Staff Picks
Get Outdoors: Learn More About Plants
- Ariel H.
- Friday, June 11, 2021
Collection
Time to get outside and go on an adventure! Here are a list of books to help you explore your surroundings. Learn more about plants and even go on a foraging trip!
A Closer Look at Plant Classifications, Parts, and Uses
Published in 2012
Discusses the characteristics of plants, describes how they are classified, and examines the parts of the plant.
The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants
Published in 2009
Encyclopedia of Plant Care.
Published in 2005
How Plants Work
Form, Diversity, Survival
Published in 2018
"All the plants around us today are descended from simple algae that emerged more than 500 million years ago. While new plant species are still being discovered, it is thought there are around 400,000 species in existence. From towering redwood trees and diminutive mosses to plants that have stinging hairs and poisons, the diverse range of plant life is extraordinary. How Plants Work is a fascinating inquiry into, and celebration of, the complex plant kingdom. With an extended introduction explaining the basics of plant morphology--the study of plant structures and their functions--this book moves beyond mere classification and anatomy by emphasizing the relationship between a plant and its environment. It provides evolutionary context drawn from the fossil record and information about the habitats in which species evolved, and argues for the major influence of predation on plant form. Each section of the book focuses on a specific part of the plant--such as roots, stems and trunks, leaves, cones and flowers, and seeds and fruits--and how these manifest in distinct species, climates, and regions. The conclusion examines the ways humans rely on plant life and have harnessed their capacity for adaptation through selection and domestication."--Dust jacket.
What's Wrong with My Plant (and How Do I Fix It?)
A Visual Guide to Easy Diagnosis and Organic Remedies
Published in 2009
The Triumph of Seeds
How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips, Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History
Published in 2015
The Tree Lady
The True Story of How One Tree-loving Woman Changed a City Forever
Published in 2013
Learn about Katherine Olivia Sessions who brought trees to San Diego and created what eventually became Balboa Park.
Seeing Trees
Discover the Extraordinary Secrets of Everyday Trees
Published in 2011
Introduces trees, describing such topics as leaves, flowers, fruit, cones, and bark and profiling the uniques features of ten common North American trees.
Braiding Sweetgrass
Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Published in 2013
"An inspired weaving of indigenous knowledge, plant science, and personal narrative from a distinguished professor of science and a Native American whose previous book, Gathering Moss, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing. As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together to reveal what it means to see humans as "the younger brothers of creation." As she explores these themes she circles toward a central argument: the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the world. Once we begin to listen for the languages of other beings, we can begin to understand the innumerable life-giving gifts the world provides us and learn to offer our thanks, our care, and our own gifts in return"-- Provided by publisher.
The Cabaret of Plants
Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination
Published in 2016
"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"-- Amazon.com.
The Revolutionary Genius of Plants
A New Understanding of Plant Intelligence and Behavior
Published in 2018
Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels
How Human Values Evolve
Published in 2015
"Most people in the world today think democracy and gender equality are good, and that violence and wealth inequality are bad. But most people who lived during the 10,000 years before the nineteenth century thought just the opposite. Drawing on archaeology, anthropology, biology, and history, Ian Morris, author of the best-selling Why the West Rules--for Now, explains why. The result is a compelling new argument about the evolution of human values, one that has far-reaching implications for how we understand the past--and for what might happen next. Fundamental long-term changes in values, Morris argues, are driven by the most basic force of all: energy. Humans have found three main ways to get the energy they need--from foraging, farming, and fossil fuels. Each energy source sets strict limits on what kinds of societies can succeed, and each kind of society rewards specific values. In tiny forager bands, people who value equality but are ready to settle problems violently do better than those who aren't; in large farming societies, people who value hierarchy and are less willing to use violence do best; and in huge fossil-fuel societies, the pendulum has swung back toward equality but even further away from violence. But if our fossil-fuel world favors democratic, open societies, the ongoing revolution in energy capture means that our most cherished values are very likely to turn out--at some point fairly soon--not to be useful any more. Originating as the Tanner Lectures delivered at Princeton University, the book includes challenging responses by novelist Margaret Atwood, philosopher Christine Korsgaard, classicist Richard Seaford, and historian of China Jonathan Spence"-- Provided by publisher.
