A leading plant neurobiologist presents the eight fundamental pillars on which the life of plants-and by extension humans-rests in this playful yet eye-opening guidebook.
Even if they behave as though they were, humans are not the masters of the Earth, but only one of its most irksome residents. From the moment of their arrival, about 300,000 years ago-nothing when compared to the history of life on our planet-humans have succeeded in changing the conditions of the planet so drastically as to make it a dangerous place for their own survival.
The causes of this reckless behavior are in part inherent in their predatory nature, but they also depend on our total incomprehension of the rules that govern the existence of a community of living beings. The last to arrive on the planet, we behave like children who wreak havoc, unaware of the value and significance of the things they are playing with.
In The Nation of Plants, the most...