botany of desire 1

999 Words2 Pages

Michael Pollan opens the book questioning the relationship of humans and nature.
Who is the subject and who is the object? Who really is domesticating who/ from a plant’s eye, he challenges the traditional relationship of human and nature present the argument that the four plants- Apples, Tulips ,Marijuana and the Potato, have shaped human evolution just like we shaped theirs. He calls it ‘’co-evolution’’. Nature plays a part in controlling us. He is what the plants know about our desires that made them grow, survive and spread around the world until today. Each has some qualities that know to stimulate human sense. The apples is a fruit that appeals to a human’s yearning for sweetness, the tulip is a flower that appeals to a human’s yearning for beauty, marijuana is a weed that appeals to a human’s desire for intoxication and the potato appeals to a human’s desire for control. As time goes by, in order to survive, plants learn to adapt, change forms to a new species to suit the environment as well as increase humans desire for them.

Chapter 1 Introduces the legendry ‘’Apple Tree Man’’, John Chapman who introduced the species to several locations in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The book recounts the basic natural history of the apple and also explains apple’s importance in human civilization. An apple’s taste of sweetness is a noble quality and it symbolizes satisfaction of human desire. This chapter was filled with story of his journey how he planted thousands of apple trees across wild range of orchards and ultimately sold them cheaper than other apple cultures. The author praises Johns original way of plating seed, going from place to place and reminding us that the nature has its own natur...

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...o make me do it’’? Is the question that sprouts in Pollan’s mind one day as he works in his garden. More than most other foods, the easily cultivated, potato appeals to our desire to control the messy, nature, business of farming and feeding ourselves. The potato was also a godsend for the Irish who were unable to grow much of anything. This was until a fungus caused the great potato famine in the 19 century-killing over a million people. The potato has taught us a valuable lesson in biodiversity and the risk of non-culture . However, the demand today for a certain kind of MC Donald’s potato chip has resulted in farmers once again growing just one kind of potato.

The illusion of control enables life to be sweet, beautiful and intoxicating. Yet when too much value is placed on beauty it is essence is lost and the effects on society can be
devastating.

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