from the mind-forged manacles laid down by Aristotle and reinforced over the centuries - leading us to be infinitely poorer as individuals and a species, and resulting in the ecological collapse of the world around us.
I have a number of overwhelming impressions. First, that Dr Gagliano is an incredibly courageous person. She is very brave just to study plant sentience and to travel to parts of the world most of us wouldn’t. My second impression is the importance of what the author is trying to communicate; I too wonder whether the evidence presented by Gagliano – and others such as Suzanne Simard (who wrote Thus Spoke the Plant’s foreword), Peter Wohlleben, Matthew Hall, Stefano Mancuso, and philosophers such as Michael Marder, will create a new paradigm in which plant sentience is accepted and valued rather than scorned. My third and perhaps greatest impression, is that while this is a book about plants it is most certainly is also about our relationship with them and hence about ourselves.
Did I find some of Gagliano’s metaphysics challenging, yes, and I will need to re-read this book in order to gain a better understanding. But I also find Dr Gagliano’s scientific papers (of which there are around 60 and counting, excluding edited books) difficult; but this is emphatically a reflection on me not the author. I think Gagliano’s ultimate message is that to be heard plants need a “commitment to a nonhierarchical respect, a space of communion in which we come to understand the world and the pathway toward understanding each other.” This, Gagliano says, is only the beginning. Perhaps so, but what a radical refreshing new start this would be.
November 28, 2019
I found this book in the Science/Nature section of a local bookstore. That is a little misleading. This book would be more suited for Religion/Spirituality. I was hoping for a book more about research in to plant intelligence and consciousness and that maybe makes up 20% of this book. Monica Gagliano does report on some interesting experiments that she conducted. But 80% of this book is telling of dreams, visions and realizations that Gagliano experiences after visiting Shamans and performing rituals. This was arduous to read and I’m usually somewhat open to this type of thing. It just made up so much of the book that it was similar to someone telling you their hour long dream in detail. You just don’t care. A personal dream or vision may be very interesting and important to the person experiencing it but to the outsider it is not. And that was my experience with this book. If you are looking for a book about interesting plant science and research this book is not for you. If you want to read about someone’s esoteric dialogues with plants then this book is for you.
November 13, 2018
Monica Gagliano is one of the very rare authors who have the courage and take the risk to unify thorough and solid scientific investigation with a spiritual outlook on the great mysteries of the world. A world where plants see, hear, communicate, learn and remember - which Gagliano demonstrates in mind-boggling experiments in her university's biological laboratories - but also communicate with the human to give advice, guidance and healing in visions and dreams.
By listening to the plants, Monica Gagliano, who is also a pioneer in the new field of bioacoustics, gives the subject-hood back to sentient beings who we have, even more than animals, forced into the role of mere objects, without inner life, voice or spirit. 'Thus Spoke the Plant' opens the door to a place where we can encounter non-human others on a new level of communication, filling those open to it with awe.
By listening to the plants, Monica Gagliano, who is also a pioneer in the new field of bioacoustics, gives the subject-hood back to sentient beings who we have, even more than animals, forced into the role of mere objects, without inner life, voice or spirit. 'Thus Spoke the Plant' opens the door to a place where we can encounter non-human others on a new level of communication, filling those open to it with awe.
July 3, 2020
You'll learn a lot of fascinating facts about plants in this book. The author gets a big thumbs up for being anti-Capitalism, too. At the same time, while stating her opposition to anthropomorphism, there's quite a bit of it in this book. Plants and animals speak to the author (in English), and literally teach her and guide her scientific research. If you grew up in the sixties, like I did, it might remind you of someone "tripping."
While the author respects Indigenous knowledge and peoples, there is something reminiscent of Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan series here. Castaneda tried to pass his works off as valid science, and Don Juan as a real shaman, but serious anthropologists roll their eyes at his books. I'm not saying that Gagliano is making stuff up, but at the same time there seems to be a phenomenon of white people who feel they can acquire or use the wisdom of eons of Indigenous cultures in the course of a few years and a few plant-based trips. It's a form of cultural imperialism, and promotes a stereotype of Indigenous knowledge as arising from bio-chemical tripping, not thousands of years of real, scientific observation and experimentation.
At one point the author explains how she literally stepped through a portal after communing with a redwood in California. This convinces her that an Indigenous story that animals passed through a portal to get to Australia is a true story. Case closed. No need to fund geological or evolutionary studies, it would seem. Only her own, perhaps?
