Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1455513229 ISBN 13: 9781455513222

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2013

Synopsis

Renowned naturalist and bestselling author Jane Goodall examines the critical role that trees and plants play in our world.

In her wise and elegant new book, Jane Goodall blends her experience in nature with her enthusiasm for botany to give readers a deeper understanding of the world around us.
Long before her work with chimpanzees, Goodall's passion for the natural world sprouted in the backyard of her childhood home in England, where she climbed her beech tree and made elderberry wine with her grandmother. The garden her family began then, she continues to enjoy today.
SEEDS OF HOPE takes us from England to Goodall's home-away-from-home in Africa, deep inside the Gombe forest, where she and the chimpanzees are enchanted by the fig and plum trees they encounter. She introduces us to botanists around the world, as well as places where hope for plants can be found, such as The Millennium Seed Bank, where one billion seeds are preserved. She shows us the secret world of plants with all their mysteries and potential for healing our bodies as well as Planet Earth.
Looking at the world as an adventurer, scientist, and devotee of sustainable foods and gardening-and setting forth simple goals we can all take to protect the plants around us-Jane Goodall delivers an enlightening story of the wonders we can find in our own backyards.

About this title

About the Author:

Jane Goodall is the world's foremost authority on chimpanzees. An internationally renowned conservationist, she is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and has received many distinguished awards in science. Dr. Goodall is also the author of many acclaimed books, including the bestseller Reason for Hope.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* Though Goodall is known everywhere as the chimpanzee expert who transformed our understanding of primates and ourselves, it comes as no surprise that her profound love of nature and vigorous global activism extend to the plant kingdom. Goodall begins this tribute to the glory of plants and trees and protest against their endangerment with memories of her grandmother’s English country home, where her best friend was a large, cradling beech. She also shares her reverence for the forests of Gombe that nurture chimpanzees. In this far-ranging, gracefully impassioned book, Goodall, aided by frequent coauthor Hudson, shares her fascination with the beingness of plants, from the miracles of seeds to photosynthesis and astonishing strategies of seed dispersal, pollination, defense, and communication. She writes of her mystical experiences with trees, obsessive and daring plant hunters, orchid fever, and the deep psychological benefits of gardening. Goodall celebrates the long history of medicinal plants and decries corporate biopiracy and exposes the horrendous human suffering and environmental damage wrought by today’s cotton industry and the disastrous consequences of genetically modified crops. Appalled by the ongoing destruction of forests, Goodall finds seeds of hope in those who work to protect the green world, upon which we are utterly dependent. A crucial and commanding summons to care and act by one of nature’s most heroic champions. --Donna Seaman

About this edition

• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1455513229
• ISBN 13: 9781455513222
• Binding: Hardcover