The Botany of Desire by Michael PollanRandom House, 2002
304 pages
Date completed: December 14, 2009
This was an interesting read! It was for my botany class last term, and I have to say I didn't mind reading it at all! Pollan's writing is engaging, and it's full of anecdotes as well as historical notes, so it doesn't get boring. It's actually great to know what exactly is going into certain foods.
For instance...ever hear of a NewLeaf potato? It's a genetically modified potato in which every single cell contains herbicidal DNA to combat a specific beetle. Therefore, the potatoes wouldn't need to be sprayed with herbicides. This potato was never tested by the FDA, nor was it labeled as a GMO so that the public could be aware of it. Luckily it was discontinued, because it literally wasn't even tested on lab rats or anything. Gross.
So there were a lot of useful things in this book, focusing on four different plants and how they correspond to human desires: apples/sweetness, tulips/beauty, marijuana/intoxication, and potatoes/control. Really interesting stuff.
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