The Botany of Desire : A Plant’s eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
Mike joyfully declares “Plants are Nature’s alchemists”. How true? They create a wide array of things. From sweet, nurturing and delicious to downright poison that could kill us. He starts with a paradigm shifting observation that, plants are remaking us as much as we are remaking them. He wonders, “Did I choose to plant potato or potato made me to do it?”Mike identifies four basic desires of humans, mapped to four plants which are taken as examples.
Desire: Sweetness. Plant: Apple.
Desire: Beauty Plant: Tulip.
Desire: Intoxication Plant: Marijuana
Desire: Control Plant: Potato
The examples and stories were as compelling as the ”The Napoleon Buttons”. http://jujubax.blogspot.com/2009/10/napoleons-buttons.html.
Now, some interesting stories that got my attention ….
I was surprised to find the Gene gun is not a metaphor, but a 0.22 shell used to fire stainless steel projectiles dipped in a DNA solution at a stem or a leaf of the target plant. If all goes well, some of the DNA would pierce the wall of the some of the cell’s nuclei and elbow its way in to double helix – a bully breaking in to line dance! If the new DNA happens to land at the right place, and no one yet knows what or where that place is, the plant grown from that cell will express the new gene. Wow, what a game of randomness!.
Brain itself has its own endogenous cannobinoid. It was discovered by Mecholam and Howlett. They have named it as “Anandamide” from the Sanskrit word for inner bliss. Mike foresees a clear case of Nobel Prize for this duo soon since it has opened great deal of avenues for our understanding of the brain. It would pave way for understanding the bio-chemistry of emotions.
Tulip according to Mike is nature’s eye-candy. (Psychiatrists even regard patient’s indifference to flowers is a clear sign of depression!). Tulip had its heyday during 1660-85 in Holland so much so, it can be called as tulip-mania. Turkey also had its share of whim, where sometimes tulip was paid in gold. In this context, instead of relying on wind and water alone to move gene around, a plant could enlist help from the animal by striking co-evolutionary deal: Nutrition in exchange for transportation. With advent of flowers there are more interdependency, more communication and more experimentation – a novel way to look at flowers!
Mike’s tracing how apple grew in many parts of the world along with history of Chapman is fascinating who systematically moved from one land to another land, plants apple trees, grow them for certain time and sell it for a handsome returns – only to move to next venture. Most of the time, care taking was done by the locals. It appears, in every era, there are some small set folks who really set out and make a difference, be it apple planting or telecom or search engine. The history of apple – I mean the fruit, is really good one, many chancy events have made it what it is now.
Donald Norman, lamented that, now a days, “It is important to be clever than correct. It is important to be profound than practical”. After reading this book, my view of the plants is…. “They are Profound, Practical, Clever and Correct”. Jai Ho to Plant’s kingdom!
Thanks for reading this far.
Regards, madhu
PS: You can also have a look @ http://mohansidlethoughts.blogspot.in/2010/06/botany-of-desire-plants-eye-view-of.html
Mike joyfully declares “Plants are Nature’s alchemists”. How true? They create a wide array of things. From sweet, nurturing and delicious to downright poison that could kill us. He starts with a paradigm shifting observation that, plants are remaking us as much as we are remaking them. He wonders, “Did I choose to plant potato or potato made me to do it?”Mike identifies four basic desires of humans, mapped to four plants which are taken as examples.
Desire: Sweetness. Plant: Apple.
Desire: Beauty Plant: Tulip.
Desire: Intoxication Plant: Marijuana
Desire: Control Plant: Potato
The examples and stories were as compelling as the ”The Napoleon Buttons”. http://jujubax.blogspot.com/2009/10/napoleons-buttons.html.
Now, some interesting stories that got my attention ….
I was surprised to find the Gene gun is not a metaphor, but a 0.22 shell used to fire stainless steel projectiles dipped in a DNA solution at a stem or a leaf of the target plant. If all goes well, some of the DNA would pierce the wall of the some of the cell’s nuclei and elbow its way in to double helix – a bully breaking in to line dance! If the new DNA happens to land at the right place, and no one yet knows what or where that place is, the plant grown from that cell will express the new gene. Wow, what a game of randomness!.
Brain itself has its own endogenous cannobinoid. It was discovered by Mecholam and Howlett. They have named it as “Anandamide” from the Sanskrit word for inner bliss. Mike foresees a clear case of Nobel Prize for this duo soon since it has opened great deal of avenues for our understanding of the brain. It would pave way for understanding the bio-chemistry of emotions.
Tulip according to Mike is nature’s eye-candy. (Psychiatrists even regard patient’s indifference to flowers is a clear sign of depression!). Tulip had its heyday during 1660-85 in Holland so much so, it can be called as tulip-mania. Turkey also had its share of whim, where sometimes tulip was paid in gold. In this context, instead of relying on wind and water alone to move gene around, a plant could enlist help from the animal by striking co-evolutionary deal: Nutrition in exchange for transportation. With advent of flowers there are more interdependency, more communication and more experimentation – a novel way to look at flowers!
Mike’s tracing how apple grew in many parts of the world along with history of Chapman is fascinating who systematically moved from one land to another land, plants apple trees, grow them for certain time and sell it for a handsome returns – only to move to next venture. Most of the time, care taking was done by the locals. It appears, in every era, there are some small set folks who really set out and make a difference, be it apple planting or telecom or search engine. The history of apple – I mean the fruit, is really good one, many chancy events have made it what it is now.
Donald Norman, lamented that, now a days, “It is important to be clever than correct. It is important to be profound than practical”. After reading this book, my view of the plants is…. “They are Profound, Practical, Clever and Correct”. Jai Ho to Plant’s kingdom!
Thanks for reading this far.
Regards, madhu
PS: You can also have a look @ http://mohansidlethoughts.blogspot.in/2010/06/botany-of-desire-plants-eye-view-of.html
