Book Review: Botany for Gardeners

This book was such an an educational adventure, that I can't wait to read it again. It's one of the few books that I've lent that I really feel that I need to have my own copy - and not just 'for the bookcase' either (although the bookcase it privvy to some good, though too infrequently read, classics), but so I can re-read it and also use it as a reference book.

This review is based on the second edition of the book, but third edition was published in May 2010 and is currently ranked number 10 for books about botany and plant sciences on the Amazon.co.uk database. You can have a sneek peek with the 'look inside'. 

The author, Brian Capon, didn't just write this book. He's provided some wonderfully clear illustrations that really help to bring the story of the science behind plants to brilliant clarity. The book covers the following topics:

1. Cells and Seeds
2. Roots and Shoots
3. Inside Stems
4. Inside Roots and Leaves
5. Adaptations for Protection
6. Adaptations to Fulfil Basic Needs
7. Control of Growth and Development
8. Uptake and Use of Water, Minerals, and Light
9. From Flowers to Fruits
10. Strategies of Inheritance

Along with the clear and concise description of the topics above, highlighted by illustrations, the author also makes great use of photographs, including images taken from microscopes. Quite often there will be the text about a topic, followed by an illustration, followed by a photograph the real thing, which really helps the concepts sink in, as the detail slowly builds up.

I can't praise this book enough. I think I've read this book at the ideal time - as a beginner. It have assisted me to learn a lot very quickly - but I know that I'll need to revisit the book as my understanding deepens, so I can have a refresher and get the most of the knowledge packed into this book. I can see why the book is called botany for gardeners, but I don't feel that gardeners are the only ones that can benefit from a text such as this. I think this book is easily good enough for anyone studying plant science or botany to read and to receive much more than they expected.

One of the many pieces of information I received from this book and that will always stick with me, is the knowledge that flowering plants are the sporophyte generation, when I thought spores stopped with mosses and ferns. For me, this book is worth reading, just for that. Yet that's only a couple of paragraphs in this rather insightful tome.

Brian ends with this call to action about the book "Now let it be a guide as you embark on
many more journeys of discovery." As this book was one of the instigators of this adventure (along with the Private Life of Plants), I shall be happy to let it be my guide.

My advice, if you should ever need it, is to let it be your guide too...


   

Own or Loan:         Own
Read Again:          Yes
Recommend:         Yes
Overall out of Five:4