Choice Review
Neither a text nor a reference work, this beautifully written, strikingly illustrated book is intended for the general public. Its utility in the college environment comes from its inspirational value. Attenborough's book, based on his BBC program of the same name, is packed with fascinating, generally accurate anecdotes about the plant world and especially about plant/animal interactions. The chapters have titles such as "Travelling," which covers mainly seed dispersal, and "Feeding and Growing," which discusses photosynthesis at a grade-school level but gives many nontechnical examples of herbivory, plant defenses, and carnivorous plants. Attenborough uses common names for plants and there are no references to the primary literature, but the scientific names appear in the index and the book may well stimulate nonscience majors or beginning botany students to explore further on their own. Arthur Galston's Life Processes of Plants (CH, Jun'94) is also intended for the general public, but it focuses on plant physiology, contains more scientific evidence, and includes brief bibliographies with each chapter. H. L. Gorton; St. Mary's College of Maryland
Library Journal Review
Intrepid naturalist Attenborough (Trials of Life, Little, Brown, 1991) once again stalks the planet to find the most fascinating and exquisite specimens to illustrate the wonders of the living world. There are plants in this book that this natural history reviewer and botany major never saw before, such as the Sumatran titan arum with its nine-foot-tall inflorescence and the equally elusive British ghost orchid, which regularly reappears after being declared extinct. Attenborough notes that plants "must grapple with much the same problems as animals, including ourselves," and describes these endeavors in chapters on traveling, feeding and growing, flowering, social struggle, living together, and surviving. Other popularizations have covered the same basic territory, but rarely in such a captivating way. Highly recommended for natural history collections at all levels. [This is a companion to a six-part BBC series that will air this fall in the United States.Ed.]Beth Clewis, Prince William P.L. System, Va. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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