Gardening from the couch: The Bizarre and Incredible World of Plants
"The Bizarre and Incredible World of Plants" is actually the best of three other books: "Pollen," "Seeds" and "Fruit."
All of them are pictorial wonders that use the best of science, art and technology to depict the anatomy of plants and their proficient reproduction.
This lush and otherworldly picture book ($29.95, Firefly Books) illustrates in the smallest detail the inscrutable work of plants making more plants, and fruits making more fruit, flowers making more flowers.
Robert Kesseler using an electron microscope produced the images. Wolfgang Stuppy and Madeline Harley of London’s Royal Botanic Gardens write the accompanying text with wit and erudition.
This is truly a look into the secret life of plants.
(And I will send this luscious book to a lucky someone randomly selected from among the commenters to this post. Be sure to include your e-mail. I won't share it, but I will need it to contact the winner.)
Comments
I was just marveling at some gorgeous close-up photos of lichen. The article in Science News compared one variety to something drawn by Dr. Seuss. Wild!
Posted by: Dahlink | November 8, 2009 7:46 AM
This sounds like a great book for a dreary winter day. Thanks for telling us about it!
Posted by: Melody | November 8, 2009 7:56 AM
Hopefully available in the chain book stores?? Funny you should turn the phrase 'the secret life of plants'; as this was one of my first gardening/plant reads several years ago when I first started tearing up soil.
Posted by: E$ | November 8, 2009 8:49 AM
Love it! PBS has some great series on it too and I have several books regarding languange and symbolism of flowers, books on medicinal plants etc. And love photograpy!
Posted by: Anneke van der Schaaf | November 8, 2009 10:24 AM
I looked up the book The Bizarre and Incredible World of Plants on amazon.com, and made use of the "zoom" feature. The pod sections and leaf textures are exquisite and the colors stunning. Thanks for bringing this one to our attention!
Posted by: Stephanie | November 8, 2009 2:23 PM
Susan-
Just had to tell you how much I enjoy your blog! I check it several times a day and love everything from your rain garden to the book previews!
Keep up the great work!
Brenda
Thanks Brenda!!! I appreciate the encouragement more than you know! --Susan
Posted by: Brenda | November 8, 2009 5:51 PM
Judging from the cover, this book is a visual delight! I work for an electron microscope company and wonder if Kessler used one of our SEMs to take any of the images. Would love to see it. It's amazing how incredibly interesting common things are at such magnifications - whole microscopic worlds are revealed.
Posted by: Pam Mansfield | November 9, 2009 9:07 AM
Sounds fascinating! The cover itself is very bizarre.
Maureen
mldissinger@comcast.net
Posted by: Maureen | November 9, 2009 1:18 PM
Susan, this book would be a great fall and winter book to dream and gaze about how wonderful my garden is going to be next year! Pictures of flowers illustrating how intricate and beautiful they are bring peace and happiness!
Posted by: April | November 9, 2009 1:34 PM
wow, no one has commented yet. Sounds like a great book.
Posted by: Lou | November 9, 2009 2:05 PM
This is a brilliant book. It needs to go in every school library. Let children thumb through these pages and you'll lay the ground work for future scientist and environmentalists.
Posted by: Robert Busko | December 11, 2009 11:22 AM