100 Best Botany Books of All Time

We've ranked the best botany books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World book cover1

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World

Peter Wohlleben

5.0
Preview Summary
In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they
Emma Watson portrait Recommended by Emma Watson.
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World book cover2

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

Michael Pollan

5.0
Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—s
David George Haskell portraitKenneth Cox portrait Recommended by David George Haskell and Kenneth Cox.
David George Haskell portrait
David George Haskell

Through the stories of four familiar plant species–apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes–he demolishes the erroneous impression that we’re in charge. [source]

Kenneth Cox portrait
Kenneth Cox

You can’t fail to be fascinated by this exposition of the motivations of plants to cuddle up to humans. One of several excellent Michael Pollan books, it’s a fun read. [source]

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants book cover3

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Robin Wall Kimmerer

4.9
Preview Summary
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celeb
Oliver Sacks Fdn. portraitSarah Taber portrait Recommended by Oliver Sacks Fdn. and Sarah Taber.
Oliver Sacks Fdn. portrait
Oliver Sacks Fdn.

As a writer, Oliver Sacks found gardens essential to the creative process. Check out our year-end newsletter, devoted to some beautiful books by botanist-writers that would make great gifts for all your plant-loving friends. https://t.co/2U8iEv4L1x https://t.co/IK1cgIMJhE [source]

Sarah Taber portrait
Sarah Taber

Yeah that's because most of those books are actually just sanctimonious classists pretending they're trying to fix problems. That's why they're depressing If you want a book that's actually about moving forward, "Braiding Sweetgrass" is FANTASTIC. https://t.co/Drr1tmwhSs [source]

Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification book cover4

Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification

Thomas J. Elpel

4.8
Book by Thomas J. Elpel
5

Botany for Gardeners

Brian Capon

4.6
“An outstanding and enjoyable introduction to botany, whether the reader is a gardener, or just a garden visitor.” —Bloomsbury Review

What happens inside a seed after it is planted? How are plants structured? How do plants reproduce? The answers to these and other questions about complex plant processes can be found in the bestselling Botany for Gardeners. Written in accessible language, this mus
6

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities

Amy Stewart and Briony Morrow-Cribbs

4.6
Asher Wolf portrait Recommended by Asher Wolf.
The Martian book cover7

The Martian

Andy Weir

4.6
Note: Alternate-Cover Edition for this ASIN can be found here

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even i
Ev Williams portraitCraig Barrett portraitDan Christensen portrait Recommended by Ev Williams, Craig Barrett, Dan Christensen, and 2 others.
Craig Barrett portrait
Craig Barrett

Former CEO/Intel

This book didn’t really change my mind, but rather reinforced the concept of the power of the individual. At a time when we depend more and more on big institutions to solve our business and social problems the real solutions are crafted by individual actions and initiative. This is true in the business world, where ideas from individual researchers or entrepreneurs can create mega companies overnight, and in the social sector, where such actions as high performing charter schools run circles around a moribund K-12 education system. Best we all remember that the next meaningful advances will come from individual initiative rather than massive governmental programs. After all, Google, Facebook, Uber, microloans and countless other success stories were not products of big government. [source]

Dan Christensen portrait
Dan Christensen

@EconTalker @cable_co1 The Martian... hey it can’t all be economics and it’s a great book [source]

Fabrice Grinda portrait
Fabrice Grinda

I have lots of books to recommend, but they are not related to my career path. The only one that is remotely related is Peter Thiel’s Zero to One. That said here are books I would recommend. [source]

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses book cover8

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses

Robin Wall Kimmerer

4.6
Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses.Robin Wall Kimmerer's book is not an identification guide, nor is it a scientific treatise. Rather, it is a series o
Caspar Henderson portrait Recommended by Caspar Henderson.
The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks book cover9

The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks

Amy Stewart

4.5
Every great drink starts with a plant. Sake began with a grain of rice. Scotch emerged from barley. Gin was born from a conifer shrub when a Dutch physician added oil of juniper to a clear spirit, believing that juniper berries would cure kidney disorders. "The Drunken Botanist" uncovers the enlightening botanical history and the fascinating science and chemistry of over 150 plants, flowers, trees
10

The Signature of All Things

Elizabeth Gilbert

4.5
A glorious, sweeping novel of desire, ambition, and the thirst for knowledge, from the # 1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love and Committed.

In The Signature of All Things, Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction, inserting her inimitable voice into an enthralling story of love, adventure and discovery. Spanning much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the novel follows the f
Lab Girl book cover11

Lab Girl

Hope Jahren

4.5
Acclaimed scientist Hope Jahren has built three laboratories in which she’s studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Her first book is a revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also so much more.

