| The Secret Life of Plants | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 61 reviews)
Sales Rank: 13096
Category: Book
Authors: Peter Tompkins, Christopher Bird
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Studio: Harper Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
Label: Harper Paperbacks
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0060915870
Dewey Decimal Number: 581
EAN: 9780060915872
ASIN: 0060915870
Publication Date: March 8, 1989
Release Date: March 8, 1989
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The world of plants and its relation to mankind as revealed by the latest scientific discoveries. "Plenty of hard facts and astounding scientific and practical lore."--Newsweek
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| Customer Reviews: Read 56 more reviews...
 already half way through May 24, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
i ordered this book and a dvd at the same time elsewhere, and im already halfway through the book and the dvd has yet to be opened. thanks!
Biology 101 for the 21st Century May 23, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book should be part of every Biology class in school nowadays. Quantum Physics has proven that every particle has consciousness, so why should it be so hard to believe that plants are capable of feelings and thought? Even close to 20 years after it was published, the book is still in a class by itself. I especially liked the section on how plants responded to different music genres, although mine seem to grow better to reggae than classical music.
Another seminal work May 14, 2008
Along with Secrets of the Soil by the same authors, a ground-breaking work that will make you rethink your entire view of the universe. Decades ahead of the scientific establishment (and I should know; I'm part of it).
 Plants as a nuclear reactor April 11, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
"Calcium (Ca) can come from potassium (K) with the interaction of hydrogen (H) according to the formula* 1H plus 19K equals 20Ca, or from magnesium with the interaction of oxygen in 12Mg plus 8O equals 20Ca."
("The Secret Life of Plants", NewYork:HarperCollins, 1973, p.285)
* My sincere apologies: imagine the numbers on the left as the atomic number on the lower left. I don't know how to assign it correctly in this review box).
Tompkins and Bird looked at the periodic table of the elements and properly transcribed the correct atomic nomenclature for each element. But then they confused chemical reactions with nuclear reactions in nonsensical equations that, however, seem perfectly reasonable to the vast majority of even college-educated nonscientists.
Their equations actually describe nuclear reactions that are impossible. But in any case, real nuclear reactions are carried out in nuclear bombs and nuclear reactors (and stars), not in plants. Their entire book is filled with pseudoscientific nonsense.
(Excerpt from "Challenging Nature" by Lee Silver, Paperback ed. 2007, p.229)
Sums it up pretty well. If you don't get the point, please take time to read essentials of chemistry, you won't regret it.
Instead I would like to recommend to you "The Private Life of Plants" by David Attenborough, which accompanied the BBC TV series of the same name.
I gobbled it up as a kid, and it sparked a passion for cultivating orchids and carnivorous plants for a while.
 Excellent Gift for Vegetarians ! January 30, 2008
2 out of 13 found this review helpful
I first read this book in the mid-70s. I've got a brother-in-law who's a vegetarian and I will pick this up for him. I actually eat vegetarian most of the time (beef cattle and elk are classified as vegetarians aren't they?).
I believe that if Vegetarians are really serious about the pain and suffering that is inflicted on animals at slaughter, maybe they need to look at their argument from another perspective. The elk and deer that I hunt live a wonderful and free existence (until it gets to be -40 F and deep snow). I generally lose the battle with them and come home empty handed. Most of them probably die of old age or starvation.
Now, on the other hand, if you think of the brief life in the sun that a stalk of broccoli leads . . . they live their life with their most tender parts buried alive. Can you imagine the terror that goes through their mind (?) as they see the harvester approaching and they are unable to flee for their lives? At least I give the wild animals a chance to run and escape (they mostly win!). Also, by harvesting my own wild game, I don't rely on a paid asassin (aka gardener, grower, migrant laborer, ) to do my dirty work. When I am a successful hunter, it is important to me to be able to give thanks to my prey for giving their life so that I may continue to live.
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