Comments on: Second Nature: Garden Bloggers’ Book Club

By: commonweeder

commonweeder — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:57:15 +0000

I agree with Dee that mentioning the changes in information gathering over the past 15 years is a good idea. For me the book wasn’t so much dated as irritating. However, I did very much enjoy Botany of Desire. I haven’t read in Defense of Food. We are big eaters of Real Food at our house, and reading about people who aren’t is too depressing.

By: Dee/reddirtramblings.com

Dee/reddirtramblings.com — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:29:30 +0000

Kathy, great idea to tie the review and the book’s information to present day information gathering. I wouldn’t have thought of that. Splendid. Reading it for the first time this time, I found it dated.~~Dee

By: kate

kate — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:20:48 +0000

Kathy, this was a fascinating review to read. I was transported back to that time before computers – to searching libraries for information – and what an impact this book would have had then.

By: tedb

tedb — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:05:46 +0000

I also read Second Nature when it first came out, and a couple times since then. It remains my favorite of Pollan’s books. It’s the most personal and intimate.

Ted

By: Annie in Austin

Annie in Austin — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:53:49 +0000

Is it even possible for young gardeners to understand what lengths one had to go to for information back then? I can remember hours poring over reference books at the library trying to identify passalong plants that were given to me.

I’m older than you Kathy, and many of the concepts talked about by Michael Pollan were already familiar to me when I read it back then…luckily I’d already met Allan Lacy, Eleanor Perenyi , Celestine Sibley and the venerable Organic Magazine . But in 1991 no one else I knew read those books or got that magazine. Maybe it was esoterica instead of common knowledge. Judging by the amount of lawn chemicals going out of Home Depot on an Austin Saturday morning one might assume it’s still esoterica!

You’ve written wonderfully about this book and of your own personal introduction to gardening philosophies. When it was written, Pollan was a 35-year old man who’d spent just 8 years as a landowner. For a work like this the context is important.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

See you in a few days!

By: Mr. McGregor's Daughter

Mr. McGregor's Daughter — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:33:14 +0000

I like when book reviewers revist a book that they haven’t read for a long time. It gives a deeper perspective to the review & an interesting comparision with my experience of reading a book for the first time. Thanks for your insights.

By: Kathryn J

Kathryn J — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:23:20 +0000

Your right about the passage of time and how more aware we are today. I reacted to Second Nature with your same sense of its revolutionary nature.

My review of Second Nature is up now.

Kathryn

By: Nancy Bond

Nancy Bond — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:16:05 +0000

Thank you for the excellent review.

By: Carol, May Dreams Gardens

Carol, May Dreams Gardens — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:34:29 +0000

Interesting, how easy it is for us to find books today, compared to even 10 years ago. Not only do we have Amazon and other online bookstores, but if we so choose, we can show the world what’s in our own libraries via sites like librarything.com.

Thanks for the book review. I think it speaks to the maturity of a gardener when they finally think beyond ‘what to plant’ to ‘what impact am I having on the natural world around me’. It is always good to stop and consider if, as a gardener, we are doing the right thing on the plot we plant on. It is quite a concept.