Lab Girl is a book about work, love, and the mountains that can be moved when those two things come together. It is told through Jahren’s stories: about her childhood in rural Minnesota with an uncomp
Gail Kelly portrait Recommended by Gail Kelly.
Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary book cover12

Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary

James G. Harris and Melinda Woolf Harris

4.4
The Secret Life of Plants: A Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man book cover13

The Secret Life of Plants: A Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man

Peter Tompkins, Christopher Bird

4.4
Exploring the world of plants and its relation to mankind as revealed by the latest discoveries of scientists, The Secret Life of Plants includes remarkable information about plants as lie detectors and plants as ecological sentinels; it describes their ability to adapt to human wishes, their response to music, their curative powers, and their ability to communicate with man. Authors Peter Tompkin
Bill Liao portrait Recommended by Bill Liao.
14

What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses: Revised Edition

Daniel Chamovitz

4.3
Plants can hear—and taste things, too!

Thoroughly updated from root to leaf, this revised edition of the groundbreaking What a Plant Knows includes new revelations for lovers of all that is vegetal and verdant. The renowned biologist Daniel Chamovitz builds on the original edition to present an intriguing look at how plants themselves experience the world—from the colors they see to the schedules t
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals book cover15

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

Michael Pollan

4.3
Preview Summary
What should we have for dinner? For omnivore's like ourselves, this simple question has always posed a dilemma: When you can eat just about anything nature (or the supermarket) has to offer, deciding what you should eat will inevitably stir anxiety, especially when some of the foods on offer might shorten your life. Today, buffeted by one food fad after another, America is suffering from what can
Barry Estabrook portraitGabriel Coarna portraitPaul Rozin portrait Recommended by Barry Estabrook, Gabriel Coarna, Paul Rozin, and 1 others.
Barry Estabrook portrait
Barry Estabrook

Michael Pollan looks at food production through four meals. One is a fast-food meal, the other is an industrial-scale organic meal, then there is a small-scale organic meal and finally he actually goes out and either grows or kills, in the case of the meat, the entire meal himself. That is the narrative. [source]

Gabriel Coarna portrait
Gabriel Coarna

Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" --more precisely, the first 3rd of it-- was what first made me realize how badly the Earth, as an ecosystem, is out of balance. [source]

Paul Rozin portrait
Paul Rozin

Michael Pollan is an excellent journalist who specializes in the food domain.He proposes relying more on whole foods and less on processed foods, like Oreo Cookies. He argues that unprocessed foods are more nutritious, more wholistic and better for the environment. [source]

16

The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History

Thor Hanson

4.3
As seen on PBS's American Spring LIVE, the award-winning author of Buzz and Feathers presents a natural and human history of seeds, the marvels of the plant kingdom

"The genius of Hanson's fascinating, inspiring, and entertaining book stems from the fact that it is not about how all kinds of things grow from seeds; it is about the seeds themselves." --Mark Kurlansky, New York Times Book Review
We
The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life book cover17

The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life

Charles Darwin

4.3
Darwin's theory of natural selection issued a profound challenge to orthodox thought and belief: no being or species has been specifically created; all are locked into a pitiless struggle for existence, with extinction looming for those not fitted for the task.

Yet The Origin of Species (1859) is also a humane and inspirational vision of ecological interrelatedness, revealing the complex mutual in
Neil deGrasse Tyson portraitMark Kurlansky portraitAdam Maloof portrait Recommended by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Mark Kurlansky, Adam Maloof, and 3 others.
Neil deGrasse Tyson portrait
Neil deGrasse Tyson

Astrophysicist, Author & Science Communicator

Which books should be read by every single intelligent person on planet? … On the Origin of Species (Darwin) to learn of our kinship with all other life on Earth. If you read all of the above works you will glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world. [source]

Adam Maloof portrait
Adam Maloof

For me (and many others) this book forms the foundation for modern biology. It is all about humans’ concept of themselves. [source]

Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska book cover18

Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska

Jim Pojar, Andy MacKinnon

4.3
This best-selling field guide features 794 species of trees, shrubs, wildflowers, aquatics, grasses, ferns, mosses and lichens found along the coast from Oregon to Alaska. Color photographs and line drawings help you identify and learn about the fascinating plants of the Pacific Northwest coast. Engaging notes on each species describe aboriginal and other local uses of plants for food, medicine an
The Overstory book cover19

The Overstory

Richard Powers

4.3
The Overstory is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of - and paean to - the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There
Kwame Anthony Appiah portraitMartha Kearney portraitSarah Dry portrait Recommended by Kwame Anthony Appiah, Martha Kearney, and Sarah Dry.
Kwame Anthony Appiah portrait
Kwame Anthony Appiah

Feels at the beginning like a series of short stories, each of which has some important thing about a tree or a kind of tree in it, but also holds some human character. You’d be a very strange person if you came away from this book not caring about what’s happening to the trees. [source]

Martha Kearney portrait
Martha Kearney

@omrgriffiths @BBCPM @RobGMacfarlane Great idea. Loved that book. [source]

Sarah Dry portrait
Sarah Dry

I had the experience of having the revelation that the author clearly hoped a reader would have, which is that what appears to be a book about distinct individuals—almost a book of short stories— turns out to be something more complex, in which all the characters are linked through time and space. [source]

The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession book cover20

The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession

Andrea Wulf

4.3
One January morning in 1734, cloth merchant Peter Collinson hurried down to the docks at London’s Custom House to collect cargo just arrived from John Bartram, his new contact in the American colonies. But it was not reels of wool or bales of cotton that awaited him, but plants and seeds…

Over the next forty years, Bartram would send hundreds of American species to England, where Collinson was one
21

