Brilliant Green

The Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence

By: Stefano Mancuso, Alessandra Viola, Michael Pollan - foreword, Joan Benham - translator

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

Are plants intelligent? Can they solve problems, communicate, and navigate their surroundings? Or are they passive, incapable of independent action or social behavior? Philosophers and scientists have pondered these questions since ancient Greece, most often concluding that plants are unthinking and inert: they are too silent, too sedentary - just too different from us. Yet discoveries over the past 50 years have challenged these ideas, shedding new light on the extraordinary capabilities and complex interior lives of plants.

In Brilliant Green, Stefano Mancuso, a leading scientist and founder of the field of plant neurobiology, presents a new paradigm in our understanding of the vegetal world. Combining a historical perspective with the latest in plant science, Mancuso argues that, due to cultural prejudices and human arrogance, we continue to underestimate plants. In fact, they process information, sleep, remember, and signal to one another-showing that, far from passive machines, plants are intelligent and aware.

Through a survey of plant capabilities from sight and touch to communication, Mancuso challenges our notion of intelligence, presenting a vision of plant life that is more sophisticated than most imagine.

©2013 Giunti Editore S.P.A. Firenze-Milano; English edition copyright 2015 by Island Press; Translation copyright 2015 by Joan Benham; Foreword copyright 2015 by Michael Pollan (P)2020 Tantor

Info we all need to know - we are not the true pinnacle of earth!

I really enjoyed this book - maybe you will too! It is curiosity’s boon in the human mind/heart that created the art and practice of science initially and it is this scientist and author who keeps the true act of inquisitiveness alive without falling back on our human centered beliefs. He gives a breath of fresh air to the thoughts & feelings one can have about green life on this planet. Thank you Stefano Mancuso!

Plants have 15 senses

Loved it. But dispute one thing about plant not taking care of family. Trees will take care of each other and their offspring

Mancuso's second best

Listened to Brilliant Green after the stellar The Incredible Journey of Plants. Well worth the listen.

a simple gardener

many years, 50, I have been a simple gardener, from mostly growing food for the family, with some use of companion planting, until 3 yrs ago a large increase in growing pollinators. Then I read Finding the Mother Tree and now Brilliant Green. I consider Brilliant Green to be of major importance. It is a great learning experience, historically, scientifically, and for our present and future.

For the Novice ...

... who wants to avoid a pablum of introductory mish mash. This material is hearty and well served to the intelligent reader. At about 5 hours of listening time, it's just enough to wet a curious appetite without drowning in details. This is one I will read again.