I really liked this one. In fact, I was really looking forward to listening to the recording of Scott Brick as the narrator. However, to my disappointment, my library no longer has that version.

I must say that this was a truly fun listen. I'm a huge gardener, and this book was interesting in a way that I never expected. It was quite astonishing to learn about how apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes are all related (even for a gardener like me). The whole bit on Johnny Appleseed was kind of entertaining. In grade school, he was characterized as famous for his wandering apple seed ways. But in today's world, he would probably come across as the kind of guy you would warn your kids to not get too close to.

All in all, I would rate this book 4 stars. It was an enjoyable and informative listen that kept me engaged from start to finish. I would definitely recommend it to others who are interested in gardening or just looking for a unique and interesting read.

In "The Botany of Desire", Michael Pollan delves deep into our relationship with four plants: the tulip, marijuana, the apple, and the potato.

He examines these four plants from historical, political, and personal perspectives. In many aspects, this is a captivating account. For instance, the first part explores the tulip mania that the Dutch experienced, which is both comical and absurd. However, if we consider the stock market in general, similar phenomena still occur, albeit in a slightly different form.

One of the more intriguing questions he attempts to answer in his book is whether the plants themselves are passive victims or active participants in all of this. Of course, he can't truly prove it either way. Nevertheless, he presents a strong case for them being much more active members in this relationship, making a question that might have initially seemed a bit silly actually become quite interesting.

Regarding Pollan's writing style, he does have a tendency to take detours, and in fact, he takes quite a few of them. This sometimes makes the book feel a little unfocused. However, it never really becomes uninteresting, even despite this. I actually derived a great deal of enjoyment from this read and gained some insights into this subject. One can't really expect much more from a nonfiction book, so I think I may explore something else written by him.

I had to bail on this one half way through.

It was truly a distressing experience as it brought back those traumatic memories of writing English papers when I didn't have sufficient information to meet the page requirements.

All I could do was rely on my so-called poetic gift of repetition, which essentially meant rephrasing the topic sentence over and over again.

And then I would fill the rest of the space with famous quotes.

The fallback themes were acutely painful, like that of "carnival".

To be honest, what you could learn from this book, you could just as easily learn from the Wikipedia entries on each topic.

It seems that this book didn't offer anything unique or substantial enough to keep my interest.

I'm left feeling disappointed and wishing I had chosen a different read.

Maybe next time I'll be more careful in my selection to avoid such a letdown.

Pollan, I'm afraid, is a bit of a trickster.

The chapter on marijuana was completely lacking in scientific rigor. It seemed more like a wild speculation rather than a well-researched analysis.

The apple chapter, on the other hand, was as dull as a bruised Gala. It failed to capture the essence and allure of this beloved fruit.

His explanation of the tulip, although a bit simplistic, had some interesting aspects. It managed to earn a second star, but just barely.

However, the most disappointing part was the chapter on the potato. At first, it seemed like an incredibly interesting and important discussion on Ireland's relationship with the potato. But as it unfolded, it turned out to be an incredibly and dangerously ignorant take on famine, politics, and the workings of land ownership in agriculture.

And most importantly, contrary to what the book might lead you to believe, there is no in-depth exploration of the relationship between humans and plants. Instead, it offers a struggling-to-prove-scientifically historical overview that leaves much to be desired.

Overall, Pollan's work falls short of expectations and fails to deliver the engaging and enlightening exploration of the plant world that one might have hoped for.