Author: Bill LawsPublisher: Firefly Books
ISBN: 9781770855885
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224
Book Description
The fascinating stories of the plants that changed civilizations.
Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History
Author: Bill LawsPublisher: Crows Nest
ISBN: 9781742372181
Category : Botany
Languages : en
Pages : 223
Book Description
This is a beautifully presented guide to the plants that have had the greatest impact on human civilisation. Entries range from crops like rice and wheat that feed whole populations, to herbs and spices that are highly prized for their medicinal qualities. Each entry is a fascinating look at the most influential plants known to mankind.
Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History
Author: Bill LawsPublisher:
ISBN: 9780715338544
Category : Botany
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
From the crops that have fed billions of people over the centuries to the plants highly regarded for their medicinal qualities, this fascinating offering from garden expert Bill Laws unearths the stories behind some of the world's best-known plants.|Of course, we are entirely dependent on plants for our food and the air we breathe, but did you know that 5,000 mature English oak trees were used in the construction of Admiral Nelson's flagship HMS Victory, or that sweet peas were involved in the birth of the science of genetics? King Cotton was the driver of the slave trade, which was the first domino to fall in the American Revolution, and cotton was also the catalyst for the Industrial Revolution. These, and many other extraordinary facts in Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History, highlight the dynamic ways in which plants have influenced human history. This beautifully designed and illustrated volume provides an engaging guide to the fifty key plants that have had the most impact on human history. Packed full of information, the book includes details about the habitat and characteristics of each plant, fact boxes, full colour photographs and lovely botanical illustrations. Weaving together strands of economic, political and agricultural history, each entry is a fascinating look at the most influential plants known to mankind.
Seeds of Change
Author: Henry HobhousePublisher: Counterpoint
ISBN: 9781593760496
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 381
Book Description
An account of the historical influences of six commercial plants, including sugar, tea, cotton, potatoes, quinine, and coca, evaluates their role in the Atlantic slave trade, opening up of China, and establishment of multiple colonial empires. Reprint.
The Botany of Desire
Author: Michael PollanPublisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0375760393
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
“Pollan shines a light on our own nature as well as on our implication in the natural world.” —The New York Times “A wry, informed pastoral.” —The New Yorker The book that helped make Michael Pollan, the New York Times bestselling author of How to Change Your Mind, Cooked and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, one of the most trusted food experts in America Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. So who is really domesticating whom?
The Emerald Planet
Author: David BeerlingPublisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192529781
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 381
Book Description
Plants have profoundly moulded the Earth's climate and the evolutionary trajectory of life. Far from being 'silent witnesses to the passage of time', plants are dynamic components of our world, shaping the environment throughout history as much as that environment has shaped them. In The Emerald Planet, David Beerling puts plants centre stage, revealing the crucial role they have played in driving global changes in the environment, in recording hidden facets of Earth's history, and in helping us to predict its future. His account draws together evidence from fossil plants, from experiments with their living counterparts, and from computer models of the 'Earth System', to illuminate the history of our planet and its biodiversity. This new approach reveals how plummeting carbon dioxide levels removed a barrier to the evolution of the leaf; how plants played a starring role in pushing oxygen levels upwards, allowing spectacular giant insects to thrive in the Carboniferous; and it strengthens fascinating and contentious fossil evidence for an ancient hole in the ozone layer. Along the way, Beerling introduces a lively cast of pioneering scientists from Victorian times onwards whose discoveries provided the crucial background to these and the other puzzles. This understanding of our planet's past sheds a sobering light on our own climate-changing activities, and offers clues to what our climatic and ecological futures might look like. There could be no more important time to take a close look at plants, and to understand the history of the world through the stories they tell. Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.
Botanical Miracles
Author: Raymond CooperPublisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1498788181
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Book Description
As the shortcomings of purely synthetic approaches to biochemical discovery and development are becoming more apparent, a renaissance of interest in the chemistry of natural products as sources for new compounds is occurring. A unique approach to natural products chemistry, Botanical Miracles: Chemistry of Plants That Changed the World relates appl
In Defense of Plants
Author: Matt CandeiasPublisher: Mango Media Inc.
