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The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth
Top of the pile
91
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
91/100Critics
91/100Scholars
Author:
Zoë Schlanger
Publisher:
Harper
Date:
May 7, 2024
A book exploring the emerging science on plant intelligence, uncovering plants' complex and unimaginable capabilities and calling into question what we consider to be conscious agents in the natural world.
What The Reviewers Say
The Light Eaters is one of those science books in which the author travels to richly described locales to interview assorted researchers at work and to vividly describe their discoveries for a general audience.
Schlanger’s focus on the botanists themselves overcomes a challenge inherent to science writing: where to find drama.
Grounded in the history of botany, [Schlanger] lucidly and vividly explains startling findings about plant communication, memory, decision-making, motion, sense (touch, hearing, vision), defenses, kin recognition, altruism, and many other forms of green intelligence.
This is that rare book that fascinates, challenges widely held assumptions, and enlightens in like measure.
