
The Triumph of Seeds
How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses & Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History
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Narrated by:
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Marc Vietor
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By:
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Thor Hanson
About this listen
We live in a world of seeds. From our morning toast to the cotton in our clothes, they are quite literally the stuff and staff of life, supporting diets, economies, and civilizations around the globe. Just as the search for nutmeg and the humble peppercorn drove the Age of Discovery, so did coffee beans help fuel the Enlightenment and cottonseed help spark the Industrial Revolution. And from the fall of Rome to the Arab Spring, the fate of nations continues to hinge on the seeds of a Middle Eastern grass known as wheat. In nature and in culture, seeds are fundamental - objects of beauty, evolutionary wonder, and simple fascination. How many times has a child dropped the winged pip of a maple, marveling as it spirals its way down to the ground, or relished the way a gust of wind(or a stout breath) can send a dandelion’s feathery flotilla skyward? Yet despite their importance, seeds are often seen as a commonplace, their extraordinary natural and human histories overlooked. Thanks to Thor Hanson and this stunning new book, they can be overlooked no more.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2015 Thor Hanson (P)2015 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Story
Dr. Catherine Kleier invites us to open our eyes to the phenomenal world of plant life and to the process she calls “Natura Revelata”, the joy of celebrating and learning from the secrets of nature. As Dr. Kleier shares her knowledge with contagious excitement for her subject, she emphasizes the middle ground: Instead of focusing on cell microbiology or the study of ecosystems and habitats, she stresses the basic biology, function, and the amazing adaptations of the plants we see all around us.
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Needs accompanying documentation and visual aides
- By Ryan on 04-04-19
By: Catherine Kleier, and others
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A Natural History of North American Trees
- By: Donald Culross Peattie
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 18 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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A Natural History of North American Trees gives us a picture of life in America from its earliest days to the middle of the last century. The information is always interesting, though often heartbreaking. While Peattie looks for the better side of man's nature, he reports sorrowfully on the greed and waste that have doomed so much of America's virgin forest.
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A good review of NA silva
- By Euler2.71828 on 08-29-15
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The Nature of Plants
- An Introduction to How Plants Work
- By: Craig N. Huegel
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Plants play a critical role in how we experience our environment. They create calming green spaces, provide oxygen for us to breathe, and nourish our senses. In The Nature of Plants, ecologist and nursery owner Craig Huegel demystifies the complex lives of plants and provides listeners with an extensive tour into their workings.
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So informative!
- By Stephanie Mora on 08-17-22
By: Craig N. Huegel
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Wicked Plants
- The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities
- By: Amy Stewart
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Beware! The sordid lives of plants behaving badly. A tree that sheds poison daggers; a glistening red seed that stops the heart; a shrub that causes paralysis; a vine that strangles; and a leaf that triggered a war. Amy Stewart, best-selling author of Flower Confidential, takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature's most appalling creations in an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend.
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Grows on You Like Kudzu
- By Cynthia on 04-23-13
By: Amy Stewart
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The Hidden Half of Nature
- The Microbial Roots of Life and Health
- By: David R. Montgomery, Anne Bikle
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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A riveting exploration of how microbes are transforming the way we see nature and ourselves - and could revolutionize agriculture and medicine. Prepare to set aside what you think you know about yourself and microbes. Good health - for people and for plants - depends on Earth's smallest creatures. The Hidden Half of Nature tells the story of our tangled relationship with microbes and their potential to revolutionize agriculture and medicine, from garden to gut.
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A perfect introduction to microbiology
- By Ary Shalizi on 02-17-17
By: David R. Montgomery, and others
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Nature's Best Hope
- A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard
- By: Douglas W. Tallamy
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Douglas W. Tallamy's first book, Bringing Nature Home, awakened thousands of individuals to an urgent situation: wildlife populations are in decline because the native plants they depend on are fast disappearing. His solution? Plant more natives. In this new book, Tallamy takes the next step and outlines his vision for a grassroots approach to conservation.
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A must read for everybody! Not just nature lovers.
- By Steve Ebert on 06-11-20
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What We Sow
- On the Personal, Ecological, and Cultural Significance of Seeds
- By: Jennifer Jewell
- Narrated by: Jennifer Jewell
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Jennifer Jewell brings listeners on an insightful year-long journey exploring the outsize impact one of nature's smallest manifestations—the simple seed. She examines our skewed notions where "organic" seeds are grown and sourced, reveals how giant multinational agribusiness has refined and patented the genomes of seeds we rely on for staples like corn and soy, and highlights the efforts of activists working to regain legal access to heirloom seeds that were stolen from Indigenous peoples and people of color.
By: Jennifer Jewell
more than seeds
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Thor Hansen covers a wide range of seed lore, from those that feed us to those that can kill us. In between he talks about their evolution, man-manipulated GMOs, and high-impact seeds from wheat to coffee beans, trees to molds, coconuts to orchids. As part of the adventure he takes the reader to forest, jungles, and deserts as well as interviewing specialists regarding each new category. He even travels to the wheat fields in the "Palouse" region of my state and discusses how viewing a square foot of seemingly empty soil can reveal seeds from dozens of different plants.
The book is an intellectual adventure, too, in investigating questions about seeds most of us would never think to ask and then answering those as well as possible. Fun ideas include: coffee and other plants produce caffeine, a plant poison, to clear away an area of competitors; the "heat" of peppers increase and decrease depending on climate and the type of pests they need to fight. Sexual reproduction was a unique introduction to the plant world, starting with trees like ginkgos and successfully spreading throughout the kingdom. Plant sexuality made the kingdom more dynamic and adaptable. It also provided humans with the tools to do select plant breeding to increase yield and nutrition in food plants.
This is a fun read for any cook or gardener, and an easy enough read for high school and above.
Things you never thought to question
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I love this book.
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Needed last 20% to be read a bit faster.
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An interesting book
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Seeds of many areas of knowledge.
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Inspiring
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Fascinating Microhistory
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The information has been easy to remember and quite useful.
I very much enjoyed the speaker deep and gentle captivating voice.
Amazing storyteller.
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The narrator's voice easily matched the gentle tones and demeanor of the author's words. It was easy to forget that he wasn't the author.
Great Popular Science Overview
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