Gagliano seeks to prove that plants are sacred and "persons" as much as humans. She feels this realization is going to save plants and planet. But she is sadly mistaken. After all, Europeans knew that Africans were humans, but enslaved them anyway. The rapidity at which racist statues are being torn down now shows that the people who kept them in place knew all along it was wrong. They did not respond to revelation. They responded to power, and the threat of it. Sadly, it will take a monumental social revolution to stop the exploitation of human beings, animals, plants and planet. Hopefully, this will happen in time to slow down the ongoing mass extinction. An essential part of this process is to follow the militant political and spiritual leadership of Indigenous peoples--without romanticizing or colonizing their culture.
While the author respects Indigenous knowledge and peoples, there is something reminiscent of Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan series here. Castaneda tried to pass his works off as valid science, and Don Juan as a real shaman, but serious anthropologists roll their eyes at his books. I'm not saying that Gagliano is making stuff up, but at the same time there seems to be a phenomenon of white people who feel they can acquire or use the wisdom of eons of Indigenous cultures in the course of a few years and a few plant-based trips. It's a form of cultural imperialism, and promotes a stereotype of Indigenous knowledge as arising from bio-chemical tripping, not thousands of years of real, scientific observation and experimentation.
At one point the author explains how she literally stepped through a portal after communing with a redwood in California. This convinces her that an Indigenous story that animals passed through a portal to get to Australia is a true story. Case closed. No need to fund geological or evolutionary studies, it would seem. Only her own, perhaps?
Gagliano seeks to prove that plants are sacred and "persons" as much as humans. She feels this realization is going to save plants and planet. But she is sadly mistaken. After all, Europeans knew that Africans were humans, but enslaved them anyway. The rapidity at which racist statues are being torn down now shows that the people who kept them in place knew all along it was wrong. They did not respond to revelation. They responded to power, and the threat of it. Sadly, it will take a monumental social revolution to stop the exploitation of human beings, animals, plants and planet. Hopefully, this will happen in time to slow down the ongoing mass extinction. An essential part of this process is to follow the militant political and spiritual leadership of Indigenous peoples--without romanticizing or colonizing their culture.
November 25, 2020
First off, let me say that this book is more than a bit woo woo. So if you don't want to read about the author communing with plants, you should stay far away.
I myself found these accounts of interest. Beyond these accounts, though, there is the fact that Gagliano is a scientist who is doing research on plants with other colleagues and has published her findings in several journals. Gagliano's endnotes on her chapters provide rich ground for further reading on plant research, which made this book invaluable to me.
I myself found these accounts of interest. Beyond these accounts, though, there is the fact that Gagliano is a scientist who is doing research on plants with other colleagues and has published her findings in several journals. Gagliano's endnotes on her chapters provide rich ground for further reading on plant research, which made this book invaluable to me.
October 11, 2025
In his book Carbon: The Book of Life (which I loved) Paul Hawken referenced this book, Thus Spoke the Plant by Monica Gagliano, PhD. So, once again on the advice of an author, I ventured out of my normal reading comfort zone.
Having previously read and enjoyed The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate by Peter Wohlleben, Thus Spoke the Plant seemed like a natural follow-up. I am a firm believer that abilities did not just suddenly appear in homo sapiens and that sentience, consciousness, as well as the ability to communicate evolved from much further down the evolutionary pathway. Exactly how far along different flora and fauna evolved in these abilities is very much a controversial topic.
Gagliano’s initial focus was on how plants communicate with each other. Bontanists have theorized that they send aromatic signals through the air, vibrations through their leaves, or even electrical impulses through their roots to pass along information. Going a giant step further, Gagliano wants to fine a way for humans and plants to communicate - including a very interesting Pavlovian experiment.
The idea of trying to communicate with plants is not for the feint of heart. Despite the chilly reception from her peers, and statements that she was committing career suicide, Gagliano applied for and received a three year grant to pursue her research.
This book is not your usual scientific tome. Instead it is more of a travelogue of Gagliano’s path to trying to communicate with trees and plants. Along they way she seeks the advice, and pharmaceuticals, from various shamans and spirit guides.
Gagliano puts forth some interesting ideas and comes up with some ingenious ways to research her topic. However, I found that this book often got too mystical. While I found many of her ideas interesting, this book went a little too far off the rails for my taste.
Having previously read and enjoyed The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate by Peter Wohlleben, Thus Spoke the Plant seemed like a natural follow-up. I am a firm believer that abilities did not just suddenly appear in homo sapiens and that sentience, consciousness, as well as the ability to communicate evolved from much further down the evolutionary pathway. Exactly how far along different flora and fauna evolved in these abilities is very much a controversial topic.