The Private Life of Plants: A Natural History of Plant Behaviour

David Attenborough

4.3
Based on the immensely popular six-part BBC program that aired in the United States during the fall of 1995, this book offers what writer/filmmaker David Attenborough is best known for delivering: an intimate view of the natural world wherein a multitude of miniature dramas unfold. In the program and book, both titled The Private Life of Plants, Attenborough treks through rainforests, mountain ran
The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession book cover22

The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession

Susan Orlean

4.3
The Orchid Thief is Susan Orlean’s tale of an amazing obsession. Determined to clone an endangered flower—the rare ghost orchid Polyrrhiza lindenii—a deeply eccentric and oddly attractive man named John Laroche leads Orlean on an unforgettable tour of America’s strange flower-selling subculture, through Florida’s swamps and beyond, along with the Seminoles who help him and the forces of justice wh
Catherine Manegold portrait Recommended by Catherine Manegold.
23

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

Michael Pollan

4.2
Preview Summary
Michael Pollan's last book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, launched a national conversation about the American way of eating; now In Defense of Food shows us how to change it, one meal at a time. Pollan proposes a new answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Pollan's bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us ho
Richard Branson portraitHenry Dimbleby portrait Recommended by Richard Branson and Henry Dimbleby.
Richard Branson portrait
Richard Branson

Founder/Virgin Group

Today is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. [source]

Henry Dimbleby portrait
Henry Dimbleby

Pollan takes the science of food and shows where it’s been misapplied. [source]

24

Botany for the Artist: An Inspirational Guide to Drawing Plants

Sarah Simblet

4.2
Following the success of Anatomy for the Artist and Sketch Book for the Artist, this latest title from the acclaimed artist Sarah Simblet investigates the extraordinary structure and variety of every type of plant-from mosses and lichens to flowers and trees-and teaches the reader how to draw them.

The book starts with the history of plant drawing and painting. The author follows the trail of the e
The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring book cover25

The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring

Richard Preston

4.2
From the #1 bestselling author of The Hot Zone comes an amazing account of scientific and spiritual passion for the tallest trees in the world, the startling biosystem of Rthe canopy, S and those who are committed to the preservation of this astonishing and largely unknown world.
The Botany Coloring Book book cover26

The Botany Coloring Book

Paul Young and Jacquelyn Giuffre

4.2
An exciting new approach to learning about botany. Teaches the structure and function of plants and surveys the entire plant kingdom.
27

The Emerald Planet: How Plants Changed Earth's History

David Beerling

4.2
Global warming is contentious and difficult to measure, even among the majority of scientists who agree that it is taking place. Will temperatures rise by 2C or 8C over the next hundred years? Will sea levels rise by 2 or 30 feet? The only way that we can accurately answer questions like these is by looking into the distant past, for a comparison with the world long before the rise of mankind. We
Andrew Scott portraitJonathan Silvertown portrait Recommended by Andrew Scott and Jonathan Silvertown.
Andrew Scott portrait
Andrew Scott

Beerling clearly shows that plants shaped the world in which we live and played a more important role on the evolution of our planet that is often acknowledged. [source]

Jonathan Silvertown portrait
Jonathan Silvertown

The Emerald Planet is a serious talking to about why plants must not be ignored. [source]

Weeds: How Vagabond Plants Gatecrashed Civilisation and Changed the Way We Think About Nature book cover28

Weeds: How Vagabond Plants Gatecrashed Civilisation and Changed the Way We Think About Nature

Richard Mabe

4.2
The true story—and true glories—of the plants we love to hate

From dandelions to crabgrass, stinging nettles to poison ivy, weeds are familiar, pervasive, widely despised, and seemingly invincible. How did they come to be the villains of the natural world? And why can the same plant be considered beautiful in some places but be deemed a menace in others?

In Weeds, renowned nature writer Richard Mabe
29

Seeing Trees: Discover the Extraordinary Secrets of Everyday Trees

Nancy R. Hugo, Robert Llewellyn

4.2
Have you ever looked at a tree? That may sound like a silly question, but there is so much more to notice about a tree than first meets the eye. Seeing Trees celebrates seldom seen but easily observable tree traits and invites you to watch trees with the same care and sensitivity that birdwatchers watch birds. Many people, for example, are surprised to learn that oaks and maples have flowers, much
Silent Spring book cover30

Silent Spring

Rachel Carson

4.2
Preview Summary
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was first published in three serialized excerpts in the New Yorker in June of 1962. The book appeared in September of that year and the outcry that followed its publication forced the banning of DDT and spurred revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson’s passionate concern for the future of our planet reverberated powerfully througho
John Kerry portrait Recommended by John Kerry.
31

Botanicum (Welcome to the Museum)

Author

4.2
The 2016 offering from Big Picture Press's Welcome to the Museum series, Botanicum is a stunningly curated guide to plant life. With artwork from Katie Scott of Animalium fame, Botanicum gives readers the experience of a fascinating exhibition from the pages of a beautiful book. From perennials to bulbs to tropical exotica, Botanicum is a wonderful feast of botanical knowledge complete with superb
Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World book cover32

Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

Paul Stamets

4.2
Mycelium Running is a manual for the mycological rescue of the planet. That’s right: growing more mushrooms may be the best thing we can do to save the environment, and in this groundbreaking text from mushroom expert Paul Stamets, you’ll find out how.

