Research Catalog

Title

Brilliant green : the surprising history and science of plant intelligence / Stefano Mancuso and Alessandra Viola ; translated by Joan Benham ; foreword by Michael Pollan.

Author

Mancuso, Stefano

Publication

Washington : Island Press, [2015]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Viola, Alessandra
• Benham, Joan (Translator)
• Pollan, Michael

Description

xiii, 173 pages : illustrations; 21 cm

Summary

In this book, a leading plant scientist offers a new understanding of the botanical world and a passionate argument for intelligent plant life. Are plants intelligent? Can they solve problems, communicate, and navigate their surroundings? For centuries, philosophers and scientists have argued that plants are unthinking and inert, yet discoveries over the past fifty years have challenged this idea, shedding new light on the complex interior lives of plants. In Brilliant Green, leading scientist Stefano Mancuso presents a new paradigm in our understanding of the vegetal world. He argues that plants process information, sleep, remember, and signal to one another-showing that, far from passive machines, plants are intelligent and aware. Part botany lesson, part manifesto, Brilliant Green is an engaging and passionate examination of the inner workings of the plant kingdom.

Uniform Title

Verde brillante. English

Alternative Title

Verde brillante.

Subject

• Plant physiology > Popular works
• Plants > Popular works
• Plant physiology
• Plants

Genre/Form

• Popular works
• Popular works.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-173).

Language (note)

• Translation of: Verde brillante.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

The root of the problem. Plants and the great monotheistic religions ; The plant world according to writers and philosophers ; The fathers of botany : Linnaeus and Darwin ; Humans are the most evolved beings on the planet. Or are they? ; Plants : always second fiddle -- The plant : a stranger. Euglena versus paramecium : an even match? ; Five hundred million years ago ; A plant is a colony ; A problem of tempos ; Life without plants : impossible -- The senses of plants. Sight ; Smell ; Taste ; Touch Hearing ; --and fifteen other senses! -- Communication in plants. Communication inside the plant ; Communication between plants ; Communication between plants and animals -- Plant intelligence. Can we speak of "plant intelligence?" ; What can we learn from artificial intelligence? ; Intelligence unites, it doesn't divide ; Charles Darwin and the intelligence of plants ; Each plant is a living Internet network ; A swarm of roots ; The aliens are here : plant intelligence as a model for understanding extraterrestrial intelligence ; Plants' sleep.

ISBN

• 9781610916035
• 1610916034

LCCN

^^2014956813

OCLC

• 896601415
• SCSB-10465515

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library