Gagliano’s initial focus was on how plants communicate with each other. Bontanists have theorized that they send aromatic signals through the air, vibrations through their leaves, or even electrical impulses through their roots to pass along information. Going a giant step further, Gagliano wants to fine a way for humans and plants to communicate - including a very interesting Pavlovian experiment.
The idea of trying to communicate with plants is not for the feint of heart. Despite the chilly reception from her peers, and statements that she was committing career suicide, Gagliano applied for and received a three year grant to pursue her research.
This book is not your usual scientific tome. Instead it is more of a travelogue of Gagliano’s path to trying to communicate with trees and plants. Along they way she seeks the advice, and pharmaceuticals, from various shamans and spirit guides.
Gagliano puts forth some interesting ideas and comes up with some ingenious ways to research her topic. However, I found that this book often got too mystical. While I found many of her ideas interesting, this book went a little too far off the rails for my taste.
September 18, 2019
I first hear of Ms Gagliano at a Global Talks workshop at WOMADELAIDE in March. She was on a panel with 3 other scientists dong cutting edge research on non-animal intelligence. I came away finding her very articulate, bravely embracing this new scientific field she was pioneering against a lot of resistance. As her book quickly sold out, I had to wait until her appearance at the NT Writers Festival in Alice Springs in May. At this time, she was able to elaborate more on her research, having more time with her own talk as well as other panel sessions. She began her scientific career as a marine animal ecologist. While gathering specimens on the Barrier Reef, she had an epiphany that she could no longer kill animals for research purposes. She took a bit of time to reflect, having many a panic attack. She then began a quest to search out the knowledge from Indigenous peoples in the Amazon, North America and central Australia. As she was fearing for her future, and getting push back from her university, she finally received news that her grant request for this study was successful and she had 3 years of funding. This book is the result of that 3 year period of research. I highly recommend it.
March 18, 2019
I did not like this book. The idea was fascinating, and I would totally love to read about this sort of thing-- if it was written in a manner that made any sense at all. The author didn't really seem to be trying to make any sort of scientific sense, and I don't think that letting go of all prior prejudice and skepticism, as she suggests, is a legitimate way of looking at things. At that point you may as well just believe anything anyone tells you. The way this book was written just didn't sit well with me. She didn't even seem to make a single effort to meet in the middle with people who might have a hard time accepting her ideas. I probably wouldn't recommend this book.
September 30, 2019
I finished weeks ago but have been struggling to decide how I feel about this book. On one hand, parts are so extreme and bizarre that it is isolating and in other places it is so accessible it is empowering. I have decided that since this book has made me think more than nearly any other book I’ve read in a while, it must be very good on some level.
December 28, 2018
This book was definitely not for me. It seems to me the author's only way to communicate with plants was to get drunk or high. I couldn't see anything scientific about any of it.
January 22, 2019
The most important book I've read this century
October 19, 2023
These ideas interested me:
“Allow for the magical absurdity of your subjective experience to walk alongside the objective rationality of your logical mind.”
“Plants come to represent the marker points of our resistance to transcend our narcissistic and anthropocentric propensities toward exceptionalism.”
Dialogue is made possible by the recognition of the other as an equal. “From this perspective, both ownership and custodianship break down the foundation of a true dialogue with the vegetal. Although the two attitudes are different, both are validated by the apparent inability of plants to express themselves, which creates a justification for objectifying them.”
“Allow for the magical absurdity of your subjective experience to walk alongside the objective rationality of your logical mind.”
“Plants come to represent the marker points of our resistance to transcend our narcissistic and anthropocentric propensities toward exceptionalism.”
Dialogue is made possible by the recognition of the other as an equal. “From this perspective, both ownership and custodianship break down the foundation of a true dialogue with the vegetal. Although the two attitudes are different, both are validated by the apparent inability of plants to express themselves, which creates a justification for objectifying them.”
November 21, 2018
This is a beautiful and mind-opening book that tells the story of the author’s uncompromising search for deep truths, through both scientific and spiritual pathways. It’s a fun and informative book about the life sciences and plant intelligence, as well as a deeply reflexive, poetic and spiritual text. Its magic I think is that it links the author's scientific breakthroughs with the experiences and conversations with plants that have shaped her intuition, imagination and way of being - including of being a scientist. Rare are the people able to weave mystical and scientific insights as the author does, in a book that might make you a better dreamer and thinker all at once.
