The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

Michael Pollan

May 28, 2002

The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan explores the dynamic relationship between humans and the plants they cultivate. Drawing on both science and personal anecdotes, Pollan examines the human desire to make use of plants. The book follows the four plants that humans have acted upon through history: apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes. Each chapter follows the history of the plant, how it captured mankind’s attention, and how it has subsequently been used to shape society. Pollan explains the larger implications of humans’ selections of plants and how, in the process, humans have influenced the shape of entire species, often with dramatic consequences.As Pollan follows the stories of the four plants, he muses on the overall outcomes of man’s activities in nature and the ways in which we have been shaped by our interactions with plants. Pollan looks at the relationship between humans and nature as a sort of “coevolution” in which both parties benefit from the interactions between them. By examining detailed case-studies, Pollan engenders a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the creative, collaborative processes which underlie what we commonly refer to as “plant domestication”. In so doing, Pollan expands the scope of Botany of Desire to include the topics of genetic engineering, genetic drift, the commoditization of plants, and many other implications of how humans interact with the plants around them. Pollan’s argument is fascinating and thought-provoking, providing readers with a unique perspective on how plants shape us, as much as we shape them.