The Botany of Desire
Michael Pollan · 2001
Pollan asked: what if we thought about the relationship between humans and plants from the plant's perspective? His four case studies (apples/sweetness, tulips/beauty, cannabis/intoxication, potatoes/control) reveal coevolution as a two-way process and permanently changed how readers think about nature, agriculture, and desire.
The case against
Plants do not have desires, and Pollan knows it; the plant's-eye conceit is a framing device that gets thinner with each chapter until the potato section drops it entirely and becomes a Monsanto exposé. Chapter quality varies too: apples and cannabis earn their pages, while the tulip essay pads Dutch mania anecdotes into a thesis.
Non-Fiction · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
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