The basic science goes like this: Microscopic cells called “mycelium”--the fruit of which are mushrooms--recycle carbon, nitrogen, and other essenti
33

The Big, Bad Book of Botany: The World's Most Fascinating Flora

Michael Largo

4.2
David Attenborough meets Lemony Snicket in Michael Largo's entertaining and enlightening one-of-a-kind compendium of the world's most amazing and bizarre plants, their history, and their lore.

The Big, Bad Book of Botany introduces a world of wild, wonderful, and weird plants. Some are so rare, they were once more valuable than gold. Some found in ancient mythology hold magical abilities, including
34

Latin for Gardeners: Over 3,000 Plant Names Explained and Explored

Lorraine Harrison

4.2
Since Latin became the standard language for plant naming in the eighteenth century, it has been intrinsically linked with botany. And while mastery of the classical language may not be a prerequisite for pruning perennials, all gardeners stand to benefit from learning a bit of Latin and its conventions in the field. Without it, they might buy a Hellebores foetidus and be unprepared for its fetid
Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens book cover35

Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens

Douglas W. Tallamy

4.2
As development and subsequent habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. But there is an important and simple step toward reversing this alarming trend: Everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity.

There is an unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife—native insects c
How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do book cover36

How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do

Linda Chalker-Scott

4.2
“Makes the science of plant processes accessible to home gardeners.” —The American Gardener

Why do container plants wilt even when they’ve been regularly watered? Why did the hydrangea that thrived last year never bloom this year? Plant physiology—the study of how living things function—can solve these and most other problems gardeners regularly encounter. In How Plants Work, horticulture expert
Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide book cover37

Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide

Lawrence Newcomb

4.2
An ingenious key system for quick, positive field identification of wildflowers, flowering shrubs and vines in Northeastern and North-central North America.
Amateur and expert alike can quickly and accurately identify almost any wildflower using Lawrence Newcomb's system, which is based on natural structural features that are easily visible even to the untrained eye. Every time you see an unknown
38

Practical Botany for Gardeners: Over 3,000 Botanical Terms Explained and Explored

Geoff Hodge

4.2
Gardening can be frustratingly shrouded in secrecy. Fickle plants make seemingly spontaneous decisions to bloom or bust, seeds sprout magically in the blink of an eye, and deep-rooted mysteries unfold underground and out of sight. Understanding basic botany is like unlocking a horticultural code; fortunately learning a little science can reveal the secrets of the botanical universe and shed some l
39

Second Nature: A Gardener's Education

Michael Pollan

4.2
This is an account of one man's experience in his garden. The book invites an exploration of unexamined feelings about nature and the place of society in the landscape, and what gardening has to teach about the troubled borders between nature and culture.
A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and Central North America book cover41

A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and Central North America

Lee Allen Peterson

4.1
More than 370 edible wild plants, plus 37 poisonous look-a-likes, are described here, with 400 drawings and 78 color photographs showing precisely how to recognize each species. Also included are habitat descriptions, lists of plants by season, and preparation instructions for 22 different food uses.
42

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Eastern Region

National Audubon Society

4.1
Tree peepers everywhere will enjoy these two guides which explore the incredible environment of our country's forests-including seasonal features, habitat, range, and lore. Nearly 700 species of trees are detailed in photographs of leaf shape, bark, flowers, fruit, and fall leaves -- all can be quickly accessed making this the ideal field guide for any time of year.

Note: the Eastern Edition gene
A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs book cover43

A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs

Steven Foster and James A. Duke

4.1
Of Eastern and Central North America (Peterson Field Guides (R))

The second edition of this volume shows how to identify more than 500 kinds of healing plants. More than 300 color photos illustrate the plants, their flowers, leaves, and fruits. The descriptive text includes information on where the plants are found as well as their known medicinal uses. An index to medical topics is helpful for qui
44

The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live & Why They Matter

Colin Tudge

4.1
45

The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications

Christian Ratsch, Albert Hofmann (Foreward)

4.1
The most comprehensive guide to the botany, history, distribution, and cultivation of all known psychoactive plants

• Examines 414 psychoactive plants and related substances

• Explores how using psychoactive plants in a culturally sanctioned context can produce important insights into the nature of reality

• Contains 797 color photographs and 645 black-and-white illustrations

In the traditions of ever
The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World book cover46

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World

Andrea Wulf

4.1
The acclaimed author of Founding Gardeners reveals the forgotten life of Alexander von Humboldt, the visionary German naturalist whose ideas changed the way we see the natural world—and in the process created modern environmentalism.

