Are plants intelligent? Can they solve problems, communicate, and navigate their surroundings? Or are they passive, incapable of independent action or social behavior? Philosophers and scientists have pondered these questions since ancient Greece, most often concluding that plants are unthinking and inert: they are too silent, too sedentary — just too different from us. Yet discoveries over the … the past fifty years have challenged these ideas, shedding new light on the extraordinary capabilities and complex interior lives of plants.
In Brilliant Green, Stefano Mancuso, a leading scientist and founder of the field of plant neurobiology, presents a new paradigm in our understanding of the vegetal world. Combining a historical perspective with the latest in plant science, Mancuso argues that, due to cultural prejudices and human arrogance, we continue to underestimate plants. In fact, they process information, sleep, remember, and signal to one another — showing that, far from passive machines, plants are intelligent and aware. Through a survey of plant capabilities from sight and touch to communication, Mancuso challenges our notion of intelligence, presenting a vision of plant life that is more sophisticated than most imagine.
Plants have much to teach us, from network building to innovations in robotics and man-made materials — but only if we understand more about how they live. Part botany lesson, part manifesto, Brilliant Green is an engaging and passionate examination of the inner workings of the plant kingdom.
Financial support for the translation of this book has been provided by SEPS: Segretariato Europeo Per Le Pubblicazioni Scientifiche.
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I’m a biologist and big nature lover who has followed the growing body of studies that support the sentient properties of plants. This highly readable book provides a nice overview of their unique ways of accomplishing the tasks of animals to which society grants–albeit sometimes grudgingly so–sentience. They merely accomplish these differently as one would expect from stationary living beings.
For convenience, I would have preferred end-notes at the end of each chapter instead of at the end book. A more complete bibliography also would have been helpful because I know there are increasing numbers of studies on plants’ highly developed sensory abilities (that exceed ours in some cases), the mechanics of their underground “brain” and mind-body, and their ability to recognize and manipulate their environments and others in it–including animals of multiple species. I could have done without all those exclamation points though.
This also would be a good introduction for botany-naive vegans or vegetarians who believe that their diet signals their moral superiority because they’re not eating any sentient beings. Better to recognize the flaws in their thinking in the privacy of their own homes than have someone call them on it in public. Such diets may be physically healthier, but not morally so unless you place the sentience bar a lot higher than nature and biology does.
I picked up Brilliant Green for research on a current project. The authors do an excellent job of taking what you know about life in our fragile ecosystem and turning that information on its head. We focus on the what we think is sentient life—based on the definition we decided upon—and ignore the plant kingdom which outnumbers us and represents the majority of life on this planet. It’s a thoughtful, conversational read despite the amount of science lingo. You’ll never look at that plant in the sidewalk crack quite the same.
A very well structured and well written argument to demonstrate the appearance of significant intelligence in the plant kingdom. Unfortunately the authors chose to not include much of the actual scientific research supporting the conclusions reached, but to have done so would have resulted in a much more lengthy and less readable work. But I personally would have appreciated it.
Informative. Take what you can in the areas that interest you
This is a subjective point of view but I couldn’t even get past the first chapter. I rareley don’t finish a book. But this one just wasn’t clicking for me.
An excellent introduction to the budding (no pun intended) field of plant intelligence. Yes, you read it correctly; plants have been shown to learn from experience, share resources with their offspring and communicate through fungal networks in a kind of neural network. Well written and informative.
I also talk to my plants:)
There are so many stretches of logic to make the ‘conclusions’ in this book, i was wondering if it was meant to be satire rather than science. As a scientist, I could not make my way thru this book.
Plants are amazing, and the authors do a great job of summarizing the current research. We don’t think of the flora around us having senses like ours, but they do. Informative and a bit mind-bending!
Thought provoking.
Plants – After reading this book, I’ll never look at them the same way. The authors do an excellent job explaining the importance of plants (the world can get by without animals, but we’re doomed if plants die off) and explain how plants have more than five senses and use them to understand and control their world. Fascinating!
The premise of the book really revolves around definitions for terms used in the book, such as taste, smell, touch, intelligence. I am not sure that I agree with the authors definition of these terms as he applies them to plants.
The author presents his view that plants are intelligent. Whether you agree with his conclusion or not, it is informative about how plants adapt to their environment and cope with threats to their existence.
Makes the point about adaptation in plants being more or less indistinguishable from intelligence, provided time scale and mobility are accounted for properly. Overblown, though.
Well presented thoughtful book about subject rarely discussed
I loved the comparisons between the behaviors of plants and of animals.
Wonderful and captivating.
If you have ever wondered what is going on inside a plant, read this book. Plants can see, hear, smell, taste and feel. Plus a lot more. A great discussion about plant intelligence included. Plants are not lesser life, they just evolved differently.
Eye-opening: trees and plants utilize complex sensory systems to survive and reproduce. Changed the way I look at the green world around me@
Incredibly interesting and thought provoking. Very well written.