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    Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence
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    Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence
    Unavailable
    Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence
    Ebook197 pages3 hours

    Brilliant Green: The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence

    By Stefano Mancuso, Alessandra Viola and Michael Pollan

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    About this ebook

    Are plants intelligent? Can they solve problems, communicate, and navigate their surroundings? Or are they passive, incapable of independaction or social behavior? Philosophers and scientists have pondered these questions since anciGreece, moften concluding that plants are unthinking and inert: they are too silent, too sedentary -- just too differfrom us. Yet discoveries over the past fifty years have challenged these ideas, shedding new light on the extraordinary capabilities and complex interior lives of plants.
    In Brilliant Green, Stefano Mancuso, a leading scientist and founder of the field of plant neurobiology, presents a new paradigm in our understanding of the vegetal world. Combining a historical perspective with the latest in plant science, Mancuso argues that, due to cultural prejudices and human arrogance, we continue to underestimate plants. In fact, they process information, sleep, remember, and signal to one another -- showing that, far from passive machines, plants are intelligand aware. Through a survey of plant capabilities from sight and touch to communication, Mancuso challenges our notion of intelligence, presenting a vision of plant life that is more sophisticated than mimagine.
    Plants have much to teach us, from network building to innovations in robotics and man-made materials -- but only if we understand more about how they live. Part botany lesson, part manifesto, Brilliant Green is an engaging and passionate examination of the inner workings of the plant kingdom.
    Financial support for the translation of this book has been provided by SEPS: Segretariato Europeo Per Le Pubblicazioni Scientifiche.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIsland Press
    Release dateMar 12, 2015
    ISBN9781610916042
    Author

    Stefano Mancuso

    Stefano Mancuso is one of the world’s leading authorities in the field of plant neurobiology, which explores signaling and communication at all levels of biological organization. He is the associate professor at the University of Florence in Italy and has published more than 250 scientific papers in international journals.

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    Reviews for Brilliant Green

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Plants are far more advanced than we give them credit for. Mancuso and Viola are out to set the record straight, and they do it in an easy to read primer on the structure of plants. This is a fast read and a short book, covering a lot of ground far less verbosely than Darwin, where pretty much all of the observations originated.The most important revelation in Brilliant Green is that plants are in effect colonies, like ants or bees. There are no essential organs that can fatally fail, and damage can be overcome by the network structure, much like the internet. Plants have numerous internal networks and systems. There is constant, active internal communication, and they take a very active role in their wellbeing and their environs. They can sense and favor their own offspring, seek out nutrients and avoid poisons, and instruct leaves to be more conservationist when moisture levels underground are low. They have not only all five of our senses, but 15 more, like detecting gravity, levels of sunlight, time of year and the presence of others.If plants are wiped out, we would not survive more than a few weeks. If we were wiped out, plants would take over everything we had built in a few years. A lot more respect is due.David Wineberg
    • 5/5
      Stefan Mancuso writes about science in such a way that a non-scientific person can understand. The subject of plant intelligence is discussed with myriad fascinating examples, inviting us to open our minds and respect our green relations in a powerful new way.