The Cabaret of Plants

November 9, 2015
In his inimitable style, English naturalist Mabey (The Ash and the Beech) blends genres to produce a work that demonstrates his passion for the lives of plants. By incorporating natural history, travel writing, and mainstream botany into a text rich with philosophy, poetry, and visual art, Mabey brings a sense of excitement and vitality to his material (the book’s illustrations are paired well with the text and greatly enhance it). One of his goals is to move readers beyond the simplistic idea that plants are passive and uninteresting members of ecosystems. As he explains it, he has written a “story about plants as authors of their own lives and an argument that ignoring their vitality impoverishes our imaginations and our well-being.” He succeeds admirably in this task, whether he is discussing the 20,000 varieties of apples that have been bred from a single original stock,
the critical role that olive trees played in the development of Impressionist art, or the complex ways in which plants communicate with one another. Mabey is delightfully eclectic in his approach,
often touching on those species with which he has a personal connection, but he consistently advances his central theme while providing interesting insights and opinions. Illus. Agency: InkWell Management.

Starred review from October 1, 2015
A prolific and talented British nature writer explores 40 plant species and how they have influenced the human imagination over the centuries. Comprised of equal portions of knowledge, delight, and surprise, Mabey's (The Ash and the Beech: The Drama of Woodland Change, 2013, etc.) botanical history advocates for elevating the status of plants within the natural world. Rather than being taken for granted as passive vegetation and viewed as merely "the furniture of the planet," the author recounts "a story about plants as authors of their own lives and an argument that ignoring their vitality impoverishes our imaginations and our well-being." Each section opens with a brief essay presenting a theme]e.g., "How To See A Plant," "The Shock of The Real: Scientists and Romantics," "The Victorian Plant Theatre"]followed by an exploration of specific plants. For those unschooled in botany, these preliminary excursions are nifty gateways into the unknown. Mabey artfully combines historical and contemporary scientific writings, literary musings, and his personal recollections concerning his plant subjects. The author ranges across time from the interest showed by Paleolithic cave artists and the vegetation in their environment to how both Neolithic farmers and 18th-century scientists attempted to understand the mysteries of agriculture and plant cultivation. Though many of the individuals and a handful of the plants Mabey discusses may be unfamiliar to some American readers, the author skillfully melds together this bounty of insights, opinions, and scientific facts into a coherent and intelligent narrative, overcoming any initial unfamiliarity readers may experience. Numerous drawings and photographs enhance the book. What Mabey does best is invite readers to think about plants in a radical new way, even posing the question as to whether a plant's sensory abilities]electrostatic charges, chemical communication through pheromones and bio-acoustic sound waves]actually constitute intelligence. An unusual and vastly entertaining journey into the world of mysterious plant life as experienced by a gifted nature writer.

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Starred review from December 1, 2015
One of the most striking images in a book saturated with them is a fourteenth-century description of an animal unlike any that had been encountered before. It had a stem growing from its navel that rooted it to the ground. This lamb-like creature was later deduced to be the pod of a cotton plant. It is precisely this kind of misinterpretation of plants that Mabey (Weeds: In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants, 2011), one of England's most prominent naturalists, takes on in his delightfully accessible work of scholarship. Using examples from great churchyard yews to maize, the staff of life, to ginseng to exotic tropical plants, such as the Titan Arum, here is a systematic and impassioned explanation for recognizing plants as authors of their own lives. Even as he evaluates the plant kingdom through the various spectra of the prism of human experienceart, medicine, food, religionMabey insists on a subtle yet decisive shift away from an anthropocentric outlook on nature. This sensitive approach not only succeeds in giving these incredibly vital beings their just place in the story of life. It also reminds us that, as we stare into the maw of large-scale environmental change, we can learn the right lessons from our relationship with plants and draw inspiration from their incredible resilience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)