3.5
Second Nature
ByPublisher Description
“One of the distinguished gardening books of our time,” from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma (USA Today).
Chosen by the American Horticultural Society as one of the 75 greatest books ever written about gardening
After Michael Pollan bought an old Connecticut dairy farm, he planted a garden and attempted to follow Thoreau’s example: do not impose your will upon the wilderness, the woodchucks, or the weeds. That ethic did not, of course, work. But neither did pesticides or firebombing the woodchuck burrow. So Michael Pollan began to think about the troubled borders between nature and contemporary life.
The result is a funny, profound, and beautifully written book in the finest tradition of American nature writing. It inspires thoughts on the war of the roses; sex and class conflict in the garden; virtuous composting; the American lawn; seed catalogs, and the politics of planting a tree. A blend of meditation, autobiography, and social history, Second Nature, from the renowned author of The Botany of Desire, In Defense of Food, and other bestsellers, is “as delicious a meditation on one man’s relationship with the Earth as any you are likely to come upon” (The New York Times Book Review).
“Usually when Americans have wanted to explore their relationship to nature they’ve gone to the wilderness, or the woods. Michael Pollan went to the garden instead . . . and he’s returned with a quirky and pleasing book.” —Annie Dillard
“A joy to read.” —Los Angeles Times
Chosen by the American Horticultural Society as one of the 75 greatest books ever written about gardening
After Michael Pollan bought an old Connecticut dairy farm, he planted a garden and attempted to follow Thoreau’s example: do not impose your will upon the wilderness, the woodchucks, or the weeds. That ethic did not, of course, work. But neither did pesticides or firebombing the woodchuck burrow. So Michael Pollan began to think about the troubled borders between nature and contemporary life.
The result is a funny, profound, and beautifully written book in the finest tradition of American nature writing. It inspires thoughts on the war of the roses; sex and class conflict in the garden; virtuous composting; the American lawn; seed catalogs, and the politics of planting a tree. A blend of meditation, autobiography, and social history, Second Nature, from the renowned author of The Botany of Desire, In Defense of Food, and other bestsellers, is “as delicious a meditation on one man’s relationship with the Earth as any you are likely to come upon” (The New York Times Book Review).
“Usually when Americans have wanted to explore their relationship to nature they’ve gone to the wilderness, or the woods. Michael Pollan went to the garden instead . . . and he’s returned with a quirky and pleasing book.” —Annie Dillard
“A joy to read.” —Los Angeles Times
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3.5
Alex
Created 2 months agoShare
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“There’s a lot of interesting discussions in here, but I also found myself frustrated by the lack of genuine engagement with many other views. It frequently comes off as condescending and self-righteous, and some arguments border on strawmans. Many of Pollan’s ideas tend to be based off of what feels good rather than much science (Pollan isn’t a scientist and this isn’t a scientific book). Some of Pollan’s insights are certainly valuable, but there isn’t even a clear idea in this book of what nature is, which of course doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing to everyone. I would love to see him engage meaningfully with restoration ecologists or even just some indigenous people.
Overall, this book seems to be addressed almost entirely to middle-class white Americans who care about the environment but aren’t necessarily “environmentalists”. I expect anyone else may struggle with this book. It’s perspectives are understandably limited, it makes assumptions that aren’t always well based, and it draws conclusions that seem to work for the author and maybe some other people, but are not actionable for many if not most people. I’ve heard that Pollan’s other books are better, but from the excerpts I’ve seen of some of his later work, I think I may have similar issues with it. It’s not bad, per se, but the core audience is limited, and I’m not sure I’m a part of it.”
Jake Kron
Created 3 months agoShare
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rvresi01
Created 7 months agoShare
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“Amusing in places, but not enough to keep my interest - a poor man's https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7.Bill_Bryson . I also felt that much of the subject matter was repeated - the chapter on roses and the catalogs had much of the same information, which was dulling.
I WAS going to buy a copy of this for my dad, thinking he might be more of the reader for this than I was, but then I read the chapter on roses and realized that this could never be. And I will never look at roses the same way again.”
noelle_loves_books
Created 7 months agoShare
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“Funny and insightful. I'm not a big enough gardening nerd to qualify as the target audience, but I mostly enjoyed it.”
HiddenGinger
Created 8 months agoShare
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About Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan is the author of The Botany of Desire and the prize-winning A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder. In 1991, he received the QPB New Visions prize for Second Nature, which was also chosen by the American Horticultural Society as one of the seventy-five greatest books ever written about gardening. He is currently the editor of Modern Library’s gardening series and a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine.
Other books by Michael Pollan
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