Around the World in 80 Plants

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Jonathan Drori CBE is a Trustee of The Eden Project, an Ambassador for the WWF and was for nine years Trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and The Woodland Trust. From the unfurling leaves of the silver tree fern to the colours and impossible shapes of some unique and strange-looking orchids, these drawings add yet another layer of delight.

If you read extensively on many subjects, then here's another fascinating book to add to your collection - you'll love this one. Apparently Malcolm X used nutmeg in jail for a high; it was banned in prisons in the US to avoid misuse. Around the World in 80 Plants makes me want to find out yet more about the plants that are so often overlooked as a green background, or seen merely as scenery to frame the animals, yet are vital for supporting life on Earth.Plants are absolutely fascinating, and it was wonderful to immerse myself in their beauty while learning about the cultural and ecological significance they have had around the world—sometimes profound and sometimes just plain quirky. For the Aztec civilization, medical treatment combined the use of plants with magic and religion; marigolds were part of the decoration and offerings at religious festivals, and deities were decorated with marigold garlands. He is on the board of Cambridge University Botanic Garden, and is a Fellow of the Linnean Society, the Zoological Society of London and the Royal Geographical Society. She works within the field of editorial design and illustration for books and magazines, mainly, but also for the fashion industry and occasionally realising murals and exhibition spaces. Take this particularly appealing description of the nutmeg plant: 'Girdling the shiny nut is a succulent, lacy layer, an utterly sensual blood-red aril, or seed covering, which is itself surrounded by a fleshy husk.

Also, this book is so good that I bought myself a copy to have halfway through reading my copy from the library. Apart from telling us all about the plant's quirks, Drori also sometimes adds a slightly cynical or critical note about humans and the way we treat or have been treating the plants in question, not in the least because that behaviour threatens our own lives, or all life on our precious planet. Spanish and Italian cheesemakers steep whole flowering artichoke heads in water to extract a enzyme that can coagulate milk to be used instead of rennet in cheese. I wonder what criteria Drori considered when picking his 80 plants to cover because he certainly covered the world and every continent - including the ocean!

Wist je al dat chrysanten in het Verre Oosten erg geliefd zijn omdat ze symbool staan voor verjonging en een lang leven, terwijl ze elders eerder worden geassocieerd met rouw? Jonathan Drori, ambassadeur van het WWF, neemt zijn lezers mee op een boeiende botanische wereldreis. Se poi a questo aggiungiamo i bellissimi disegni di Lucille Clerc, che non sono secondi nemmeno alla migliore enciclopedia illustrata, Il giro del mondo in 80 piante diventa un libro assolutamente adatto a tutti.

In his follow-up to the bestselling Around the World in 80 Trees, Jonathan Drori takes another trip across the globe, bringing to life the science of plants by revealing how their worlds are intricately entwined with our own history, culture and folklore. Or perhaps you'll opt for the culinary tips, sometimes the medicinal uses or very often the history. As well as incredible facts about each plant, the author provides details of related human history, from the quirky to the abhorrent. She graduated with a DSAA in Visual Communication from Olivier de Serres in Paris, and set up her studio after graduating from Central Saint Martins in London with an MA in Communication Design.This goes through some sad histories and some amazing and some which has subtly been side lined in our collective histories. La capacita dell'autore di rendere fruibile una materia cosi di nicchia come quella della botanica è davvero impressionante, tanto da farmi consigliare questo libro anche a chi come me non è appassionato ad un mondo cosi vasto come quello delle piante, che richiede una nozione di base scientifica appartenente solo a chi ha affrontato un certo percorso di studi.