May 14, 2023
I had expected great things from this book but instead I was left wondering if the book had been proof read. In most chapters the same point was made more than once Some of the descriptions given were done so by a sequence of 6 or more words all meaning the same thing and made no value to the sentence, it felt like the author either couldn't decide which word she liked best or had a desperate need to show she knew all the words that she could use.
I Found this book infuriating because it has taken a worthwhile and urgent topic and includes important research by a great women who has left the reader wondering if she is sane. She almost discredits herself, in places I was cringing.
This book should have been changing the minds of sceptics, I wouldn't be surprised if it did the opposite. Now all of the dissapointment aside, it is an important topic that takes some guts to write, I'm pleased it is written and it is of value, I give it 3 stars despite my annoyance at the many mistakes. I think I was so desperate for this book to do what I believed it could do that I beat up every page that didn't do that.
I Found this book infuriating because it has taken a worthwhile and urgent topic and includes important research by a great women who has left the reader wondering if she is sane. She almost discredits herself, in places I was cringing.
This book should have been changing the minds of sceptics, I wouldn't be surprised if it did the opposite. Now all of the dissapointment aside, it is an important topic that takes some guts to write, I'm pleased it is written and it is of value, I give it 3 stars despite my annoyance at the many mistakes. I think I was so desperate for this book to do what I believed it could do that I beat up every page that didn't do that.
July 20, 2019
I would not impose on you, Ms. Gagliano, the traditional label of the well of wisdom from which I seek to drink, but everything you say makes me say, “I agree,” though whereas I seek to drink, you clearly have drunk deeply already. This book is a work of art, a major contribution to science, a precious seed for a culture worthy of Gaia’s Eden, a philosophical, political, ethical treatise and an intimate confession and diary demonstrating the dense richness that is the hallmark of the genius of nature’s organic integrity. We have wandered so far without knowing it from our essence. This book offers important guidance on numerous levels.
January 15, 2024
Non-audiobook review:
You need to know what you're getting into when deciding to read this book.
This memoir of a female biologist is 15% scientific journey, 85% experimenting with "plant medicine"/communing with the spirits of plants. If you have an open mind and an appreciation of nature, it is an inspiring and beautiful story to read.
You won't like this book unless you're ready to challenge your worldview, but if you are ready, then you definitely need to give it the chance it deserves.
You need to know what you're getting into when deciding to read this book.
This memoir of a female biologist is 15% scientific journey, 85% experimenting with "plant medicine"/communing with the spirits of plants. If you have an open mind and an appreciation of nature, it is an inspiring and beautiful story to read.
You won't like this book unless you're ready to challenge your worldview, but if you are ready, then you definitely need to give it the chance it deserves.
November 14, 2018
Garbage....
Presently, anyone can write and edit a "book" and Mrs. Gagliano small opus is a very good example of it.
If you want to learn anything about plants, this "book" will teach nothing.
This "book" contains a collection of mumbo-jumbo conjectures and musing about plants....that's all there is to it. I guess one needs to be stoned or drunk to appreciate the insights about the plant world as given by the author.
Presently, anyone can write and edit a "book" and Mrs. Gagliano small opus is a very good example of it.
If you want to learn anything about plants, this "book" will teach nothing.
This "book" contains a collection of mumbo-jumbo conjectures and musing about plants....that's all there is to it. I guess one needs to be stoned or drunk to appreciate the insights about the plant world as given by the author.
August 3, 2022
Life evolved with us & not separate from us. So much in this book that speaks to our connection to plants and earth about which we have forgotten. Until we realize we are a part of and not separate from nature, the environmental crisis will continue.
This book helped me better understand why I have always felt a connection to earth and plants.
This book helped me better understand why I have always felt a connection to earth and plants.
December 9, 2024
extremely frustrating book, was interested most of what she said in terms of her research into plant consciousness - but none of it needed the set up like she was having “plant epiphanies” the whole time. an annoying writing habit, could have absolutely used an editor and also maybe a little sit down and reflection abt what is a personal experience or revelation and what is good story telling lol
April 25, 2019
I the narrative was good. The science and anthropology about the botanical world was great.
May 27, 2023
this book is so great! a well written story from the point of view of a plant scientist who understands that plants are intelligent and should not be objectified.
October 29, 2023
Part of my favorite genre, this book was enjoyable and I soaked it up.
November 12, 2018
Love this book. A wonderful dive into the mind of a scientist who also has a little woo-woo in her.
