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Planta Sapiens cover art

Planta Sapiens

By: Paco Calvo, Natalie Lawrence
Narrated by: John Sackville
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Summary

What is it like to be a plant?

It's not a question we might think to contemplate, even though many of us live surrounded by plants. Science has long explored the wonderful ways in which plants communicate, behave and shape their environments: from chemical warfare to turning their predators to cannibalism. But they're usually just the backdrop to our frenetic animal lives.

While plants may not have brains or move around as we do, cutting-edge science is revealing that they have astonishing inner worlds of an alternate kind to ours. They can plan ahead, learn, recognise their relatives, assess risks and make decisions. They can even be put to sleep. Innovative new tools might allow us to actually see them do these things - from electrophysiological recordings to MRI and PET scans. If you can look in the right way, a world full of drama unfurls.

In PLANTA SAPIENS, Professor Paco Calvo offers a bold new perspective on plant biology and cognitive science. Using the latest scientific findings, Calvo challenges us to make an imaginative leap into a world that is so close and yet so alien - one that will expand our understanding of our own minds.

From their rich subjective experiences to how they are inspiring novel ways of approaching the ecological crisis, PLANTA SAPIENS is a dazzling exploration of the lives of plants and a call to approach how we think about the natural world in a new, maverick way.

©2022 Paco Calvo and Natalie Lawrence (P)2022 Hachette Audio UK

Critic reviews

'A joy to read ... mind-expanding' Book of the Week, Guardian 

'A bold and brave paean to our planet's ligneous, leafy kingdom' Telegraph 

'An impressive exploration and dazzling insight into the lives of plants' Reaction Book Digest

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Fascinating story, wonderful narrator

Now it’s true, I’ve been using this book to help me get to sleep but that’s because the story is fascinating and I love the narrator’s voice so it takes me on a relaxing journey every time.

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Plant physiology recast as plant psychology.

I can accept that plants can sense, learn and display intelligence, but remain unconvinced of their sentience. It’s an interesting proposition nonetheless.

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Interesting subject, irritating reader.

This is a very interesting subject, which is well written about here.I always listen to a sample before I buy an audiobook (have you ever been pleased to find an audiobook title on YouTube, only to discover it's a dire Librivox recording?) I started listening to it, and was doing quite well until I noticed that the narrator has an irritating quirk in his delivery. At the end of sentences, he inhales on the last word. It's difficult to describe, but once I had noticed it, I found it very distracting. So, unfortunately, I didn't finish.

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A really novel way to look at Plants

This is a really interesting and novel lens to use when studying plants. A very i triguing listen which makes plant science exciting.

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