The Triumph of Seeds

May 7, 2015 By John E. Riutta in Newly Noted Books Tags: basic, book, Botany, hanson, horticulture, News, seeds, triumph

How much thought do you give to the importance of seeds? Unless you’re a botanist or a horticulturist, you likely give as much thought as I do – not much. Oh – like me – you might give quite a lot of thought to the plants that grow from seeds, but not the seeds themselves.

However after reading just the first chapter of Thor Hanson’s The Triumph of Seeds; How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History from Basic Books, I knew I would be giving far more thought to seeds in the coming week that I likely had in all the previous weeks of my life combined, to say nothing of how much I’ll likely be thinking of them once I finish the entire book.

Check back and I’ll let you know what I discover.

John E. Riutta

Founder and publisher of The Well-read Naturalist. Inveterate autodidact. Has repeatedly been found out standing in many fields. Plays well with otters.

→ John E. Riutta

Recent Reviews

The Marvelously Multifaceted Mr. Newton
January 22, 2023
Most of us likely first heard the name Isaac Newton when we were in primary school. For some, it may have been in a classroom; for others it may have been while viewing a television program – most likely a cartoon. However, in most all instances, I’d be willing to wager that the name was […]
Then There Were Dragons
November 20, 2022
The phrase “here there be dragons,” so famously seen on old maps indicating places where there were great and mysterious dangers to be found, was not so very long ago not simply a metaphor. In fact, no less an authority on natural philosophy (what would later become known as natural history) than Linnaeus himself included […]
Meeting Your Local Spiders
October 9, 2022
When it comes to lists of common phobias, arachnophobia – the fear of spiders – almost always makes the top ten, and more often than not, the top five. Some have even argued that the fear of spiders, like the fear of snakes, is an innate fear – people are simply born with it thanks […]