The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History

by Thor Hanson

Overview

As seen on PBS's American Spring LIVE, the award-winning author of Buzz and Feathers presents a natural and human history of seeds, the marvels of the plant kingdom.

"The genius of Hanson's fascinating, inspiring, and entertaining book stems from the fact that it is not about how all kinds of things grow from seeds; it is about the seeds themselves." -- Mark Kurlansky, New York Times Book Review

We live in a world of seeds. From our morning toast to the cotton in our clothes, they are quite literally the stuff and staff of life: supporting diets, economies, and civilizations around the globe. Just as the search for nutmeg and pepper drove the Age of Discovery, coffee beans fueled the Enlightenment and cottonseed sparked the Industrial Revolution. Seeds are fundamental objects of beauty, evolutionary wonders, and simple fascinations. Yet, despite their importance, seeds are often seen as commonplace, their extraordinary natural and human histories overlooked. Thanks to this stunning new book, they can be overlooked no more. This is a book of knowledge, adventure, and wonder, spun by an award-winning writer with both the charm of a fireside story-teller and the hard-won expertise of a field biologist. A fascinating scientific adventure, it is essential reading for anyone who loves to see a plant grow.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465048724
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	03/24/2015
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	420,037
File size:	25 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Thor Hanson is a conservation biologist, Guggenheim Fellow, and author of award-winning books including Buzz, Feathers, The Impenetrable Forest, and The Triumph of Seeds. He lives with his wife and son on an island in Washington State.

www.thorhanson.net

Table of Contents

Authors Note ix

Acknowledgments xi

Preface: "Heed!" xiii

Introduction: The Fierce Energy xix

Seeds Nourish

Chapter 1 Seed for a Day 3

Chapter 2 The Staff of Life 19

Chapter 3 Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut 39

Seeds Unite

Chapter 4 What the Spike Moss Knows 55

Chapter 5 Mendel's Spores 70

Seeds Endure

Chapter 6 Methuselah 83

Chapter 7 Take It to the Bank 96

Seeds Defend

Chapter 8 By Tooth, Beak, and Gnaw 113

Chapter 9 The Riches of Taste 128

Chapter 10 The Cheeriest Beans 143

Chapter 11 Death by Umbrella 161

Seeds Travel

Chapter 12 Irresistible Flesh 179

Chapter 13 By Wind and Wave 193

Conclusion: The Future of Seeds 211

Appendix A Common and Scientific Names 217

Appendix B Seed Conservation 223

Notes 225

Glossary 245

Bibliography 251

Index 267

Editorial Reviews

…the genius of Hanson's fascinating, inspiring and entertaining book stems from the fact that it is not about how all kinds of things grow from seeds; it is about the seeds themselves. Hanson…takes one of the least-impressive-looking natural objects and reveals a life of elegance and wonder…Like all good writers, he understands narrative—that a book, at its best, is a story, and that this one is built by spinning stories within stories. They are fun, sometimes they are funny, and they are always fascinating and readable. The overarching tale is one of survival: how these seeds through trial and error have developed an incredibly complex and varied assortment of survival strategies for a singular obsession—to ensure the continuation of the species…This is Darwinism at its most fundamental, put forward as a good story.

The New York Times Book Review - Mark Kurlansky

"A fascinating, inspiring, and entertaining book.... Hanson takes one of the least-impressive-looking natural objects and reveals a life of elegance and wonder."—Mark Kurlansky, New York Times Book Review

"[An] engaging book.... What makes The Triumph of Seeds more than a routine pop botany book is the way Mr. Hanson teases out the resonances between the ways that plants and humans use seeds.... [A] lively and intelligent book."—Richard Mabey, WallStreet Journal

"[A] rip-roaring read."—Robert Krulwich, NationalGeographic's Curiously Krulwich blog

"With light, engaging prose Hanson shows how the little spheroids we tip out of a packet are in fact supremely elegant genetic time capsules.... You will never be able to look at an orange pip or a sunflower seed in the same way again."—New Scientist

"Thor Hanson has taken the history and science of these little marvels and drawn out a fascinating account of seed culture."—Home Wet Bar blog

"This is a charming book, inspired by Hanson's forays into seed identification and dispersal with his young, seed-obsessed son.... Hanson's twist of looking at human interactions with plants in their embryonic stage is new.... The Triumph of Seeds will engender thoughtful consideration of our joint future."
—Nature

"[A] delight. Composed in charming and lively prose, the book introduces readers to a variety of quirky figures - biologists, farmers, archaeologists and everyday gardeners - who have something profound to say about a seemingly mundane topic: those little kernels that, against tremendous odds, have managed to take root all around us.... The Triumph of Seeds is a remarkable, gentle and refreshing piece of work that draws readers further into the wide arms of the world and makes them grateful for it."
—BookPage

"[F]ast and fascinating prose.... Hanson, who has also chronicled feathers and gorillas, is a conservation biologist and Guggenheim fellow, and an ace dot-connector: He can draw a line between all the grain panics and crises and the tiny, miraculous structure of the seeds themselves, because he dives deeply into botany, economy and history. Also, he's just plain fun."—Denver Post

"[Hanson is] jocular and entertaining in his dispensing of remarkable facts about these little vessels of life-to-be.... From high-tech, high-security seed banks bracing for climate change to the story of the gum extracted from guar seeds that is used in everything from ice cream to fracking, this upbeat and mind-expanding celebration of the might of seeds is popular science writing at its finest."—Booklist, starred review