March 18, 2022
It's written by a biologist and begins by describing the visions and dreams she had while taking shamanic plant medicine in the Amazon. I groaned through the first few chapters. It seemed her thesis was going to be 'why do scientific experimentation when we can just get high?' and the doodles that introduce the chapters are far too uninspired for this kind of book. She should have asked a visionary artist or a botanical illustrator to do them.
I vowed that if the whole book was her dream diary I wouldn' t finish it, but then she took what she learned in the jungle ceremonies back to the lab and designed experiments to test plant communication and immediately found that plants are aware of which plants are growing near them even if there is no path for light, touch or chemical communication, the only ways science had previously observed that plants communicate with each other.
The book ossilates comfortably between visionary spiritual experiences, botanical research experiments and insight on what it all means. Each experiment is a famous one I've heard described by scientists and admired, but never knew they were all by the same botanist like the one with the falling sensitive plants that learn not to flinch or the one where the roots reach towards the sound of running water. These very different accounts are strung together by tangential rants about how human culture views plants and our relationships to nature which I found encouraging.
There's all sorts of stuff I disagree with, but in ways that are fun to disagree with. Most of it I agree with and enjoyed reading throuout. After finishing this book I feel happy and warm. A lot of it was abstract prose about being one with the universe without using cheesy clichés.
I vowed that if the whole book was her dream diary I wouldn' t finish it, but then she took what she learned in the jungle ceremonies back to the lab and designed experiments to test plant communication and immediately found that plants are aware of which plants are growing near them even if there is no path for light, touch or chemical communication, the only ways science had previously observed that plants communicate with each other.
The book ossilates comfortably between visionary spiritual experiences, botanical research experiments and insight on what it all means. Each experiment is a famous one I've heard described by scientists and admired, but never knew they were all by the same botanist like the one with the falling sensitive plants that learn not to flinch or the one where the roots reach towards the sound of running water. These very different accounts are strung together by tangential rants about how human culture views plants and our relationships to nature which I found encouraging.
There's all sorts of stuff I disagree with, but in ways that are fun to disagree with. Most of it I agree with and enjoyed reading throuout. After finishing this book I feel happy and warm. A lot of it was abstract prose about being one with the universe without using cheesy clichés.
January 4, 2019
A truly inspiring read! This story has the potential to influence a paradigm shift in popular perceptions of the natural world and our relation to it.
A wonderful fusion of prose and poetry, scientific study and autobiographical journey, the book feels fresh and alleviated from the rigidity of a purely academic approach. The author avoids the pitfalls of specialized jargon, embracing a clear and concise writing style, which makes Thus Spoke the Plant accessible and enjoyable for readers of all ages and walks of life.
Gagliano doesn't merely invite us to look through a window onto the subject but rather calls us to break down our own walls and become completely open to the subject so that we may follow her onto a path that is about reconnecting our full spectrum of senses with the natural world, and reconnecting our head and heart in the process.
In an age where the high tide of technological spectacle seems to be progressively luring human consciousness into its own undertow, mother nature heralds an open call to our senses and reintroduction to a holistic understanding of agency. Thus Spoke the Plant is a timely text that calls to us all!
A wonderful fusion of prose and poetry, scientific study and autobiographical journey, the book feels fresh and alleviated from the rigidity of a purely academic approach. The author avoids the pitfalls of specialized jargon, embracing a clear and concise writing style, which makes Thus Spoke the Plant accessible and enjoyable for readers of all ages and walks of life.
Gagliano doesn't merely invite us to look through a window onto the subject but rather calls us to break down our own walls and become completely open to the subject so that we may follow her onto a path that is about reconnecting our full spectrum of senses with the natural world, and reconnecting our head and heart in the process.
In an age where the high tide of technological spectacle seems to be progressively luring human consciousness into its own undertow, mother nature heralds an open call to our senses and reintroduction to a holistic understanding of agency. Thus Spoke the Plant is a timely text that calls to us all!
May 29, 2020
This is a kind of mind-blowing book. Don’t even bother if you aren’t willing to be open minded about the limitations of contemporary science and what it can and can’t tell us about reality, time, and being. The ideas she has resonate strongly with me and I’m still trying to process some of them. I’ll be re-reading this one.
“[...] given that stories frame what beliefs we elect to embody and which path we choose to walk on for our becoming as individuals and society, shouldn’t we be extremely observant and mindful of the stories we tell and subscribe to?”
And, from an earlier chapter,
“As a matter of fact, this is exactly what colonial ideologies of domination and manipulation have succeeded at; by scorning traditional knowledge as unsubstantiated and fanciful and erasing our ancestral memories that spoke of other possibilities, humanity has found itself locked inside the experimental box of a restraining sociocultural view.”
