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The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire And The Birth Of An Obsession (2008)

by Andrea Wulf(Favorite Author)

4.18 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0434016128 (ISBN13: 9780434016129)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

William Heinemann

review 1: This was torturous to get through. While my interest in garden is mild, my love of reading is such that I have been enthralled by many a book on even less interesting topics due to great writing. This is how we learn about new places, people, ideas no? I can't say anything good about this nonfiction tale of how gardening came to be a middleclass pursuit in 18th century England. The writing was dry and with the exception of one or two anecdotes, this book was quickly forgotten.
review 2: I gave this 4 stars because I love how Wulf can make botany interesting. Her more recent, Founding Gardeners is one of my favorites, but this one is more suited to those who are really really into plants. I admit that I skimmed that heavy botanical descriptions. What was cool to... more read was the connection of Europe and "the colonies" even during the revolutionary war just so that plants could be sent/received (ships were allowed passage through special arrangements), and the controversy of organizing/naming plants. I will never see a gardenia again without thinking of the 2 year argument that almost ruined a respected botanist's (Garden) reputation. less

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