The Light Eaters

How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth

Hardcover, 290 pages

English language

Published 2024 by HarperCollins Publishers.

ISBN:
978-0-06-307385-2
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
1421933387

View on OpenLibrary

5 stars (1 review)

It takes tremendous biological creativity to be a plant. To survive and thrive while rooted in a single spot, plants have adapted ingenious methods of survival. In recent years, scientists have learned about their ability to communicate, recognize their kin and behave socially, hear sounds, morph their bodies to blend into their surroundings, store useful memories that inform their life cycle, and trick animals into behaving to their benefit, to name just a few remarkable talents.

The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence. In looking closely, we see that plants, rather than imitate human intelligence, have perhaps formed a parallel system. What is intelligent life if not a vine that grows leaves to blend into the shrub on which it climbs, a flower that shapes …

6 editions

An ode to our fellow living creatures

5 stars

I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by the author, and it was just so good.

I loved the way the narrative played out as she described her talks with botanists around the world. She covered so much ground and made a potentially difficult topic super fun and engaging.

I really love how she mulled alongside the scientists she interviewed and it made me thing a lot about the plants that are around me and how they may feel in the environment.

Exactly the kind of approachable and fun writing I hope to see from journalists. I wonder what the author will take on next!