Monica’s book is an invitation to question this prison we have built for ourselves, awaken to the possibility of another way of experiencing being - as interconnected with everything. Plants have a lot to say, it turns out.
“[...] given that stories frame what beliefs we elect to embody and which path we choose to walk on for our becoming as individuals and society, shouldn’t we be extremely observant and mindful of the stories we tell and subscribe to?”
And, from an earlier chapter,
“As a matter of fact, this is exactly what colonial ideologies of domination and manipulation have succeeded at; by scorning traditional knowledge as unsubstantiated and fanciful and erasing our ancestral memories that spoke of other possibilities, humanity has found itself locked inside the experimental box of a restraining sociocultural view.”
Monica’s book is an invitation to question this prison we have built for ourselves, awaken to the possibility of another way of experiencing being - as interconnected with everything. Plants have a lot to say, it turns out.
September 17, 2024
Questo libro è un viaggio introspettivo nella mente di una scienziata “sui generis”, una sorta di autobiografia. Ma è spacciato come un testo di divulgazione scientifica e secondo me questo è un errore.
Devo fare una premessa: sono una fisiologa delle piante. Un po’ come l’autrice di questo libro, il mio lavoro consiste nello scoprire cosa sanno fare le piante e come lo fanno. Ed è un mestiere bellissimo. Non ho bisogno di essere convinta che le piante siano straordinarie, che sappiano (certo meglio di noi umani) stare al mondo. I loro adattamenti all’ambiente e il loro stile di vita non smetteranno mai di stupirmi. Concetti come “intelligenza” e “coscienza” vegetale personalmente mi fanno storcere un po’ il naso ma solo perché ritengo che siano concetti nati per descrivere la mente umana e quindi poco adatti per organismi così diversi. Un problema semantico, insomma, ma non tanto concettuale.
La scintilla che mi ha fatto venir voglia di leggere questo libro è stata un’intervista rilasciata dall’autrice in cui parlava del suo proposito di studiare le piante senza provocare “dolore” (o danno). È qualcosa che mi interessa perché nel mio lavoro da biologa spesso mi trovo a tagliare foglie o provocare intenzionalmente uno stress alle mie piante per osservarne gli effetti. Sebbene non penso che queste tecniche siano superabili in toto, volevo qualche idea su come variare il mio modo di condurre la ricerca, affiancando esperimenti più “dolci”, meno distruttivi, ma anche capendo come dare il giusto peso alla variabilità individuale nelle risposte dei vari soggetti, che nel mio campo ancora troppo spesso forse viene interpretata come “rumore di fondo”.
Non mi aspettavo, comunque, un trattato di ecologia vegetale. Sapevo (anzi, speravo) di trovare argomentazioni e concettualizzazioni di diversi concetti oggetto dei miei studi. Dal titolo “così parlò la pianta” mi immaginavo un excursus nei vari “sensi” delle piante e del modo usato dall’autrice per indagarli. Una lettura più semplice e più leggera, ho pensato, rispetto alla lettura di tutti i suoi articoli scientifici (che comunque in parte avevo già letto), e un testamento metodologico che speravo di poter adattare alla mia ricerca.
Molte delle mie aspettative sono state disattese. Ci sono solo pochi esperimenti che vengono descritti (3 in totale). Di questi 3, tra l’altro, quello sui piselli è controverso in quanto alcuni scienziati hanno provato senza successo a replicarlo, e di questo l’autrice nemmeno parla. Più in generale, l’autrice non immagina mai scenari diversi da quello che corrisponde ai suoi desideri. Ora, per quanto sia allettante, la ricerca non si fa per confermare le proprie idee, ma per metterle alla prova. Soprattutto in settori pionieristici o controversi come quello dell’autrice, bisogna resistere alla tentazione di ignorare i limiti degli esperimenti, specialmente quando le “prove” sono poche. Questo non accade quasi mai nel libro e secondo me toglie credibilità alla visione dell’autrice. Mi dispiace perché mi aspettavo un testo “forte”, perentorio, un po’ estremo ma con una maggiore lucidità.
Ma il vero motivo per cui ho abbandonato la nave a due capitoli dalla fine è il fatto che, nonostante le premesse, nonostante il titolo, questo libro non dà veramente “voce alle piante”. Molto di ciò che si racconta è semplicemente frutto della mente della scrittrice. Intendiamoci, non sono contraria alle esperienze mistiche o alterate. Credo però che debbano essere valutate per quello che sono: un’esplorazione della nostra mente e del nostro vissuto, delle nostre associazioni mentali e della nostra visione del mondo. Pensare di capire gli altri (persone, animali o piante) durante un momento così puramente introspettivo rischia solo di portare a tanta confusione.
