Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 635 EAN: 9780802140111 ISBN: 0802140114 Label: Grove Press Manufacturer: Grove Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 320 Publication Date: August 12, 2003 Publisher: Grove Press Sales Rank: 3403 Studio: Grove Press
In his articles and in best-selling books such as The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan has established himself as one of our most important and beloved writers on modern man's place in the natural world. A new literary classic, Second Nature has become a manifesto not just for gardeners but for environmentalists everywhere. Chosen by the American Horticultural Society as one of the seventy-five greatest books ever written about gardening, Second Nature captures the rhythms of our everyday engagement with the outdoors in all its glory and exasperation. With chapters ranging from a reconsideration of the Great American Lawn, a dispatch from one man's war with a woodchuck, to an essay about the sexual politics of roses, Pollan has created a passionate and eloquent argument for reconceiving our relationship with nature.
What Others Say
More about Michael Pollan than gardens
That's not entirely fair, but...this is a book of essays, not a natural history or gardening book. It is about Pollan's perceptions of nature and landscape, through the gateway of his garden. He does only enough research to flesh out his musings with historical fact and literary reference - and he is very selective. He leans heavily on Thoreau, and neglects wider scholarship. His essays bog down in pedantic and turgid language (he abuses at least one 5-syllable word per essay). The writing is much like Bill Bryson's, about whom, I'm also kinda lukewarm. I didn't love it, although there are good bits - the story of his first rose plantings was interesting, and inspired me to drop a few snobby old roses in the sod.
Delightful reading
Michael Pollan's writing is full of metaphors. Second Nature: A Gardener's Education about nature as a human construct was enjoyable to read. I found some parts frustrating because I like the romantic idea of nature even if it is just a human construct. But overall I would recommend Second Nature: A Gardener's Education for a quick read.
philosopher of gardening
I loved Second Nature: A Gardener's Education. It is written in the spirit of earth that author obviously is in love with. The book is divided into four seasons: spring summer,fall and winter. Each of the seasons has it's own unique characteristic that follows ancient tradition of preparing soil, sowing,cultivating, weeding, harvesting and winter nothingness.
However if reader looks for practical advises, he or she will not find it here. It is a wonderfull read for all the nature lovers.
Lawn Mowing et al
Pollans description of what is a green thumb and the sysiphean art of mowing reminded me how therapeutic gardening can be and why it cures depression. Thank you Michael for making me look at my roses in a totally different way. You will love Second Nature: A Gardener's Education if you tend to think in pictures and love the art and hard work of gardening.
For the virtual gardener
I picked up Second Nature: A Gardener's Education when I didn't have my own dirt to get my hands into, and I was hoping to garden vicariously through Pollan's essays.
There are a lot of lessons to be found. For instance, the chapter on roses explains how human intervention and selective breeding brought about a huge difference between the technicolor tear-dropped buds we see for sale at the grocery store and the rounder and simpler flowers that Shakespeare and his contemporaries wrote about.
Throughout the book Pollan makes the case for uniting culture and nature in the garden rather than pitting them against each other as Thoreau (the naturist) did in his writings or suburban landscaping (very culture-centered) implies today. It is an interesting ... Read More
