The inaugural meeting of the Earth Eats book club (online book chat) will be Thursday, May 6 from 9 to 10 pm ET.
We'll aim to have these monthly, the first Thursday of the month at the same time (Thursday evening is the day/time that won out in our poll), but we may move them or reschedule if people decide another time is better for them, or, especially if I'm able to get the authors to attend so you can talk with them.
For the first chat we'll be discussing Michael Pollan's "The Botany of Desire"
About the book (from Random House):
In 1637, one Dutchman paid as much for a single tulip bulb as the going price of a town house in Amsterdam. Three and a half centuries later, Amsterdam is once again the mecca for people who care passionately about one particular plant - thought this time the obsessions revolves around the intoxicating effects of marijuana rather than the visual beauty of the tulip. How could flowers, of all things, become such objects of desire that they can drive men to financial ruin?
In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan argues that the answer lies at the heart of the intimately reciprocal relationship between people and plants. In telling the stories of four familiar plant species that are deeply woven into the fabric of our lives, Pollan illustrates how they evolved to satisfy humankinds's most basic yearnings - and by doing so made themselves indispensable. For, just as we've benefited from these plants, the plants, in the grand co-evolutionary scheme that Pollan evokes so brilliantly, have done well by us. The sweetness of apples, for example, induced the early Americans to spread the species, giving the tree a whole new continent in which to blossom. So who is really domesticating whom?
Weaving fascinating anecdotes and accessible science into gorgeous prose, Pollan takes us on an absorbing journey that will change the way we think about our place in nature.
Buy The Book
Your purchase through any of the following links helps to support Earth Eats (we get a small percentage of the sale price back from Amazon or Indie Bound)
Amazon: Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
IndieBound.org: Paperback | Hardcover | eBook
We're also giving away a signed copy of "The Botany of Desire" on our facebook page, just become a fan of Earth Eats, RSVP for the chat and then suggest another book we should consider for a future chat.
Listen: Earth Eats' Interview With Michael Pollan
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