Michael Pollan examines the history of and coexistence between humans and Apples, Tulips, Marijuana and Potatoes in The Botany of Desire. I will never think of Apples the same way, and may hestitate before I eat a potato from this point forward. At times boring, and others extremely informative, and even laugh out loud, it is a book worth reading if you want to think about the place fruits, vegetables and flowers hold today. And it makes you think about how they got there, and whether they are what they are because of their own Darwinian survival of the fittest, or because humans do what they want, when they want, where they want.
Pollan doesn't just examine the biological history of these objects, he looks at them from a philosophical angle as well -- hard to imagine, right? But, I actually found myself folding down a few pages to mark various quotes and excerpts from the book. (will insert those later)
Once again I am on a health kick. Maybe even trying out being a vegetarian, not that he suggests it, but more because of the implications of living off our current food system. It is just not right that companies have patents on fruits and vegetables, that it is illegal to reuse some seeds, and coming up with a potato that generates its own internal insecticide is going too far.
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