Review by Booklist Review
Plants are often regarded as merely background scenery: a cluster of trees, a yard of neatly manicured grass, a cornfield, flowers, and vines. That impression is rooted in their docile demeanor and how they are anchored to the soil. Researcher Calvo urges us to "change our perception of plants" and consider the radical possibility that plants might actually "think." He proposes a type of intelligence that doesn't require nerves or a brain and asks readers to imagine what it would feel like to be a plant. Calvo provides fascinating information about the lives of plants while posing substantial questions. Can plants suffer, learn, or deliberately communicate (via chemicals)? Do they exhibit unique behaviors or just genetically programmed reactions? A mimosa plant and a Venus flytrap can be anesthetized so that they no longer respond as usual to touch or prey; does that perhaps suggest the presence of "higher functioning?" Scientific discovery embraces novel thinking and often requires boldness. Time will tell whether Calvo's supposition of plant cognition is indeed a revolutionary achievement or just a hypothesis headed for the compost bin.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Plants are more extraordinary than they're given credit for, contends Calvo, a philosophy of science professor at the University of Murcia, Spain, in his mind-blowing debut. Drawing on research being done at the "frontiers of neuroscience, plant physiology, psychology and philosophy," Calvo suggests that plants "proactively engage with their surroundings" and may be capable of planning "ahead to achieve goals." The behavior of some flora indicates they might have memory, he posits, citing a study that found some plants that have lived through a drought conserve water more effectively than those that haven't, and that plants "are quicker to defend against herbivores or parasites if they've been previously attacked." Calvo broaches the possibility that plants might have personalities and relates that mimosa plants appear to have individual preferences for how quickly they fold up their leaves in the presence of a threat. Calvo is open about the need for more research before drawing definitive conclusions, but even those not fully convinced of plant intelligence will question their own assumptions about which organisms are capable of sentience. This impressive addition to the growing literature on how plants experience the world will change how readers see the flora around them. (Mar.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Are plants sentient? Calvo, a professor of philosophy of science at Universidad de Murcia in Spain, begins classes by demonstrating that, when exposed to an anesthetic, mimosa leaves stop withdrawing and Venus flytraps stop trapping. If a plant can be put to sleep as an animal can, writes the author, "perhaps we might consider the possibility that plants are not simple automatons or inert, photosynthetic machines. We might begin to imagine that plants have some kind of individual experience of the world. They might be aware." To the relentlessly "zoocentric" human mind, movement and intelligence are linked, but plants could not exist in the brutal competition for survival if they did not take in information, learn, and plan ahead. Although lacking neurons like animals, they use similar electrical signals to engage with their surroundings. Despite possessing a completely different system, they're doing something similar. Many scientists disagree with these notions, arguing that plant "behavior" is simply adaptation, a genetically encoded response to a stimulus that has proved advantageous over evolutionary time. Taking up the challenge, Calvo agrees that "it's up to us to prove it" and proceeds to describe sophisticated behavior that will impress even skeptical readers. Following the sun during the day, some plants turn at night to face the sunrise the following day. Kept in a black box in the lab, they will not lose the memory for three or four days. Simple slime molds gather to form large masses than can solve maze problems and remember molecular likes and dislikes through communication between individual cells. Along with fascinating examples, Calvo devotes equal space to arguments with philosophers and fellow scientists over the meaning of intelligence. Readers will find it difficult to resist his claim that plants tailor their forms and experiences to their environments in a way that animals simply cannot. "If we look closely at how they do this," writes the author, "we will be able to begin to understand why they do." Persuasive evidence for plant intelligence. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