Alexander von Humboldt (1769 – 1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. In North America, his name still graces four counties, thirtee
47

Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers

Amy Stewart

4.1
Award-winning author Amy Stewart takes readers on an around-the-world, behind-the-scenes look at the flower industry and how it has sought—for better or worse—to achieve perfection. She tracks down the hybridizers, geneticists, farmers, and florists working to invent, manufacture, and sell flowers that are bigger, brighter, and sturdier than anything nature can provide. There's a scientist intent
48

Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Rain Forest

Mark J. Plotkin

4.1
For thousands of years, healers have used plants to cure illness. Aspirin, the world's most widely used drug, is based on compounds originally extracted from the bark of a willow tree, and more than a quarter of medicines found on pharmacy shelves contain plant compounds. Now Western medicine, faced with health crises such as AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer, has begun to look to the healing
The Savage Garden: Cultivating Carnivorous Plants book cover49

The Savage Garden: Cultivating Carnivorous Plants

Peter D'Amato

4.1
Just about everyone's familiar with the Venus flytrap...but did you know that there are pitcher plants that can-and do!-digest an entire rat? Or that there are several hundred species of carnivorous plants on our planet? Full-color photographs of the plants at work and play, plus everything you need to know to successfully grow your own Little Shop of Horrors.Awards1999 American Horticultural Soci
Mushrooms Demystified book cover50

Mushrooms Demystified

David Arora

4.1
Simply the best and most complete mushroom field guide and reference book, MUSHROOMS DEMYSTIFIED includes descriptions and keys to more than 2,000 species of mushrooms, with more than 950 photographs. Mushroom authority David Arora provides a beginner's checklist of the 70 most distinctive and common mushrooms, plus detailed chapters on terminology, classification, habitats, mushroom cookery, mush
Botany: An Introduction to Plant Biology book cover51

Botany: An Introduction to Plant Biology

James Mauseth

4.1
Newly Updated, Botany: An Introduction To Plant Biology, Fourth Edition Provides An Current, Thorough Overview Of The Fundamentals Of Botany. The Topics And Chapters Are Organized In A Sequence That Is Easy To Follow, Beginning With The Most Familiar -- Structure -- And Proceeding To The Less Familiar -- Metabolism -- Then Finishing With Those Topics That Are Probably The Least Familiar To Most Be
Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants book cover52

Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants

Steve Brill and Evelyn Dean

4.1
Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places shows readers how to find and prepare more than five hundred different plants for nutrition and better health. It includes information on common plants such as mullein (a tea made from the leaves and flowers suppresses a cough), stinging nettle (steam the leaves and you have a tasty dish rich in iron), cattail
53

Oranges

John McPhee

4.1
A classic of reportage, Oranges was first conceived as a short magazine article about oranges and orange juice, but the author kept encountering so much irresistible information that he eventually found that he had in fact written a book. It contains sketches of orange growers, orange botanists, orange pickers, orange packers, early settlers on Florida's Indian River, the first orange barons, mode
Daniel Pink portraitBarry Estabrook portraitCatalina Penciu portrait Recommended by Daniel Pink, Barry Estabrook, and Catalina Penciu.
Barry Estabrook portrait
Barry Estabrook

Oranges is a model for a certain type of journalism. Big food companies do not want you to know how your food is produced and who produces it. They want you to just think about it as something that arrives in your supermarket already wrapped up. This book is a model for me. Every day on his way to work McPhee passed through the train station in New York City and there was this place where you could go and they had a bin full of oranges and a machine and they would squeeze you a glass of orange juice while you waited. [source]

Catalina Penciu portrait
Catalina Penciu

McPhee also wrote a beautiful book called Oranges, about the citrus groves in California; how oranges are grown, taken care of, transformed into the famous juice we all know and love. It's a piece written for the New Yorker in the 60s, but it's still as much alive today. [source]

The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms book cover54

The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms

National Audubon Society

4.1
With more than 700 mushrooms detailed with color photographs and descriptive text, this is the most comprehensive photographic field guide to the mushrooms of North America. The 762 full-color identification photographs show the mushrooms as they appear in natural habitats. Organized visually, the book groups all mushrooms by color and shape to make identification simple and accurate in the field,
55

The Wild Flower Key

Francis Rose, Clare O'Reilly

4.1
56

The Plant Messiah: Adventures in Search of the World’s Rarest Species

Carlos Magdalena

4.1
Carlos Magdalena of Kew Gardens is not your average botanical horticulturist. He's a man on a mission to save the world's most endangered plants from destruction and thieves hunting for wealthy collectors. He is a plant messiah.

From the planet's tiniest waterlily - the Nymphaea thermarum - to Huarango trees with roots over 50 metres long, Carlos has a miraculous ability to bring breathtakingly bea
57

Stalking the Wild Asparagus

Euell Gibbons

4.1
Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation book cover58

Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation

Andrea Wulf

4.1
From the author of the acclaimed The Brother Gardeners, a fascinating look at the founding fathers from the unique and intimate perspective of their lives as gardeners, plantsmen, and farmers.
For the founding fathers, gardening, agriculture, and botany were elemental passions, as deeply ingrained in their characters as their belief in liberty for the nation they were creating. Andrea Wulf reveals
A Natural History of North American Trees book cover59

A Natural History of North American Trees

Donald Culross Peattie, Verlyn Klinkenborg

4.1
Donald Culross Peattie's two books about American trees were first published in the 1950s. In this beautiful new one-volume edition, modern readers are introduced to one of the best nature writers of the last century. More than one hundred of the original illustrations by Paul Landacre highlight the eloquent and entertaining accounts of American trees. As we read Peattie's descriptions, we catch g
60

Fifty Plants That Changed the Course of History

Bill Laws

4.1
The fascinating stories of the plants that changed civilizations.

Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History is a beautifully presented guide to the plants that have had the greatest impact on human civilization. Entries feature a description of the plant, its botanical name, its native range and its primary functions -- edible, medicinal, commercial or practical. Concise text is highlight
61

Biology of Plants

Peter H. Raven, Ray F. Evert, Susan E. Eichhorn

4.1

Long acclaimed as the definitive introductory botany text for majors,
Biology of Plants is especially known for its comprehensive coverage and its magnificent art program. The new edition offers a wealth of new information, especially in the areas of taxonomy, genomics, plant hormones, and Arabidopsis research.

