Reviews of The Botany of Desire

“Pollan shines a light on our own nature as well as our implication in the natural world.” The New York Times

“[Pollan] has a wide-ranging intellect, an eager grasp of evolutionary biology and a subversive streak that helps him to root out some wonderfully counterintuitive points. His prose both shimmers and snaps, and he has a knack for finding perfect quotes in the oddest places. Best of all, Pollan really loves plants.” The New York Times…

“We can give no higher praise to the work of this superb science writer/reporter than to say that his new book is as exciting as any you’ll read.” Entertainment Weekly

“A wry, informed pastoral.” The New Yorker

“Until I read Michael Pollan’s original, provocative and charming The Botany of Desire, I had never managed to get inside the soul of a plant. Mr. Pollan, an accomplished gardener and garden writer, presents a plant’s-eye view of the world that challenged some of my most basic assumptions about gardening, particularly the one about whether…

“A whimsical, literary romp through man’s perpetually frustrating and always unpredictable relationship with nature.” Los Angeles Times

“A don’t-wanna-put-it-down unspooling of the socio-political, economic and historical forces that led to the cultivation of four crops. Pollan is a master at making connections, seeing the lines that connect disparate dots in the complexities of the garden, be they of a political, literary, historical, socioeconomic or, even, sexual realm.” Chicago Tribune

“Funny, interesting and as delicious as a slice of summer peach … a must for people who like a good story.” New York Daily News