Esempio 1. L’autrice a un certo punto entra in possesso di una radice di pianta selvatica. Questa radice è tozza, pelosa e marrone. La notte prima di addormentarsi assume un po’ di questa radice e sogna un orso. Il giorno dopo viene a sapere che la radice stessa è nota come “radice dell’orso” (o qualcosa del genere). L’interpretazione che viene data è: “la pianta mi ha parlato”, in quanto le si è manifestata sotto forma di orso. L’interpretazione che ho dato io è: “la tua mente ha associato la radice all’animale che più le assomiglia, proprio come, prima di te, hanno fatto molte altre persone, tra cui coloro che hanno deciso di dare a quella radice un nome che evoca gli orsi.” Non è la pianta che parla, ma la tua mente che, in uno stato alterato, ti si rivela sotto un’altra luce. È un po’ come fare uno strano sogno e poi usarlo per giocare al lotto: è possibile che sia la buonanima di tua nonna ad averti inviato quella visione per farti diventare ricca? È possibile. Ma forse no.
Esempio 2. Nell’esperimento con i germogli di pisello, l’autrice si rende conto di aver mal interpretato i dati, al punto che quello che pareva un fallimento era invece un grande successo. Quello che a me sembra un normale momento di riflessione personale viene spacciato per una “rivelazione” delle piante di pisello, che in tutta la scena non fanno assolutamente nulla tranne essere lì fisicamente (dove peraltro le aveva messe lei).
Infine, trovo un po' disonesto da parte dell'autrice il fatto di descriversi sempre sola contro tutti. Non dubito delle difficoltà che ha avuto a inizio carriera, ma ad oggi è una scienziata indipendente con un posto prestigioso e un suo gruppo indipendente in un'importante centro di ricerca australiano e tante collaborazioni internazionali. Non capisco perché abbia deciso di tralasciare queste informazioni.
Morale: se volete saperne di più sulle piante, scegliete un altro libro. Se ne stanno scrivendo tanti ultimamente. La qualità spesso non è eccelsa, ma almeno avrete un libro sulle piante e non un’autobiografia. Se invece siete piscologi o indagatori della mente umana, vedete voi se dargli una chance.
Devo fare una premessa: sono una fisiologa delle piante. Un po’ come l’autrice di questo libro, il mio lavoro consiste nello scoprire cosa sanno fare le piante e come lo fanno. Ed è un mestiere bellissimo. Non ho bisogno di essere convinta che le piante siano straordinarie, che sappiano (certo meglio di noi umani) stare al mondo. I loro adattamenti all’ambiente e il loro stile di vita non smetteranno mai di stupirmi. Concetti come “intelligenza” e “coscienza” vegetale personalmente mi fanno storcere un po’ il naso ma solo perché ritengo che siano concetti nati per descrivere la mente umana e quindi poco adatti per organismi così diversi. Un problema semantico, insomma, ma non tanto concettuale.
La scintilla che mi ha fatto venir voglia di leggere questo libro è stata un’intervista rilasciata dall’autrice in cui parlava del suo proposito di studiare le piante senza provocare “dolore” (o danno). È qualcosa che mi interessa perché nel mio lavoro da biologa spesso mi trovo a tagliare foglie o provocare intenzionalmente uno stress alle mie piante per osservarne gli effetti. Sebbene non penso che queste tecniche siano superabili in toto, volevo qualche idea su come variare il mio modo di condurre la ricerca, affiancando esperimenti più “dolci”, meno distruttivi, ma anche capendo come dare il giusto peso alla variabilità individuale nelle risposte dei vari soggetti, che nel mio campo ancora troppo spesso forse viene interpretata come “rumore di fondo”.
Non mi aspettavo, comunque, un trattato di ecologia vegetale. Sapevo (anzi, speravo) di trovare argomentazioni e concettualizzazioni di diversi concetti oggetto dei miei studi. Dal titolo “così parlò la pianta” mi immaginavo un excursus nei vari “sensi” delle piante e del modo usato dall’autrice per indagarli. Una lettura più semplice e più leggera, ho pensato, rispetto alla lettura di tutti i suoi articoli scientifici (che comunque in parte avevo già letto), e un testamento metodologico che speravo di poter adattare alla mia ricerca.