62

Oaxaca Journal (Vintage)

Oliver Sacks

4.1
Since childhood, Oliver Sacks has been fascinated by ferns: an ancient class of plants able to survive and adapt in many climates. Along with a delightful group of fellow fern aficionados—mathematicians, poets, artists, and assorted botanists and birders—he embarks on an exploration of Southern Mexico, a region that is also rich in human history and culture. He muses on the origins of chocolate an
Francine Mckenna portrait Recommended by Francine Mckenna.
63

A Seed Is Sleepy

Dianna Hutts Aston, Sylvia Long

4.1
Award-winning artist Sylvia Long and author Dianna Hutts Aston have teamed up again to create this gorgeous and informative introduction to seeds. Poetic in voice and elegant in design, the book introduces children to a fascinating array of seed and plant facts, making it a guide that is equally at home being read on a parent's lap as in a classroom reading circle.
64

Botany for Dummies

René Fester Kratz

4.1
The easy way to score your highest in botany Employment of biological scientists is projected to grow 21% over the next decade, much faster than the average for all occupations, as biotechnological research and development continues to drive job growth.

Botany For Dummies gives you a thorough, easy-to-follow overview of the fundamentals of botany, helping you to improve your grades, supplement your
Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine book cover65

Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine

Andrew Chevallier

4.1
Helpful to enthusiasts and professionals alike, these volumes provide extensive coverage of hundreds of conditions and their remedies, including their sources and symptoms. Up-to-date research and in-depth explanations of today's most popular alternative therapies are enhanced by step-by-step photos of typical treatments, as well as symptoms charts and remedy ratings.
66

Plant Families: A Guide for Gardeners and Botanists

Ross Bayton

4.1
Most of us lump plants together in one big family, and when pressed can only explain their grouping by what they’re not—not an animal, not a mineral, and so just a plant. In reality, there are hundreds of different plant families, each grouped logically by a unique family history and genealogy. This brings sense and order to the more than a quarter of a million different plant species covering a d
67

The Cabaret of Plants: Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination

Richard Mabey

4.1
The Cabaret of Plants is a masterful, globe-trotting exploration of the relationship between humans and the kingdom of plants by the renowned naturalist Richard Mabey.

A rich, sweeping, and wonderfully readable work of botanical history, The Cabaret of Plants explores dozens of plant species that for millennia have challenged our imaginations, awoken our wonder, and upturned our ideas about history
The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature's Great Connectors book cover68

The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature's Great Connectors

David George Haskell

4.1
The author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Forest Unseen visits with nature s most magnificent networkers trees
David Haskell s award-winning The Forest Unseen won acclaim for eloquent writing and deep engagement with the natural world. Now, Haskell brings his powers of observation to the biological networks that surround all species, including humans.
Haskell repeatedly visits a dozen trees ar
Modern Herbal Dispensatory: A Medicine-Making Guide book cover69

Modern Herbal Dispensatory: A Medicine-Making Guide

Thomas Easley and Steven Horne

4.1
This comprehensive, full-color guide provides detailed, easy-to-follow instructions for making and using approximately 250 herbal medicines at home, including practical tips and numerous effective formulas developed and tested by the authors, both expert herbalists with years of experience. Readers who appreciate the health-giving properties of herbal medicines but are discouraged by the high pric
70

The Naming of Names

Anna Pavord

4.1
An exhilarating new book from the author of the worldwide bestseller The Tulip.

The Naming of Names traces the search for order in the natural world, a search that for hundreds of years occupied some of the most brilliant minds in Europe.

Redefining man's relationship with nature was a major pursuit during the Renaissance. But in a world full of poisons, there was also an urgent practical need to na
The Sibley Guide to Trees book cover71

The Sibley Guide to Trees

David Allen Sibley

4.1
David Allen Sibley, the preeminent, bestselling bird-guide author and illustrator, applies his formidable skills of identification and illustration to the trees of North America.

The Sibley Guide to Trees is an astonishingly elegant guide to a complex subject. It condenses a huge amount of information about tree identification--more than has ever been collected in a single book--into a logical, acc
All That the Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms book cover72

All That the Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms

David Arora

4.0
Full-color illustrated guide to identifying 200 Western mushrooms by their key features.
73

Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants

Jane Goodall

4.0
Renowned naturalist and bestselling author Jane Goodall examines the critical role that trees and plants play in our world.



In her wise and elegant new book, Jane Goodall blends her experience in nature with her enthusiasm for botany to give readers a deeper understanding of the world around us.

