Editor's Note 8
Prologue _ Human Bee 15
Chapter 1 _ Desire for Sweetness * Apple 35
Chapter 2: The Desire for Beauty * Tulip 117
Chapter 3: The Desire for Intoxication * Marijuana 185
Chapter 4: The Desire for Domination * Potato 273
Epilogue 351
References 361
Search 375

Who is taming and exploiting whom?

One day in May, while planting seed potatoes next to an apple tree buzzing with bees, Pollan had this thought.
What's the difference between those bees, diligently flitting between apple blossoms, spreading their genes, and me, burying seed potatoes in the ground, brimming with pride as the owner of my garden? Aren't I in the same boat as the bees, who spread the genes of specific plants in exchange for food?
As my thoughts wandered there, the familiar surrounding scenery suddenly appeared new.
The realization has arrived that plants, which had been considered objects of desire, may be creatures as intelligent as, or perhaps even more intelligent than, humans.
This is how the book “Plant Desire,” which tells the story of their evolution from the perspective of plants, was born.

Apples and tulips, cannabis and potatoes.
The history of co-evolution between people and plants, as seen through the desires of your crops!

In this book, Pollan traces the long history of co-evolution between plants and humans through apples, tulips, cannabis, and potatoes.
Although they are representative crops that humans have 'tamed', the truth is that they are beings that have actively used humans more than any other plant species.
What they gained in return for their transformations to suit the changing whims of humanity over time was survival, prosperity, and their own golden age.
What a clever and clever strategy.

Apples evolved through human desire for sweetness and spread throughout the world.
Tulips, which stimulated humanity's aesthetic instincts and became the main character that influenced a country's economy and culture.
Marijuana, a psychoactive substance that affects human consciousness, continues to produce hybrids despite all kinds of persecution.
And the potato, which emerged as a major food source for the world's people, became a projection of human desire to dominate nature.

Beginning in his own garden and moving busily between the mountains of Kazakhstan, the Andes and Ireland, the Netherlands and the American Midwest, Pollan's writing is dazzlingly captivating and full of insight.
The thrilling experience of secretly growing two marijuana plants and being caught by the police chief who came to deliver firewood, the real dangers of biotechnology realized for the first time while growing genetically modified potatoes with pesticides in the garden, and the exquisite beauty of all things in the world brought about by the balance and restraint of Apollo's reason and Dionysus's emotion...
This story, which tells the long history of plants and humans, crossing over botany and anthropology, philosophy and literature, evolution and biotechnology, has helped countless readers readjust their perspectives on civilization and nature, desire and ethics, and the past and future, and broaden their horizons.

This book is a revised edition of The Botany of Desire, published by Taurus in 2007.
When the first edition of this book was published in the United States in 2001, almost all media outlets, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, rushed to praise the birth of a new author.
This controversial work, which illuminates human society through the eyes of plants, has remained at the top of the bestseller lists compiled by major American bookstores for an unusually long period of time for a natural science book.
Furthermore, Michael Pollan, whose free-spirited and intelligent writing deftly transcends the barriers between human history and natural history, natural science and biotechnology, has quickly become one of the most beloved authors of the 21st century worldwide.

Recommendation

Michael Pollan reveals surprising facts that fundamentally shake conventional wisdom.
Pollan's writing seems infinitely loose, yet at the same time sparkles with sharp intelligence and vitality.
He has an amazing knack for pulling out perfect examples from places no one would have thought of.
_ The New York Times

This is an environmental and historical book that provides valuable information about humanity and nature through unique writing that seems somewhat quirky.
_ The New Yorker

Apples, tulips, cannabis, potatoes… .
This witty book tells the stories of four plants from their own perspectives.
_ 《People》

Before reading this book, I had never looked into the soul of a plant.
Written from the perspective of plants by Pollan, a master gardener and writer, this book shatters common notions about gardening, such as the idea that I control and dominate my lilies.
(…) Pollan rebuked and awakened me to my ignorance of having lived only in a human-centered way.
_ The Wall Street Journal

Once you pick up this book, which unravels the social, political, economic, and historical factors that led humanity to cultivate four plants, you will find it impossible to put it down.
(…) Michael Pollan has a genius for finding the lines between the seemingly disparate dots and organizing their connections in the garden of all its complexities, whether political, literary, historical, socioeconomic, or even sexual.
_ Chicago Tribune

