The Private Life of Plants (Hardcover)

by David Attenborough (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Intrepid naturalist Attenborough (Trials of Life, Little, Brown, 1991) once again stalks the planet to find the most fascinating and exquisite specimens to illustrate the wonders of the living world. There are plants in this book that this natural history reviewer and botany major never saw before, such as the Sumatran titan arum with its nine-foot-tall inflorescence and the equally elusive British ghost orchid, which regularly reappears after being declared extinct. Attenborough notes that plants "must grapple with much the same problems as animals, including ourselves," and describes these endeavors in chapters on traveling, feeding and growing, flowering, social struggle, living together, and surviving. Other popularizations have covered the same basic territory, but rarely in such a captivating way. Highly recommended for natural history collections at all levels. [This is a companion to a six-part BBC series that will air this fall in the United States.?Ed.]?Beth Clewis, Prince William P.L. System, Va.
-?Beth Clewis, Prince William P.L. System, Va.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
In The Private Life Of Plants, David Attenborough treks through rainforests, mountain ranges, deserts, beaches, and home gardens to show us things we might never have suspected about the vegetation that surrounds us. With their extraordinary sensibility, plants compete endlessly for survival and interact with animals and insects: the can see, count, communicate, adjust position, strike, and capture. Attenborough makes the plant world a vivid place for readers with lively descriptions and nearly 300 full-color photos showing plants in close detail. The Private Life Of Plants shows that plants fight, avoid or exploit predators or neighbors, struggle to find food, increase their territories, reproduce themselves, and establish their place in the sun. Covering a remarkable range of information with enthusiasm and clarity, helping the reader to look anew at the vegetation on which all life depends and which has an intriguing life of its own. The Private Life Of Plants will interest and inform any reader interested in exploring the natural world. -- Midwest Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (August 21, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691006393
• ISBN-13: 978-0691006390
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #431,981 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big picture botany, December 29, 2002

By	Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars inexplicably magical, April 29, 2005

By	Francatelli - See all my reviews

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars absolutely excellent, December 16, 2008

By	bob (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews

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.