Books : Anatomy Of A Rose: Exploring The Secret Life Of Flowers
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 580
EAN: 9780738206691
ISBN: 0738206695
Label: Basic Books
Manufacturer: Basic Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 232
Publication Date: April 04, 2002
Publisher: Basic Books
Studio: Basic Books
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com Review:
The flower, paleontologists tell us, is an ancient innovation in the endless struggle of adaptation and survival; the earliest fossil flowers date to some 120 million years ago, long after the arrival of other forms of plant life (and, for that matter, insects). Their arrival heralded a new way for plants to go forth and multiply that was so successful that countless animal and insect species now depend on flowers for food, and flowering plants have spread across the face of the earth.
"We know that flowers are beautiful," writes essayist Sharman Apt Russell in this lyrical exploration of the flowering world. "We forget that they are also essential." In fact, the more we learn about them, the more essential the 250,000 known species of flowering plants appear to be to modern life. Scientists are only now beginning to understand the complex role of flowers in ecosystems, and their studies have turned up surprising discoveries (such as the fact that a single flower can produce more than a hundred chemical compounds, and that plants like the alpine pennycress and sunflower can remove toxic chemicals from earth and water). Russell takes us to laboratories and academic conferences, as well as sun-drenched fields and greenhouses, to relate the science and lore of flowers. She also warns that, with one in three species in the United States alone already at risk, flowers may well prove to be among the first victims of a mounting wave of extinctions.
Russell's poetic book complements standards such as Donald Culross Peattie's Flowering Earth and Peter Tompkins's Secret Life of Plants. Fans of botany, ecology, and plain good writing will find much of value in its pages. --Gregory McNamee
Product Description:
An acclaimed nature writer reveals the secret life of flowers.
In Anatomy of a Rose, Sharman Apt Russell eloquently unveils the "inner life" of flowers, showing them to be more individual, more enterprising, and more responsive than we ever imagined. From their diverse fragrances to their nasty deceptions, Russell proves that, where nature is concerned, "wonder is not only our starting point; it can also be our destination." Throughout this botanical journey, she reveals that the science behind these intelligent plants--how they evolved, how they survive, how they heal--is even more awe-inspiring than their fleeting beauty. Russell helps us imagine what a field of snapdragons looks like to a honeybee; she introduces us to flowers that regulate their own temperature, attract pollinating bats, even smell like a rotting corpse.
In this poetic rumination, which combines graceful writing with a scientist's clarity, Russell brings together the work of botanists around the globe, and illuminates a world at once familiar and exotic.
Average Rating: 
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A few enjoyable tidbits. So-so writing and not much substance. Go with Peter Bernhardt's The Rose's Kiss.
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This book is more about flowers in general than rose in particular. Russell has clearly researched the subject extensively, and done a very good job of distilling that research into of 230 page book. Russell's book is a precautionary tale - as the author says only one percent of the known flowers have been fully studied, and many will become extinct before we understand them.
Russell frankly discusses what the cost of this extinction to the planet and to humans means; the many plants ... Read More
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When the prophet Muhammad ascended into heaven, drops of his sweat fell to earth and turned into roses. Apollo, the sun god, transformed a youth he coveted into a hyacinth after Zephyr, the god of the west wind, killed him. The Incas worshipped the sunflower as a symbol of their sun god.
Russell's fine book explains not only how all cultures and peoples have elevated flowers to the realm of the spiritual but also how flowers survived the rampaging dinosaurs and provided our earliest ancestors ... Read More
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Sharman Russell uses poetic language to explore scientific technicalities of flowers and related natural elements. Some of the more interesting facts revealed in the narrative telescope into the author's personal experiences. Against the backdrop of scientific fact, Anatomy of a Rose explores deeper issues of ecological harmony, sacred aspects of culture, and survival of species. A fascinating read, even for the least scientific of readers.
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The flowers are somehow one of the multiple faces of the inscrutable nature . The admirable shapes enlist from the erotic orchid to the sunflower .
The poetry , painting , music , sculpture have empowered of them to magnify and heighten them . From Van Gogh to Rilke their sublime and brief presence has been inspiration motive to countless artists .
The author offers us invaluable appreciations about the flowers poetic .The similes described in the process of pollen ritual are true ... Read More
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