Long before her work with chimpanzees, Goodall's passion for the natural world sprouted in the backyard
Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers book cover74

Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers

Richard Evans Schultes, Albert Hofmann, Christian Rätsch

4.0
World-renowned anthropologist and ethnopharmacologist Christian Ratsch provides the latest scientific updates to this classic work on psychoactive flora by two eminent researchers.

• Numerous new and rare color photographs complement the completely revised and updated text.

• Explores the uses of hallucinogenic plants in shamanic rituals throughout the world.

• Cross-referenced by plant, illness,
75

Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods from Dirt to Plate

John Kallas

4.0
Imagine what you could do with eighteen delicious new greens in your dining arsenal including purslane, chickweed, curly dock, wild spinach, sorrel, and wild mustard. John Kallas makes it fun and easy to learn about foods you've unknowingly passed by all your life. Through gorgeous photographs, playful, but authoritative text, and ground-breaking design he gives you the knowledge and confidence to
76

A Natural History of Trees: of Eastern and Central North America

Donald Peattie, Paul Landacre, Robert Finch

4.0
One of two genuine classics of American nature writing now in paperback; the other is A Natural History of Western Trees.
77

Seeds of Change: Six Plants That Transformed Mankind

Henry Hobhouse

4.0
A personal and highly original take on the history of six commercial plants, Seeds of Change illuminates how sugar, tea, cotton, the potato, quinine, and the cocoa plant have shaped our past. In this fascinating account, the impassioned Henry Hobhouse explains the consequences of these plants with attention-grabbing historical moments. While most records of history focus on human influence, Hobhou
78

A Text Book of Botany

James D. Mauseth

4.0
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life book cover79

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Barbara Kingsolver

4.0
Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life—vowing that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is an enthralling narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You
80

Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast

Michael Wojtech, Tom Wessels

4.0
Many people know how to identify trees by their leaves, but what about when those leaves have fallen or are out of reach? With detailed information and illustrations covering each phase of a tree’s lifecycle, this indispensable guidebook explains how to identify trees by their bark alone. Chapters on the structure and ecology of tree bark, descriptions of bark appearance, an easy-to-use identifica
81

Guide to Flowering Plant Families

Wendy B. Zomlefer

4.0
Understanding the flowering plants of any region begins with the recognition of families. This remarkable volume, created to serve students, professionals, and other plant enthusiasts, covers 130 temperate to tropical families common in North America with detailed illustrations and modern referenced commentaries. Each family discussion includes a diagnosis and summary of characteristics, distribut
82

Pharmako/Poeia: Plant Powers, Poisons, and Herbcraft

Dale Pendell, Gary Snyder

4.0

In Pharmako/Poeia, Dale Pendell offers a mesmerizing guide to psychoactive plants, from their pharmacological roots to the literary offshoots. "This is a book," writes Gary Snyder, "about danger: dangerous knowledge, even more dangerous ignorance." Against the greater danger, ignorance, Pendell strikes a formidable blow, as he proves himself a wise and witty guide to our plant teachers, their powe

83

RHS Botany for Gardeners: The Art and Science of Gardening Explained & Explored

Howard Hughes

4.0
RHS Botany for Gardeners is more than just a useful reference book on the science of botany and the language of horticulture - it is a practical, hands-on guide that will help gardeners understand how plants grow, how this affects how they perform in the garden and so help them get better results.

Illustrated throughout with beautiful botanical prints and simple technical diagrams, RHS Botany for G
Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-scale Permaculture book cover84

Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-scale Permaculture

Toby Hemenway, John Todd

4.0
Permaculture is a verbal marriage of "permanent" and "agriculture." Australian Bill Mollison pioneered its development. Key features include:

- use of compatible perennials;
- non-invasive planting techniques;
- emphasis on biodiversity;
- specifically adaptable to local climate, landscape, and soil conditions;
- highly productive output of edibles.

Now, picture your backyard as one incredibly lush gard
85

Botanical Latin

William T. Stearn

4.0
Botanical Latin is accepted by horticulturists and botanists everywhere as the medium for naming new plants, and botanical research is almost impossible without reference to the vast number of first descriptions in Latin — much information is available in no other language. For gardeners, too, a working knowledge of botanical Latin is essential for the accurate identification of plants in the gard
86

The Jepson Desert Manual: Vascular Plants of Southeastern California

Bruce G. Baldwin, Steve Boyd, Barbara Ertter, Robert Patterson, Thomas J. Rosatti, Dieter Wilken, Margriet Wetherwax

4.0
In the spirit of the avid desert botanist Willis Linn Jepson, The Jepson Desert Manual provides botanical enthusiasts of all backgrounds with the first comprehensive field guide focused exclusively on native and naturalized vascular plants of California's southeastern deserts. Based on The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California, the Desert Manual incorporates new illustrations for more than tw
87

The Trees in My Forest

Bernd Heinrich

4.0
The soaring majesty of a virgin forest and the intertwined relationships of plant, animal and man are the subject of Bernd Heinrich's lyrical elegy. Heinrich has spent a lifetime observing the natural world, and now he shares his vast knowledge and reflections on the trees of the Northeast woods and the rhythms of their seasons. From the DNA contained in an apple seed to the great choiring branche
88

Plants of Southern Interior British Columbia and the Inland Northwest

Roberta Parish, Ray Coupé, et al.

