Reaching for the Sun: How Plants Work

by John King

Green plants are all around us. We are totally dependent on them for food; we cultivate them for our pleasure; and we use them to our advantage in a vast number of ways. This is a lively, nontechnical account of how green plants live, grow and...reach for the sun. It covers everything you need or want to know about plants, including how plants satisfy their nutritional and energy needs, how they direct and promote their growth, development and death, and how they react to the daily and seasonal variations and stresses in their environments. Finally, the author describes how they attract and repel other living organisms and how we exploit them for our own use in food and medicine. From their ability to take energy from sunlight to make their own food to their amazing range of life-sustaining, death-defying strategies, John King explains why plants dominate our planet. This is not just a book for avid gardeners and naturalists. This is a book for anyone who wants to understand why the earth is green.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Biology, Biography, Gardening

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

John King is the San Francisco Chronicle’s urban design critic. He joined the paper in 1992 and has been in his current post since 2001. His writing on architecture and urban design has been honored by groups including the California Preservation Foundation, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the California chapters of the American Institute of Architects and the American Planning Association. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2002 and 2003.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Aaron Zaremsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating take on the evolution and processes plants make on their journey through life. This book is close to a textbook in its depth and analysis on the adaptations plants have to their environments and their fellow flora/fauna, but very palatable and accessible to the average reader.

Given to me by a family friend and employer who runs a gardening company in town, this book gave me a significant in-depth look into the world of plants and how they function. Also, it gave me a new-found respect for how much we depend on them for oxygen, food, medicine, and many other benefits.

If you are a gardener, have a vested interest in plants, and are looking to expand your knowledge base about them, I highly recommend this book.

[Jonathan Lazaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

its a very thorough and simplified account of plant biology. reads like a novel and doesnt get too scientific. Id like to add that i loved it so much that i bought a copy, the first was from the library and they no longer have it (somebody stole it) im reading it again 7 years later and am still enjoying it just as much

[Mela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it a few years ago. It was very interesting and informative.