The History of the World in 100 Plants
eBook - ePub

The History of the World in 100 Plants

  1. 400 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The History of the World in 100 Plants

About this book

From the author of The History of the World in 100 Animals, a BBC Radio Four Book of the Week, comes an inspirational new book that looks at the 100 plants that have had the greatest impact on humanity, stunningly illustrated throughout.

As humans, we hold the planet in the palms of ours hands. But we still consume the energy of the sun in the form of food. The sun is available for consumption because of plants. Plants make food from the sun by the process of photosynthesis; nothing else in the world can do this. We eat plants, or we do so at second hand, by eating the eaters of plants.
 
Plants give us food. Plants take in carbon dioxide and push out oxygen: they give us the air we breathe, direct the rain that falls and moderate the climate. Plants also give us shelter, beauty, comfort, meaning, buildings, boats, containers, musical instruments, medicines and religious symbols. We use flowers for love, we use flowers for death. The fossils of plants power our industries and our transport. Across history we have used plants to store knowledge, to kill, to fuel wars, to change our state of consciousness, to indicate our status. The first gun was a plant, we got fire from plants, we have enslaved people for the sake of plants. 
 
We humans like to see ourselves as a species that has risen above the animal kingdom, doing what we will with the world. But we couldn’t live for a day without plants. Our past is all about plants, our present is all tied up with plants; and without plants there is no future.
 
From the mighty oak to algae, from cotton to coca here are a hundred reasons why.
 

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Information

Publisher
Simon & Schuster UK
Year
2022
Print ISBN
9781398505483
eBook ISBN
9781398505490
Topic
Biological Sciences
Subtopic
Botany
Index
Biological Sciences

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Foreword
  4. Chapter One: Strangler Fig
  5. Chapter Two: Wheat
  6. Chapter Three: Rose
  7. Chapter Four: Pea
  8. Chapter Five: Willow
  9. Chapter Six: Grass
  10. Chapter Seven: Cinchona
  11. Chapter Eight: Sunflower
  12. Chapter Nine: Oak
  13. Chapter Ten: Daisy
  14. Chapter Eleven: Yeast
  15. Chapter Twelve: Cannabis
  16. Chapter Thirteen: Orchid
  17. Chapter Fourteen: Brazil Nut Tree
  18. Chapter Fifteen: Oil Palm
  19. Chapter Sixteen: Calamites
  20. Chapter Seventeen: Rice
  21. Chapter Eighteen: Bindweed
  22. Chapter Nineteen: Field Poppy
  23. Chapter Twenty: Papyrus
  24. Chapter Twenty-One: ā€˜Penicilliumā€™
  25. Chapter Twenty-Two: Kigelia
  26. Chapter Twenty-Three: Daffodil
  27. Chapter Twenty-Four: Apple
  28. Chapter Twenty-Five: Redwood
  29. Chapter Twenty-Six: Christmas Tree
  30. Chapter Twenty-Seven: Venus Fly-Trap
  31. Chapter Twenty-Eight: Yew
  32. Chapter Twenty-Nine: Barley
  33. Chapter Thirty: Bodhi Tree
  34. Chapter Thirty-One: Magic Mushrooms
  35. Chapter Thirty-Two: Potato
  36. Chapter Thirty-Three: Toadflax
  37. Chapter Thirty-Four: ā€˜Cinnamomumā€™
  38. Chapter Thirty-Five: Kudzu
  39. Chapter Thirty-Six: American Grass
  40. Chapter Thirty-Seven: Tobacco
  41. Chapter Thirty-Eight: Lotus
  42. Chapter Thirty-Nine: Marigold
  43. Chapter Forty: Chilli
  44. Chapter Forty-One: Truffle
  45. Chapter Forty-Two: Marula
  46. Chapter Forty-Three: Cherry
  47. Chapter Forty-Four: Flax
  48. Chapter Forty-Five: Indigo
  49. Chapter Forty-Six: Ginseng
  50. Chapter Forty-Seven: Rubber
  51. Chapter Forty-Eight: Garlic
  52. Chapter Forty-Nine: Foxglove
  53. Chapter Fifty: Grape
  54. Chapter Fifty-One: Edible Mushroom
  55. Chapter Fifty-Two: Japanese Knotweed
  56. Chapter Fifty-Three: Bamboo
  57. Chapter Fifty-Four: Tea
  58. Chapter Fifty-Five: Gourd
  59. Chapter Fifty-Six: Virginia Creeper
  60. Chapter Fifty-Seven: Opium Poppy
  61. Chapter Fifty-Eight: Banana
  62. Chapter Fifty-Nine: Aspidistra
  63. Chapter Sixty: Bean
  64. Chapter Sixty-One: Toadstool
  65. Chapter Sixty-Two: Teak
  66. Chapter Sixty-Three: Pine
  67. Chapter Sixty-Four: Mulberry
  68. Chapter Sixty-Five: Lily
  69. Chapter Sixty-Six: Waterlily
  70. Chapter Sixty-Seven: Orange
  71. Chapter Sixty-Eight: Saffron Crocus
  72. Chapter Sixty-Nine: Cucumber
  73. Chapter Seventy: Stinging Nettle
  74. Chapter Seventy-One: ā€˜Candida Albicansā€™
  75. Chapter Seventy-Two: Cacao
  76. Chapter Seventy-Three: Strawberry
  77. Chapter Seventy-Four: Cotton
  78. Chapter Seventy-Five: Soybean
  79. Chapter Seventy-Six: ā€˜Arabidopsis Thalianaā€™
  80. Chapter Seventy-Seven: Tulip
  81. Chapter Seventy-Eight: Coffee
  82. Chapter Seventy-Nine: Sugarcane
  83. Chapter Eighty: Holly
  84. Chapter Eighty-One: Dry Rot
  85. Chapter Eighty-Two: Olive
  86. Chapter Eighty-Three: ā€˜Rafflesiaā€™
  87. Chapter Eighty-Four: Tomato
  88. Chapter Eighty-Five: Almond
  89. Chapter Eighty-Six: Hemlock
  90. Chapter Eighty-Seven: Cabbage
  91. Chapter Eighty-Eight: Cassava
  92. Chapter Eighty-Nine: Ordeal Tree
  93. Chapter Ninety: Chrysanthemum
  94. Chapter Ninety-One: Mycorrhiza
  95. Chapter Ninety-Two: Eucalyptus
  96. Chapter Ninety-Three: Coca
  97. Chapter Ninety-Four: Maize
  98. Chapter Ninety-Five: Rape
  99. Chapter Ninety-Six: Algae
  100. Chapter Ninety-Seven: Phytoplankton
  101. Chapter Ninety-Eight: Baobab
  102. Chapter Ninety-Nine: Rosy Periwinkle
  103. Chapter One Hundred: Dipterocarp
  104. Epilogue
  105. Acknowledgments
  106. About the Author
  107. Index
  108. Picture Credits
  109. Copyright

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Yes, you can access The History of the World in 100 Plants by Simon Barnes in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & Botany. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.