Customer Reviews

The Private Life of Plants: A Natural History of Plant Behaviour

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This book presents an overview of many areas of botany. The book is written in an informal style for the general reader rather than specialists or university students. Nevertheless, it contains a wealth of facts and information about hundreds, if not thousands of plant species. What I especially liked about the book is that it doesn't get bogged down in details when discussing topics such as seed dispersal or pollination. Instead, Attenborough has done an admirable job of explaining the issues in very clear language. He also provides numerous examples and anecdotes, along with several full color photos on every page. The photos certainly make this book a fine volume for the coffee table. As an aside, Attenborough is a British author, so some of his examples are of British or European plants that Americans may not be familiar with. At times, Attenborough's almost anti-academic style can also go a little overboard, such as when he rejects the standard practice of italicizing Latin species names. Nevertheless, the book is quite well written, and will be of interest to anyone who likes plants or photography. It could also serve as a science resource for home schoolers.

Although I could never be bored watching "The Private Life of Plants" over and over, I bought the book on a sale table, not expecting much. I was, however, absorbed in it that evening, reading and poring over pictures of plants I'd never seen. The next day I was walking along a watercourse that had recently been in flood. Hanging from a bit of log was the 'skeleton' of a fungi that I would have never recognised, had I not stared at the picture in wonder the night before, as something simply extraordinary.

incredible book. I dog eared the pages with fascinating information, ended up with 95% of the book dog eared. literally almost every page has something incredible that you've never heard of before. I have a college degree in biology and geology, I took some botany courses, almost none of this stuff was mentioned.

'The Private Life of Plants' delivers another amazing book by Attenborough looking at plant behaviour that aids in their survival. Like all of his books his style is extremely easy to read and you are soon drawn in to the fascinating lives of the various plants he describes and you are left in awe at the tenacity and diversity of these seemingly inanimate species. Throughout the book you get one page of text and another full page of the most stunning photography you are ever likely to see and occasionally you'll get a double spread for a particularly impressive image. This looks at plant behaviour in relation to gaining nutrients, reproduction, fighting(!), coexisting with other plants and animals and a whole range of other traits besides. As part of the Attenborough collection of books this really can't be missed. It is also well worth a look in it's own right and makes for a couple days of informative and completely engrossing reading. The wonder of nature and the fascinating life of plants has rarely been so well presented, and yet we've become so used to that from Attenborough that anything less would be a let down. This more than lives up to this high standard.

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Interesting take on plants. Since I love gardening and beautiful flowers, I have a desire to learn as much as I can and David is one of my favorite educators.

This book was shipped in excellent condition and but shipping took many days. The content of the book will be obviously good since it is from Sir David Attenborough.

David Attenborough describes the interesting life of plants in a very interesting way, and that makes the book to my number one. He is telling us about the evolution and how it developed the plants, how it have given the spicies such spectacular behaviors, behaviors most of us didn't know about.

A fantastic book which brings plants alive