The Reason for Flowers
Their History, Culture, Biology, and How They Change Our Lives
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“Fascinating...Buchmann’s knowledge and enthusiasm jump off the page.” —The Wall Street Journal
“An extraordinarily good book.” —Edward O. Wilson
The lively and definitive story of the beauty, sexuality, lore, economics, and ecology of the world ’s flowers, written by a devoted scientist and illustrated with his stunning photographs.
Flowers—and the fruits they often become—feed, clothe, and inspire us. Indeed, they have done so for all of human history. Yet although we use flowers to celebrate important occasions, to express love, and to please our senses, we know little about them, their functions in nature, or even how we depend on them.
In a volume that will delight gardeners, naturalists, cooks, artists, or anyone interested in history or culture, pollination ecologist Stephen Buchmann serves as an expert guide through the fascinating world of flowers. He explains how other species relate to flowers in ways crucial to the natural world. Next he takes us on an engaging exploration of the roles flowers play in the production of food, spices, medicines, and perfumes. Flowering plants, Buchmann then shows, have long served as inspirational themes in art and literature. Flowers have in fact so thoroughly seduced us that we now buy some ten million a day, driving breeders to create infinite varieties and unusual blooms. In this cultural and natural investigation of floral history, Stephen Buchmann’s masterful narrative illuminates just why there is, indeed, a reason for flowers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Buchmann (The Forgotten Pollinators), a biologist specializing in pollination ecology, uses his eighth book to enthuse about the importance that flowers have played in human civilization. While his excitement is both palpable and contagious, and while some of his anecdotes are fascinating (for example, some flowers might be losing their scents because of climate change), the book doesn't work well as a whole because Buchmann only has time to touch lightly on all of his myriad topics. The section on the modern flower industry is captivating, as he discusses the worldwide movement of flowers and the centrality of the Amsterdam auction house where every day millions of flowers are flown in, sold, and then redistributed around the globe. Unfortunately most other sections do not meet the standard he sets there; too often they read merely like interesting, eclectic lists of subjects that have some passing relationship to flowers. Few readers, for instance, will be surprised to learn that artists have painted flowers for centuries or that such paintings have occurred across many cultures. A modest number of photographs are included, but the book would be more accessible had other descriptions been paired with pictorial examples. Buchmann's passion is not matched by the content. Photos.
