The Botany of Desire

2001 book by Michael Pollan

0-375-50129-0Preceded byA Place of My Own Followed byThe Omnivore's Dilemma

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World is a 2001 nonfiction book by journalist Michael Pollan. Pollan presents case studies mirroring four types of human desires that are reflected in the way that we selectively grow, breed, and genetically engineer plants. Each of the book's four parts discusses a different plant and a corresponding human desire for which it historically has been cultivated: the apple for sweetness; the tulip for beauty; cannabis for intoxication; and the potato for control.

The stories presented are a blend of plant science and natural history, ranging from the true story of Johnny Appleseed, to Pollan's first-hand research with sophisticated cannabis hybrids in Amsterdam, to the paradigm-shifting possibilities of genetically engineered potatoes. Pollan also discusses the limitations of monoculture, specifically the adoption in Ireland of a single breed of potato (the Irish Lumper) which made the Irish population who depended on it in the 1840s inordinately vulnerable to a fungus to which the breed had no resistance, resulting in the Great Famine. Farmers in Peru, where the potato had ultimately originated, traditionally grew hundreds of distinct varieties, minimizing their exposure to any given pest and thereby the risk of famine.

PBS documentary

The book was used as the basis for The Botany of Desire, a two-hour program broadcast by PBS.^[1]^[2]

Publication data

Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire (2001) Random House, hardcover: ISBN 0-375-50129-0, 2002 paperback: ISBN 0-375-76039-3

References

^ Lloyd, Robert. "The Botany of Desire". Los Angeles Times. 28 October 2009. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
^ "In Production". PBS International. Retrieved 28 October 2009.

External links

"A Plant's-Eye View Of The World" interview of Michael Pollan by NPR
Botany of Desire conversation with Michael Pollan on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer June 29, 2001.
Bookbrowse.com- Summary and reviews
YouTube - Cannabis Forgetting and the Botany of Desire Berkeley lecture by Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan

Books

Second Nature: A Gardener's Education (1991)
A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder (1997)
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World (2001)
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006)
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (2008)
Food Rules: An Eater's Manual (2009)
Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (2013)
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us (2018)