This is Your Mind on Plants
Published in 2021
"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Pollan, a radical challenge to how we think about drugs, and an exploration into the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants -- and the equally powerful taboos Of all the things humans rely on plants for--sustenance, beauty, fragrance, flavor, fiber--surely the most curious is our use of them is to change consciousness: to stimulate or calm, fiddle with or completely alter, the qualities of our mental experience. Take coffee and tea: people around the world rely on caffeine to sharpen their minds. We don't usually think of caffeine as a drug, or our daily use as an addiction, because it is legal and socially acceptable. So then what is a "drug?" And why, for example, is making tea from the leaves of a tea plant acceptable, but making tea from a seed head of an opium poppy a federal crime? In THIS IS YOUR MIND ON PLANTS, Michael Pollan dives deep into three plant drugs -- opium, caffeine, and mescaline -- and throws the fundamental strangeness, and arbitrariness, of our thinking about them into sharp relief. Exploring and participating in the cultures that have grown up around these drugs, while consuming (or in the case of caffeine, trying not to consume) them, Pollan reckons with the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants, and the equally powerful taboos with which we surround them. Why do we go to such great lengths to seek these shifts in consciousness, and then why do we fence that universal desire with laws and customs and such fraught feelings? A unique blend of history, science, memoir, as well as participatory journalism, Pollan examines and experiences these plants from several very different angles and contexts, and shines a fresh light on a subject that is all too often treated reductively -- as a drug, whether licit or illicit. But that's one of the least interesting things you can say about these plants, Pollan shows, for when we take them into our bodies and let them change our minds, we are engaging with nature in one of the most profound ways we can. Based in part on an essay written more than 25 years ago, this groundbreaking and singular consideration of psychoactive plants, and our attraction to them through time, holds up a mirror to our fundamental human needs and aspirations, the operations of our minds, and our entanglement with the natural world"-- Provided by publisher.
The Overstory
A Novel
Published in 2018
A novel of activism and natural-world power presents interlocking fables about nine remarkable strangers who are summoned in different ways by trees for an ultimate, brutal stand to save the continent's few remaining acres of virgin forest.
Entangled Life
How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
Published in 2020
"Living at the border between life and non-life, fungi use diverse cocktails of potent enzymes and acids to disassemble some of the most stubborn substances on the planet, turning rock into soil and wood into compost, allowing plants to grow. Fungi not only help create soil, they send out networks of tubes that enmesh roots and link plants together in the "Wood Wide Web." Fungi also drive many long-standing human fascinations: from yeasts that cause bread to rise and orchestrate the fermentation of sugar into alcohol; to psychedelic fungi; to the mold that produces penicillin and revolutionized modern medicine. And we can partner with fungi to heal the damage we've done to the planet. Fungi are already being used to make sustainable building materials and wearable leather, but they can do so much more. Fungi can digest many stubborn and toxic pollutants from crude oil to human-made polyurethane plastics and the explosive TNT. They can grow food from renewable sources: edible mushrooms can be grown on anything from plant waste to cigarette butts. And some fungi's antiviral compounds might be able to ease the colony collapse of bees. Merlin Sheldrake's revelatory introduction to this world will show us how fungi, and our relationships with them, are more astonishing than we could have imagined. Bringing to light science's latest discoveries and ingeniously parsing the varieties and behaviors of the fungi themselves, he points us toward the fundamental questions about the nature of intelligence and identity this massively diverse, little understood kingdom provokes"-- Provided by publisher.
The Everything Guide to Foraging
Identifying, Harvesting, and Cooking Nature's Wild Fruits and Vegetables
Published in 2011
From the field to your table-- how to find and prepare wild foods. This is your one-stop reference for identifying and harvesting the wild fruits and vegetables that grow in fields, forests, and even on your own lawn.
Exploring Leaves
Published in 2012
Learn about leaves and why they change color and fall off the trees.
Exploring Stems
Published in 2012
Describes the different kinds of stems that flowers may have and their importance in helping flowers to grow.
The Nature of Oaks
The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees
Published in 2021
Reveals the ecological importance of the oak tree, discussing its month-by-month role in the planet's seasonal cycles, and shares practical advice about how to plant and care for an oak.
Seeds and Fruit
Published in 2014
"Seeds and fruits carry out vital jobs for all flowering plants. New plants are created from seeds and fruits help to protect and spread those seeds. This book provides readers with a complete and comprehensive understanding of the role of seeds and fruit, their structure and how they are brilliantly designed to do these jobs. Clear diagrams, engaging text, and stunning photographs are used to explain the huge variation in seeds and fruits, what seeds and fruit are for, the parts of a flowering plant, how seeds are made, what's inside a seed, what seeds need to germinate, different types of fruit, methods plants use to disperse seeds, and our relationship with seeds and fruits. A wide range of examples present readers with seeds and fruit they will be familiar with plus spectacular and unusual examples from around the world. These demonstrate what different seeds and fruit have in common and some incredible seed and fruit adaptations that allow plants to survive in different conditions and habitats. Two simple activities help stimulate thought, reinforce learning, and bring the concepts to life."-- Provided by publisher.
The Heartbeat of Trees
Embracing Our Ancient Bond with Forests and Nature
Published in 2021
"In an era of cell phone addiction and ever-expanding cities, many of us fear we've lost our connection to nature--but Peter Wohlleben is convinced that age-old ties linking humans to the forest remain alive and intact. Whether we observe it or not, our blood pressure stabilizes near trees, the color green calms us, and the forest sharpens our senses. Drawing on new scientific discoveries, The Heartbeat of Trees reveals the profound interactions humans can have with nature, exploring the language of the forest, the consciousness of plants, and the eroding boundary between flora and fauna. Wohlleben shares how to see, feel, smell, hear, and even taste your journey into the woods. Above all, he reveals a wondrous cosmos where humans are a part of nature, and where conservation is not just about saving trees--it's about saving ourselves, too."-- Provided by publisher.