Customer Reviews

Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition

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Harrison is insightful -- and inciteful -- in his exploration of the various kinds of gardens that are important to our sense of who we are, our self-understanding as members of Western civilization. He is erudite in the wealth of literary and philosophical materials from which he draws, but he writes clearly so what he has to say is very accessible to a reader without specialized knowledge about those materials. He has profound things to say about everyday gardens, about gardening in the literal sense of creating a place where flowers or other plants grow. He develops sometimes startling ideas about the meaning of gardens such as Eden's (thanks to Eve, we escaped its dehumanizing confines), Louis XIV's (Versailles imposes a deadening abstract human construct on the living vitality of nature), and Paradise (to be avoided). The garden of Epicurus is his recommended kind of garden: where we can learn patience, hope, and gratitude - the virtues that will save us from the frenetic denaturing extremes of our contemporary way of living. This is a wonderful book, as were Harrison's earlier books on the forest and on death.

Another fine meditation and critical study by Robert Pogue Harrison of man's relationship to nature, this time through the lens of "the garden". From the Garden of Eden, to Japanese zen gardens, to manicured formal gardens, to tiny spaces in homeless encampments, Mr. Harrison explores mankind's need for and relationship to gardens -- their importance as quiet spaces in which we can relate to nature on a human scale, as retreats for quieting and refilling the spirit, as sources of literary and romantic inspiration, as windows into biological process and truth. His writing is at once scholarly, poetic, thought provoking and insightful, and is best read slowly, both to savor Pogue's beautiful language and to allow his ideas to take root and flower in your mind.

As in "Dominion of the Dead," Professor Harrison has taken a topic (this time Gardens and our relations to them) and interwoven scholarship with stirring judgment. I am no gardener; this book can resonate with all who take up work and action to cultivate anyone or anything. The chapter on Care was particularly poignant. For example, on page 27, Harrison writes: "Care is accustomed to act, to take the initiative, to stake its claims, yet powerlessness and even helplessness are as intrinsic to the lived experience of care as the latter's irrepressible impulse to act, enable, nurse, and promote."

If you have read and were moved by "Dominion of the Dead," or if you are one of the many listeners of his insightful radio show/podcast called "Entitled Opinions," or if you are one of us seeking for bold thinkers willing to powerfully interpret our current human condition, then sit down somewhere comfortable and open this important book.

Like Forests: The Shadow of Civilization, Gardens is a book to linger over and come back to. The breadth of knowledge Harrison brings to cultivating a plot of soil enriches the experience of gardening itself. More importantly, it offers important insights into our relationship as a culture to the earth and how we might deepen that relationship.

Harrison's book is a thought-provoking survey of a host of topics that are effectively tied together under the theme of gardens. I was not prepared for the philosophical focus that Harrison undertakes but, as a lay reader, I always found the discussion understandable and indeed compelling. Literature discussed ranges from the Bible, the Qur'an, Plato, Epicurus, Dante, Boccaccio, Camus, Calvino, and Malcolm Lowery. You don't have to be a gardener to appreciate this book, but if you are (as I am) you will certainly appreciate the theme that one must give more to the garden than one takes back, a guiding metaphor for other aspects of life. The book has motivated me to turn to his two earlier works, Forests, and The Dominion of the Dead. I discovered that Harrison also has an interesting website ("Entitled Opinions")that contains interviews and podcasts on a wide variety of scholarly topics.

Every book by Robert Pogue Harrison is an inspiration of insight and perspective. His work is thought provoking. As a gardener and a teacher, I found this book a wonderful synthesis of information that is applicable to grand thoughts of the human experience as well as an appreciation for the mundane and practical. His view of Versailles seems so simply right and his historical perspective offers a clear materialist explanation for the overbearing nature of these gardens. The message can extend to today's gardener as we seek for a balance of control and spontaneity that are necessary in our play with nature. I've read several parts of this book over and over and have given it to academics and gardeners alike. Awesome!

THE BOOK IS A GIFT FOR A CLASSY GARDENER WHO FOLLOWS CLASSICAL PROCEDURES. I WAS DRAWN TO IT BY A RECOMMENDATION IN THE NEW YORK TIMES.

Brilliant and revealing. BEAR IN MIND THAT THIS IS
ABOVE ALL, A SCHOLARLY, IN-DEPTH WORK.

I'll need to read it again to let the major points sink in
(I'm no scholar).

The treatment of the Eden myth is remarkably thoughtful.

I bought the book on the basis of the title alone. The author is amazingly erudite, but there is no trace of dirt under his fingernails.