Second Nature: A Gardener's Education

Overview

In his articles and in best-selling books such as The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan has established himself as one of our most important and beloved writers on modern man's place in the natural world. A new literary classic, Second Nature has become a manifesto not just for gardeners but for environmentalists everywhere. "As delicious a meditation on one man's relationships with the Earth as any you are likely to come upon" (The New York Times Book Review), Second Nature captures the rhythms of our everyday engagement with the outdoors in all its glory and exasperation. With chapters ranging from a reconsideration of the Great American Lawn, a dispatch from one man's war with a woodchuck, to an essay about the sexual politics of roses, Pollan has created a passionate and eloquent argument for reconceiving our relationship with nature.

Editorial Reviews

This isn't so much a how-to on gardening as a how-to on thinking about gardening. It follows the course of the natural year, from spring through winter, as [Pollan], an editor at Harper's , chronicles his growth as a gardener in Connecticut's rocky Housatonic Valley. Starting out as a "child of Thoreau," [Pollan] soon realized that society's concept of culture as the enemy of nature would get him a bumper crop of weeds and well-fed woodchucks but no vegetables to eat. Far more serviceable materially and philosophically, he now finds, is the metaphor of a garden, where nature and culture form a harmonious whole. [Pollan] finds ample time for musing on how his own tasks fit in with the overall scheme of existence; thus, there are chapters titled "Compost and Its Moral Imperatives" and "The Idea of a Garden." Although serious in import, the writing is never ponderous; [Pollan]'s wit flashes throughout, and particularly in anecdotes about his youth: one memorable incident has his father mowing his initials in the front yard after being reproached by a suburban neighbor about his overgrown lawn.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Author Information

Bio of Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine and the author, most recently, of The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World, a New York Times best seller. His writing has received numerous awards, including the John Burroughs prize (for the best natural history essay in 1997), the QPB New Vision Award (for his first book, Second Nature), the 2000 Reuters-I.U.C.N. Global Award for Environmental Journalism for his reporting on genetic engineering and the 2003 American Humane Society's Genesis Award for his writing on animal agriculture. The Botany of Desire received the Borders Original Voices Award for the best non-fiction work of 2001, and was recognized as a best book of the year by the American Booksellers Association and Amazon. Beginning in 2003 he will be the Knight Professor of Journalism at Berkeley. Pollan's previous books are A Place of My Own (1997) and The Botany of Desire (2001). His work is included in many anthologies, including Best American Essays and The Norton Book of Nature Writing. In addition to publishing regularly in the New York Times Magazine, his articles have appeared in Harper's, Vogue, Gourmet, Travel & Leisure, Garden Design, Gardens Illustrated, and House & Garden. Pollan is also a contributing editor at Harper's Magazine, where he served for many years as Executive Editor. Pollan grew up on Long Island, and was educated at Bennington College, Oxford University, and Columbia University.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated

Filesize

940.59 KB

Number of Pages

320

eBook ISBN

9780802198617