Weeds: In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants - Softcover

Mabey, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062065467 ISBN 13: 9780062065469

Publisher: Ecco Press, 2012

Synopsis

Pub Date: 2012-06-26 Pages: 324 Language: English Publisher: HarperCollins US Weeds are botanical thugs. but they have always been essential to our lives They were the first crops and medicines and they inspired Velcro They adorn weddings and foliate.. the most derelict urban sites. With the verve and historical breadth of Michael Pollan. acclaimed nature writer Richard Mabey delivers a provocative defense of the plants we love to hate..

About this title

Review:

"Like Michael Pollan in "The Botany of Desire," Mabey shows that it is not at all clear here who is in charge, who has the moral high ground and who will survive long after the last weed has been pulled from the last over-tended suburban acre."--Los Angeles Times

"Weeds are often described as plants in the wrong place. In fact, explains Richard Mabey in this delightful and casually learned book, they are in precisely the right place for themselves: next to us."--The Economist

"A jaunty chronicle of botany and history that ventures from the first farm fields of Mesopotamia to the broken asphalt of our modern cities."--Charleston Post & Courier

"Smart. . . . Mabey is at his best when he takes us along on his own weedy adventures."--Washington Post

"[W]onderful. . . . [P]resents a compelling case that weeds, the opportunists of the plant world, play a vital role in filling the empty spaces of the earth caused by natural disasters or human events."--Washington Independent Review of Books

"Excellent. . . . He tracks humanity's ongoing tussle with weeds, all in prose that delights at every turn."--Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Outstanding. . . . An engrossing and captivating exploration of the tenacious, often beautiful, sometimes destructive, plants we designate as weeds."--Shelf Awareness

"As witty and lively as it is comprehensive. . . . A stimulating sojourn with the world's most fascinating and ingenious plants."--Portsmouth Herald

"Entertaining. . . . [A] sprightly journey through horticultural history."--Wall Street Journal

"A charming paean to plants sometimes ignored and often detested."--Science News

Book Description:

A lively and lyrical cultural history of plants in the wrong place by one of Britain's best and most admired nature writers

About this edition

• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0062065467
• ISBN 13: 9780062065469
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336