Seeds of Hope

November 1, 2013

Top chimpanzee expert Goodall circles 'round to a childhood spent in her backyard in England, where she developed a lifelong love of plants. Among the hopeful topics here: the Millennium Seed Bank, which preserves one billion seeds.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2013
A wonderful introductory guide to the plant kingdom from one of the world's leading naturalists. Well-known for her pioneering work with primates, Goodall (Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink, 2009, etc.) is now lecturing and encouraging young people to make a difference. With the assistance of Hudson, the author provides a comprehensive overview of the massive diversity of plants and mankind's relations with them, but she always brings her subject back to her own love and enthusiasm for nature. Goodall discusses the origins and history of trees and the importance of forests, and she offers an outline of the development of mankind's knowledge of plants. Her love for nature combines with outrage. She exposes how orchid poachers plunder the areas where the beautiful plants grow and how Western pharmaceutical interests are attempting to subject medicinally useful plants to intellectual property and patent constrictions, despite the fact that the plants have been used by mankind for probably thousands of years. Goodall shows how Monsanto and other genetic modifiers of agricultural seeds have set up a vicious cycle that ultimately leads to increased use of damaging chemicals but does not increase productivity. The author is critical of the effects of corporate and plantation-type production, and she promotes alternative methods of food production. Goodall bolsters her narrative with discussions of the healthy benefits that can be derived from plants, as well as the harm that can be done. Personal warmth and enthusiasm increase the charm of this celebration of the "beauty, mystery, and complexity" of the plant world.

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Starred review from February 15, 2013
Though Goodall is known everywhere as the chimpanzee expert who transformed our understanding of primates and ourselves, it comes as no surprise that her profound love of nature and vigorous global activism extend to the plant kingdom. Goodall begins this tribute to the glory of plants and trees and protest against their endangerment with memories of her grandmother's English country home, where her best friend was a large, cradling beech. She also shares her reverence for the forests of Gombe that nurture chimpanzees. In this far-ranging, gracefully impassioned book, Goodall, aided by frequent coauthor Hudson, shares her fascination with the beingness of plants, from the miracles of seeds to photosynthesis and astonishing strategies of seed dispersal, pollination, defense, and communication. She writes of her mystical experiences with trees, obsessive and daring plant hunters, orchid fever, and the deep psychological benefits of gardening. Goodall celebrates the long history of medicinal plants and decries corporate biopiracy and exposes the horrendous human suffering and environmental damage wrought by today's cotton industry and the disastrous consequences of genetically modified crops. Appalled by the ongoing destruction of forests, Goodall finds seeds of hope in those who work to protect the green world, upon which we are utterly dependent. A crucial and commanding summons to care and act by one of nature's most heroic champions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)