You can listen to an abridged version of this page as an audio file. The Magic of Mushrooms: Fungi in folklore, superstition and traditional medicine, Sandra Lawrence, 2022. Welbeck, in partnership with RBG Kew. How...
Author - Nigel Chaffey
Nigel Chaffey
Greening the next generation
The Green Planet by Leisa Stewart–Sharpe and Kim Smith, 2022. Puffin Books (an imprint of the Penguin Random House group of companies). Not so long ago I appraised The Green Planet by Simon Barnes. Although I had...
Plants – and plant products – promoting global trade
You can listen to this page as an audio file. Spices, Scents and Silk: Catalysts of world trade, James F Hancock, 2021. CABI. I first encountered James Hancock’s work at the World History Encyclopedia site (e.g. his...
How green is my planet?
Stunning images, like the TV programme, incredible facts, like the TV programme and the same referencing as the TV programme.
You can’t beat a good book
You can listen to this page as an audio file. A Cultural History of Plants* by Annette Giesecke (Anthology Editor) and David Mabberley (Anthology Editor), 2022. Bloomsbury Publishing. I like books [actually, I love them...
Australian animals might kill you, but the plants could cure you…
You can listen to this page as an audio file. Phytochemistry of Australia’s Tropical Rainforest: Medicinal potential of ancient plants by Cheryll J Williams, 2021. CSIRO Publishing/CABI. It is often remarked that...
Novel tree hunted by fictional Victorians
You can listen to an abridged version of this page as an audio file. The Plant Hunter* by TL Mogford, 2022. Welbeck Fiction Limited. I don’t really read novels (Amanda Prahl). It’s not that I have anything against that...
This plant book is amazing
A book that considers not only how plants have nourished the body, but also the soul.
Do we need another picture book about plants?
It depends on whether or not it's a good picture book about plants.
Glossy treasure trove for the word-curious plantsperson
Nigel Chaffey discovers a glossary can also be a page-turner.
Cultivating interest in fruits
Taming fruit: How orchards have transformed the land, offered sanctuary, and inspired creativity, by Bernd Brunner, 2021. Greystone Books Ltd. One might tame lions, or dogs, or other animals, but, does one really tame...
Welcome to the wonderful world of … weeds(!)
Plants despised today still have value, and this book explores their contribution to the British ecosystem.
A book about trees and fungi, what’s not to like?*
Fungi and trees: Their complex relationships, by Lynne Boddy, 2021. Arboricultural Association. Arbor is the borrowed-from-Latin word for a tree. You’d therefore expect a book from the UK’s Arboricultural Association to...
Dr Ward and the case of the globe-trotting plants…
The wealth of some of the 19th century powers can be traced to a piece of botanical equipment.