ISBN: 1642504548
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297
Book Description
The Study of Plants in a Whole New Light “Matt Candeias succeeds in evoking the wonder of plants with wit and wisdom.” ―James T. Costa, PhD, executive director, Highlands Biological Station and author of Darwin's Backyard #1 New Release in Nature & Ecology, Plants, Botany, Horticulture, Trees, Biological Sciences, and Nature Writing & Essays In his debut book, internationally-recognized blogger and podcaster Matt Candeias celebrates the nature of plants and the extraordinary world of plant organisms. A botanist’s defense. Since his early days of plant restoration, this amateur plant scientist has been enchanted with flora and the greater environmental ecology of the planet. Now, he looks at the study of plants through the lens of his ever-growing houseplant collection. Using gardening, houseplants, and examples of plants around you, In Defense of Plants changes your relationship with the world from the comfort of your windowsill. The ruthless, horny, and wonderful nature of plants. Understand how plants evolve and live on Earth with a never-before-seen look into their daily drama. Inside, Candeias explores the incredible ways plants live, fight, have sex, and conquer new territory. Whether a blossoming botanist or a professional plant scientist, In Defense of Plants is for anyone who sees plants as more than just static backdrops to more charismatic life forms. In this easily accessible introduction to the incredible world of plants, you’ll find: • Fantastic botanical histories and plant symbolism • Passionate stories of flora diversity and scientific names of plant organisms • Personal tales of plantsman discovery through the study of plants If you enjoyed books like The Botany of Desire, What a Plant Knows, or The Soul of an Octopus, then you’ll love In Defense of Plants.
Botany For Dummies
Author: Rene Fester KratzPublisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118006720
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 397
Book Description
The easy way to score your highest in botany Employment of biological scientists is projected to grow 21% over the next decade, much faster than the average for all occupations, as biotechnological research and development continues to drive job growth. Botany For Dummies gives you a thorough, easy-to-follow overview of the fundamentals of botany, helping you to improve your grades, supplement your learning, or review before a test. Covers evolution by natural selection Offers plain-English explanations of the structure and function of plants Includes plant identification and botanical phenomenon Tracking a typical course in botany, this hands-on, friendly guide is your ticket to acing this required course for your major in biology, microbiology, zoology, or elementary education.
What Linnaeus Saw: A Scientist's Quest to Name Every Living Thing
Author: Karen Magnuson BeilPublisher: WW Norton
ISBN: 132400469X
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
The globetrotting naturalists of the eighteenth century were the geeks of their day: innovators and explorers who lived at the intersection of science and commerce. Foremost among them was Carl Linnaeus, a radical thinker who revolutionized biology. In What Linnaeus Saw, Karen Magnuson Beil chronicles Linnaeus’s life and career in readable, relatable prose. As a boy, Linnaeus hated school and had little interest in taking up the religious profession his family had chosen. Though he struggled through Latin and theology classes, Linnaeus was an avid student of the natural world and explored the school’s gardens and woods, transfixed by the properties of different plants. At twenty-five, on a solo expedition to the Scandinavian Mountains, Linnaeus documented and described dozens of new species. As a medical student in Holland, he moved among leading scientific thinkers and had access to the best collections of plants and animals in Europe. What Linnaeus found was a world with no consistent system for describing and naming living things—a situation he methodically set about changing. The Linnaean system for classifying plants and animals, developed and refined over the course of his life, is the foundation of modern scientific taxonomy, and inspired and guided generations of scientists. What Linnaeus Saw is rich with biographical anecdotes—from his attempt to identify a mysterious animal given him by the king to successfully growing a rare and exotic banana plant in Amsterdam to debunking stories of dragons and phoenixes. Thoroughly researched and generously illustrated, it offers a vivid and insightful glimpse into the life of one of modern science’s founding thinkers.