4.0
Over 675 species of trees, shrubs, wildflowers, grasses, ferns, mosses and lichens commonly found in the region from the crest of the Rockies to the Coast Mountains, including the interior of Washington and Idaho. Detailed species descriptions are combined with concise drawings and color photographs to make plant identification easy.
89

Weeds of the Northeast

Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal, et al.

4.0
Here, at last, is a lavishly illustrated manual for ready identification of 299 common and economically important weeds in the region south to Virginia, north to Maine and southern Canada, and west to Wisconsin. Based on vegetative rather than floral characteristics, this practical guide gives anyone who works with plants the ability to identify weeds before they flower.*A dichotomous key to all t
The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature book cover90

The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature

David George Haskell

4.0
A biologist reveals the secret world hidden in a single square meter of forest.

In this wholly original book, biologist David Haskell uses a one-square-meter patch of old-growth Tennessee forest as a window onto the entire natural world. Visiting it almost daily for one year to trace nature’s path through the seasons, he brings the forest and its inhabitants to vivid life.

Each of this book’s short
91

The Serpent and the Rainbow

Wade Davis

4.0
A scientific investigation and personal adventure story about zombis and the voudoun culture of Haiti by a Harvard scientist.

In April 1982, ethnobotanist Wade Davis arrived in Haiti to investigate two documented cases of zombis—people who had reappeared in Haitian society years after they had been officially declared dead and had been buried. Drawn into a netherworld of rituals and celebrations, D
The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life book cover92

The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life

David Quammen

4.0
Science writer David Quammen explains how recent discoveries in molecular biology can change our understanding of evolution and life’s history, with powerful implications for human health and even our own human nature.

In the mid-1970s, scientists began using DNA sequences to reexamine the history of all life. Perhaps the most startling discovery to come out of this new field—the study of life’s d
Barbara Kiser portraitRobert Macfarlane portrait Recommended by Barbara Kiser and Robert Macfarlane.
Barbara Kiser portrait
Barbara Kiser

Quammen is one of the great science journalists, and this is a monument of a book—a masterful retelling of how the ‘tree of life’ was recast in the twentieth century by a band of original thinkers. [source]

93

Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web

Jeff Lowenfels, Wayne Lewis

4.0
Smart gardeners know that soil is anything but an inert substance. Healthy soil is teeming with life — not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains healthy plants, and thus become increasingly dependent on an arsenal of artificial substances, many of them toxic
94

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening

Louise Riotte

4.0
If you want to know whether it is kosher to plant onions between cabbage plants, this is the place to look.
-- Oklahoma Today

First published in 1975, this classic companion planting guide has taught a generation of gardeners how to use plants' natural partnerships to produce bigger and better harvests.
Over 500,000 in Print!
95

Botany Illustrated: Introduction to Plants, Major Groups, Flowering Plant Families

Janice Glimn-Lacy and Peter B. Kaufman

4.0
Thisisadiscoverybookaboutplants. Itisforeveryone For those interested in the methods used and the interestedinplantsincludinghighschoolandcollege/ sourcesofplantmaterialsintheillustrations, anexp- university students, artists and scienti?c illustrators, nationfollows. Foradevelopmentalseriesofdrawings, senior citizens, wildlife biologists, ecologists, profes- there are several methods. One is coll
96

Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees

Roger Deakin

4.0
Here, published for the first time in the United States, is the last book by Roger Deakin, famed British nature writer and icon of the environmentalist movement. In Deakin's glorious meditation on wood, the "fifth element" -- as it exists in nature, in our culture, and in our souls -- the reader accompanies Deakin through the woods of Britain, Europe, Kazakhstan, and Australia in search of what li
Robert Macfarlane portrait Recommended by Robert Macfarlane.
97

A Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs: Northeastern and north-central United States and southeastern and south-central Canada

George A. Petrides, Roger Tory Peterson

4.0
All the wild trees, shrubs, and woody vines in the area north to Newfoundland, south to North Carolina and Tennessee, and west to the Dakotas and Kansas are described in detail. Accounts of 646 species include shape and arrangement of leaves, height, color, bark texture, flowering season, and fruit. Clear, accurate drawings illustrate leaves, flowers, buds, tree silhouettes, and other characterist
A Peterson Field Guide to Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs book cover98

A Peterson Field Guide to Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs

Christopher Hobbs, Steven Foster, et al.

4.0
99

The Lost Language of Plants: The Ecological Importance of Plant Medicine to Life on Earth

Stephen Harrod Buhner

4.0
This could be the most important book you will read this year. Around the office at Chelsea Green it is referred to as the "pharmaceutical Silent Spring." Well-known author, teacher, lecturer, and herbalist Stephen Harrod Buhner has produced a book that is certain to generate controversy. It consists of three parts:

1. A critique of technological medicine, and especially the dangers to the environm
100

From Seed to Plant

Gail Gibbons

4.0
Flowers, trees, fruits--plants are all around us, but where do they come from?

With simple language and bright illustrations, non-fiction master Gail Gibbons introduces young readers to the processes of pollination, seed formation, and germination. Important vocabulary is reinforced with accessible explanation and colorful, clear diagrams showing the parts of plants, the wide variety of seeds, and