The Botany of Desire

Who would believe that a flower holds the meaning of life? Or that human history would be so correlated with that of plants? Clearly Michael Pollan did and decided to write The Botany of Desire. The book is divided into 4 parts, each part comparing a human desire to a plant. First, Pollan ties the desire for sweetness to the apple. By chronicling Johnny Appleseed and the spread of the apple around the world, Pollan says humans have long been obsessed with apples. Next, he ties the desire of beauty to the tulip. He chronicles the history of the tulip and how it has always been a sign of power and wealth as well as beauty. Third, he uses the desire of intoxication and ties it to the cannabis plant (marijuana). Pollan looks at the history of marijuana and how the plant has adapted. He notes that only recently the crop began to be altered to grow indoor and outside and to be more potent. Lastly, he looks at the desire for control and ties it to the potato. He says humans desire to alter the potato represents a larger idea that people are in a desperate need to control everything. All of this plays into a larger picture that Pollan is trying to paint; humans and plants are more closely tied than people might believe.

What first felt like a quick read turned into a dense, overly detailed book about an obscure topic. Although there were parts I enjoyed, and I did learn a lot, it was hard not to fall asleep while he described how King Louis XIV felt about tulips. All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in psychology and human development or in botany. Other than that, stay away.