This book is full of fascinating and insightful information.
(…) takes the reader on a beautiful and informative journey that threads science and history through four species of plants.
_ 《Hartford Crant》

This is a must-read book.
It's a thought-provoking, yet peculiar book that defies pinpointing.
(…) Even for a gardening scholar, it is almost impossible to write a book like this.
_ The New York Observer

In brilliant and entertaining prose, Michael Pollan vividly shows how these plants evolved to satisfy our most basic human desires, thereby becoming indispensable to human life.
_ 《Vogue》

It reveals, in a surprising and sometimes shocking way, how the basic human desires and the desires of four different plants have evolved together.
_ 《Organic Garden》

He is a person who writes attractively enough to make people jealous.
At the same time, he is a perceptive historian, social scientist, and brilliant environmentalist.
_ High Times

Pollan's clear and elegant writing style has the power to breathe life and dignity into plants, animals, and even natural materials.
It seems that his tremendous study and humble attitude were the driving forces that led him to the realization that humans and nature are one great community with a shared destiny.
_ Publisher's Weekly

Tracing the connections between four plants that have thrived under human affection and love, Pollan exquisitely blends history, personal anecdotes, and new facts that people had never known before.
(…) Pollan's dynamic, intelligent and bold expressions, which weave a wondrous dialogue between humans and plants, offer a new perspective on plant desire.
_ 《Booklist》

It brilliantly explores humanity's unpredictable relationship with nature and our constant attempts to overturn it.
_ Recommendation from the LA Times

Michael Pollan reveals surprising facts that fundamentally shake conventional wisdom.
Pollan's writing seems infinitely loose, yet at the same time sparkles with sharp intelligence and vitality.
He has an amazing knack for pulling out perfect examples from places no one would have thought of.
_ The New York Times

This is an environmental and historical book that provides valuable information about humanity and nature through unique writing that seems somewhat quirky.
_ The New Yorker

Apples, tulips, cannabis, potatoes… .
This witty book tells the stories of four plants from their own perspectives.
_ 《People》

Before reading this book, I had never looked into the soul of a plant.
Written from the perspective of plants by Pollan, a master gardener and writer, this book shatters common notions about gardening, such as the idea that I control and dominate my lilies.
(…) Pollan rebuked and awakened me to my ignorance of having lived only in a human-centered way.
_ The Wall Street Journal

Once you pick up this book, which unravels the social, political, economic, and historical factors that led humanity to cultivate four plants, you will find it impossible to put it down.
(…) Michael Pollan has a genius for finding the lines between the seemingly disparate dots and organizing their connections in the garden of all its complexities, whether political, literary, historical, socioeconomic, or even sexual.
_ Chicago Tribune

This book is full of fascinating and insightful information.
(…) takes the reader on a beautiful and informative journey that threads science and history through four species of plants.
_ 《Hartford Crant》

This is a must-read book.
It's a thought-provoking, yet peculiar book that defies pinpointing.
(…) Even for a gardening scholar, it is almost impossible to write a book like this.
_ The New York Observer

In brilliant and entertaining prose, Michael Pollan vividly shows how these plants evolved to satisfy our most basic human desires, thereby becoming indispensable to human life.
_ 《Vogue》

It reveals, in a surprising and sometimes shocking way, how the basic human desires and the desires of four different plants have evolved together.
_ 《Organic Garden》

He is a person who writes attractively enough to make people jealous.
At the same time, he is a perceptive historian, social scientist, and brilliant environmentalist.
_ High Times

Pollan's clear and elegant writing style has the power to breathe life and dignity into plants, animals, and even natural materials.
It seems that his tremendous study and humble attitude were the driving forces that led him to the realization that humans and nature are one great community with a shared destiny.
_ Publisher's Weekly

Tracing the connections between four plants that have thrived under human affection and love, Pollan exquisitely blends history, personal anecdotes, and new facts that people had never known before.
(…) Pollan's dynamic, intelligent and bold expressions, which weave a wondrous dialogue between humans and plants, offer a new perspective on plant desire.
_ 《Booklist》

It brilliantly explores humanity's unpredictable relationship with nature and our constant attempts to overturn it.
_ The Los Angeles Times