Soybeans are one of the most nutritious plant foods, rich in edible oil and, even by the standards of legumes, an excellent source of protein, although they are not to be eaten raw, as they contain substances that interfere with our digestion. No plant, nor animals or any other living thing on earth, exist solely for our benefit, and thus we have to treat them with due respect.

A truly captivating read or as one might say 'A REAL PAGE TURNER' unusual for a non fiction book but if you have any interest at all about gardening and plants in general READ THIS BOOK ! Af en toe blader ik er in, lees een kort hoofdstukje, geniet van de prenten,… Door het handige formaat ligt het boek ook fijn in de hand.

She works within the field of editorial design and illustration for books and magazines, mainly, but also for the fashion industry and occasionally realising murals and exhibition spaces. Apart from telling us all about the plant's quirks, Drori also sometimes adds a slightly cynical or critical note about humans and the way we treat or have been treating the plants in question, not in the least because that behaviour threatens our own lives, or all life on our precious planet. I wonder what criteria Drori considered when picking his 80 plants to cover because he certainly covered the world and every continent - including the ocean!

I have never known much about plants and this is perfect for those like me, who are interested in just about everything to do with nature, but are a bit intimidated by the complex world of plants.In a previous life at the BBC, he was Executive Producer of more than fifty prime-time science documentaries and popular series. At times the book made me angry and frustrated, and I was ready to pull out the highlighter and mark up botanical inaccuracies in it later (since I listened to the audiobook in the car I couldn't do it in the moment). Dopo aver letto Il giro del mondo in 80 alberi non potevo certo lasciarmi sfuggire questo nuovo saggio di Jonathan Drori.

For people who struggle to sit with a book, this is a great choice, as it is easy to sample in small tastes when you feel like it. Structured by continent, this book guides the reader around the world, dipping into the stories of the tiny, the towering, the parasitic and the submarine. I bought this as a Christmas Gift for my mum who is crazy about Candles, Flowers, Smellies and Chocolates. I definitely love having these three books in my collection (the 3rd one, the one about birds, wasn't written by this author but was produced in the same way by the publisher so I consider them a series) and hope there will be more (about other animal families, for example).Her work is mainly handcrafted from drawing to screenprinting which allows her to create large scale compositions, architectural portraits of her favourite places and exploring their past and present lives. Apparently Malcolm X used nutmeg in jail for a high; it was banned in prisons in the US to avoid misuse. If you read extensively on many subjects, then here's another fascinating book to add to your collection - you'll love this one.

Jonathan Drori CBE is a Trustee of The Eden Project and Cambridge Science Centre, an Ambassador for the WWF, and was for nine years a Trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and The Woodland Trust. The author’s light touch in explaining scientific facts makes the text easier reading for the uninitiated and his sense of humour had me chuckling at times without lessening the underlying conservation message on the role and importance of plants in the survival of ourselves and our planet. It is a credit to his skill and dedication that every fact-filled sentence is rich in information about each chosen plant, be it ethnobotanical, economic, folklore, myth, history, religion, culinary or etymology - not a word is wasted.It is full of shafts of knowledge that give fresh insight into our relationship with plants from around the world. An exquisite follow up to his Around the World in 80 Trees, Drori is the David Attenborough of the plant world, sharing his immense fascination and love of plants with any who are lucky enough to listen. Or that myrrh was used in Biblical times for an antiseptic mouthwash as well as for incense and that the body of Admiral Nelson was preserved in myrrh-infused brandy to bring back to England (which the crew is said to have drunk in his honour)? Random facts can be fun, but not when there is a lot of anthropomorphisms going around, misunderstandings of science and especially ecology, biogeography, and morphology. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.