"Who knew that seeds could be so thrilling and dangerous? Thor Hanson is a lively storyteller, a lyrical writer, and a quick wit. The Triumph of Seeds is more than an engrossing work of natural history. It's a compelling and highly entertaining journey, populated by scientists and historians, criminals and explorers, aviators and futurists. Following Hanson's global voyage is the best sort of armchair travel, because it is filled with wonder, poetry, and discovery."—Amy Stewart, author of TheDrunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks, a NewYork Times Bestseller

"This beautifully written book is a magnificent read. Every page is full of surprises and illuminating insights, illustrating the fascinating evolution of seeds, and their extraordinary impact on humans, past and present. A master storyteller, Hanson has created a first-rate natural history. When you reach the end of this page-turner, you will wish there were more...and you will never look at seeds in the same way."—Eric Jay Dolin, author of Leviathan:The History of Whaling in America and When America Met China: An ExoticHistory of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail

"As he did in his phenomenal Feathers, Thor Hanson brings us the incredible world of seeds in a package as graceful and elegant as they are themselves, gift-wrapped in utterly seductive stories. I cannot recall a book I was so eager to finish, that I might begin it again."—Robert Michael Pyle, authorof Wintergreen and Mariposa Road

"If you eat seeds of any kind, you must read this book! Ecologist Hanson gives us a rich Darwinian view of how seeds came to be the most important nutritional resource for human as well as older than human species. He is at his best when we are in the field with him, learning like detectives the 'whodunnits' of seed dispersal. You will never look a seed in the eye again without thanking Thor."—Gary Paul Nabhan,Franciscan brother and author of Enduring Seeds and Food, Genes, andCulture

"Thor has done it again. In a page-turner, he tells the stories of seeds, their ecology, evolution and histories and why each of us every day depends on, relies on, delights in or suffers from seeds. This book will change the way you think about your coffee, your chocolate or even just the weed growing stubbornly (from a seed) out of the crack in the sidewalk. Seeds are everywhere—a reality that you will never forget again after reading this book."—Rob Dunn, author of TheWild Life of Our Bodies

From the Publisher

03/01/2015
Conservation biologist Hanson's new book showcases an even more approachable style than his 2011 Feathers. Using a personalized viewpoint derived from his backyard lab and dissertation research in Costa Rica with the almendro tree, as well as visits with specialists worldwide, he describes how seeds nourish, unite, endure, defend, and travel. What is a seed? A potential baby plant with a protective coat and food to start growing. With that in mind, and a little humor, the author includes paleontology, evolution, a 2,000-year-old seed that grew a tree called Methuselah, seed banks and botanical gardens, and seeds that are both useful to and harmful to humans. He discusses seeds' shapes and sizes; how they are distributed by water, air, animals, and birds; how they inspire us (think flight); and how they protect themselves. Jane Goodall's recent Seeds of Hope has a chapter on seeds and mentions some of the same items found here, but Hanson's work also includes a solid glossary and bibliography that are not offered in Goodall's title. VERDICT Recommended for gardeners and readers of natural history and history of science.—Jean E. Crampon, Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, Lib.

Library Journal

Botany, like calligraphy and sentence diagramming, may be among the subjects least conducive to audiobook adaptation. Thor Hanson brings color and a human face to the story of seeds—a story that has many hues and faces. Marc Vietor’s mellow, upbeat narration adds personality and energy, and every chapter brings fresh information and insight. But somehow the pieces are disjointed. The listener who revels in the intricacies of sprouting one minute may be jarred the next by an extolment of seed oil as an emulsifier in fracking. At least Hanson’s work is free from the tone of environmental despair that haunts the writings of so many other naturalists today. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2015 - AudioFile

2015-01-14
"From tropical rain forests to alpine meadows and arctic tundra, seed plants dominate landscapes and define ecosystems." In fact, they make up more than 90 percent of land flora.Having caught our attention, conservation biologist Hanson (Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle, 2011) proceeds to tell how this happened. Traveling the world to interview experts without ignoring his own research, the author writes a delightful account of the origins, physiologies and human uses of a vast variety of objects that plants employ to make more plants. Long ago, ferns and mosses covered the Earth and reproduced by releasing clouds of tiny spores. These days, we encounter them as coal plus a scattering of survivors. Far more robust than spores, seeds are a dazzling evolutionary triumph with, Hanson stresses, five distinct qualities. They nourish a plant's early life with either starch (grasses, grains) or fat and protein (nuts, legumes, beans). Humans have co-opted these nutrients as the foundation of our diet; modern civilization requires them. They unite. Seeds are the product of sexual reproduction, an enormous, creative evolutionary advance. They endure from months to decades, waiting for the right combination of elements to trigger germination. Centuries ago, human manipulation of dormant seeds made agriculture possible. They defend the embryonic plant with shells, husks, rinds and chemicals. Humans convert these to pharmaceuticals, enjoy them in a variety of applications (caffeine, peppers, chocolate) and sometimes get sick from them (hemlock, strychnine). Finally, seeds travel. Whether by wind or water or the guts of animals that eat them, this allows plants and the humans that follow them to occupy every habitat on Earth. "[F]or all the fascinating tales of seeds in nature," writes Hanson, "one of their hallmarks is that we don't have to look far to find them." A fine addition to the single-issue science genre.

Kirkus Review