Molte delle mie aspettative sono state disattese. Ci sono solo pochi esperimenti che vengono descritti (3 in totale). Di questi 3, tra l’altro, quello sui piselli è controverso in quanto alcuni scienziati hanno provato senza successo a replicarlo, e di questo l’autrice nemmeno parla. Più in generale, l’autrice non immagina mai scenari diversi da quello che corrisponde ai suoi desideri. Ora, per quanto sia allettante, la ricerca non si fa per confermare le proprie idee, ma per metterle alla prova. Soprattutto in settori pionieristici o controversi come quello dell’autrice, bisogna resistere alla tentazione di ignorare i limiti degli esperimenti, specialmente quando le “prove” sono poche. Questo non accade quasi mai nel libro e secondo me toglie credibilità alla visione dell’autrice. Mi dispiace perché mi aspettavo un testo “forte”, perentorio, un po’ estremo ma con una maggiore lucidità.
Ma il vero motivo per cui ho abbandonato la nave a due capitoli dalla fine è il fatto che, nonostante le premesse, nonostante il titolo, questo libro non dà veramente “voce alle piante”. Molto di ciò che si racconta è semplicemente frutto della mente della scrittrice. Intendiamoci, non sono contraria alle esperienze mistiche o alterate. Credo però che debbano essere valutate per quello che sono: un’esplorazione della nostra mente e del nostro vissuto, delle nostre associazioni mentali e della nostra visione del mondo. Pensare di capire gli altri (persone, animali o piante) durante un momento così puramente introspettivo rischia solo di portare a tanta confusione.
Esempio 1. L’autrice a un certo punto entra in possesso di una radice di pianta selvatica. Questa radice è tozza, pelosa e marrone. La notte prima di addormentarsi assume un po’ di questa radice e sogna un orso. Il giorno dopo viene a sapere che la radice stessa è nota come “radice dell’orso” (o qualcosa del genere). L’interpretazione che viene data è: “la pianta mi ha parlato”, in quanto le si è manifestata sotto forma di orso. L’interpretazione che ho dato io è: “la tua mente ha associato la radice all’animale che più le assomiglia, proprio come, prima di te, hanno fatto molte altre persone, tra cui coloro che hanno deciso di dare a quella radice un nome che evoca gli orsi.” Non è la pianta che parla, ma la tua mente che, in uno stato alterato, ti si rivela sotto un’altra luce. È un po’ come fare uno strano sogno e poi usarlo per giocare al lotto: è possibile che sia la buonanima di tua nonna ad averti inviato quella visione per farti diventare ricca? È possibile. Ma forse no.
Esempio 2. Nell’esperimento con i germogli di pisello, l’autrice si rende conto di aver mal interpretato i dati, al punto che quello che pareva un fallimento era invece un grande successo. Quello che a me sembra un normale momento di riflessione personale viene spacciato per una “rivelazione” delle piante di pisello, che in tutta la scena non fanno assolutamente nulla tranne essere lì fisicamente (dove peraltro le aveva messe lei).
Infine, trovo un po' disonesto da parte dell'autrice il fatto di descriversi sempre sola contro tutti. Non dubito delle difficoltà che ha avuto a inizio carriera, ma ad oggi è una scienziata indipendente con un posto prestigioso e un suo gruppo indipendente in un'importante centro di ricerca australiano e tante collaborazioni internazionali. Non capisco perché abbia deciso di tralasciare queste informazioni.
Morale: se volete saperne di più sulle piante, scegliete un altro libro. Se ne stanno scrivendo tanti ultimamente. La qualità spesso non è eccelsa, ma almeno avrete un libro sulle piante e non un’autobiografia. Se invece siete piscologi o indagatori della mente umana, vedete voi se dargli una chance.
April 20, 2021
I didn’t finish this.
First, I should clarify that I am fascinated by the idea of plant consciousness (a flame lit by Wohlleben’s “The Hidden Life of Trees”). However, this book doesn’t really give the subject much merit.
There isn’t enough structure to propel the reader further. While there is some exciting mentions of science, the author mostly talks about her feelings and hallucinogenic experiences. Which is like, fine and cool, but I didn’t come here for that. Support your thesis and stop wasting pages.
First, I should clarify that I am fascinated by the idea of plant consciousness (a flame lit by Wohlleben’s “The Hidden Life of Trees”). However, this book doesn’t really give the subject much merit.
There isn’t enough structure to propel the reader further. While there is some exciting mentions of science, the author mostly talks about her feelings and hallucinogenic experiences. Which is like, fine and cool, but I didn’t come here for that. Support your thesis and stop wasting pages.
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