Lessons from Plants
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
An exploration of how plant behavior and adaptation offer valuable insights for human thriving.
We know that plants are important. They maintain the atmosphere by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. They nourish other living organisms and supply psychological benefits to humans as well, improving our moods and beautifying the landscape around us. But plants don’t just passively provide. They also take action.
Beronda L. Montgomery explores the vigorous, creative lives of organisms often treated as static and predictable. In fact, plants are masters of adaptation. They “know” what and who they are, and they use this knowledge to make a way in the world. Plants experience a kind of sensation that does not require eyes or ears. They distinguish kin, friend, and foe, and they are able to respond to ecological competition despite lacking the capacity of fight-or-flight. Plants are even capable of transformative behaviors that allow them to maximize their chances of survival in a dynamic and sometimes unfriendly environment.
Lessons from Plants enters into the depth of botanic experience and shows how we might improve human society by better appreciating not just what plants give us but also how they achieve their own purposes. What would it mean to learn from these organisms, to become more aware of our environments and to adapt to our own worlds by calling on perception and awareness? Montgomery’s meditative study puts before us a question with the power to reframe the way we live: What would a plant do?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Humans have much to learn from plant behavior, argues Montgomery, professor of biochemistry and biology at Michigan State University, in her impassioned if cursory debut. She first explores "how plants sense and respond to the environment," explaining how they deal with fluctuations in light intensity (by shifting their leaf position) and nutrient concentration (in poor-quality soil, plants devote more of their energy to root development). Montgomery also accessibly describes how plants communicate with one another to learn about environmental threats arising from competitors and predators. But while she successfully makes the case that understanding plants provides an entry point for having a deeper connection with nature, she rarely moves beyond the superficial, as in her conclusions that "the humble bean seedling provides an excellent example of how to adjust and readjust to outside circumstances," or that from symbiotic fungi relationships "we can see the importance of establishing an ecosystem of support, collegiality, and community." Though this doesn't break new ground, the author's knowledge and enthusiasm will have readers looking at plants in a new light.
