How to be a Bad Botanist
(Simon & Schuster, £16.99)
THOSE who are serious about botany know all about the appearance and internal workings of plants and the relationships between different types, taking pleasure in reeling off astonishing lists of exotic-sounding names. All this is obscure and intimidating to the person who simply wonders what that plant along the lane is, the pretty one that flowers pink in April. This book is aimed at that person, who wants to know a few basic things and can’t be bothered to wade through illustrated guides densely populated with arcane abbreviations that leave the novice reader none the wiser.
Simon Barnes is exactly the man for the job. He sits on a stony shingle beach gazing at that wondrous thing, the horned poppy, and this sets a train of ideas running in his mind. His style is ideal, that of the experienced journalist who writes in that pithy style in which a knowing directness keeps the reader’s attention. Excursive detail is kept to a minimum, but anyone who wants to know more is provided with well-chosen references to the best comprehensive sources, mentioned within the text rather than tucked away in footnotes or bibliography—a sprat to catch a mackerel, as you might say.
All the key points are here for the reader whose curiosity has the potential to progress from the name of that plant to comparing it with others flowering at the same or other seasons, in that colour range, in that kind of habitat (verge, woodland, beach, moor). There is plenty, but no excess, on key points, such as flower shape, climbing or scrambling, methods of pollination; and the origins of plant life are discussed, so we don’t overlook the mosses and ferns and their friends and relations. We meet, fleetingly, some of the big names, including Linnaeus, Darwin and Mendel, on nodding terms for now, but who knows where it might lead?
I can’t think of a better introduction for an intelligent reader who has never given much attention to the plant world, but is naturally curious about it. Just as we (like the author) wonder what that unfamiliar bird seen through the window might be, so this book directs us without pretence or obscurity to simple ways of naming that plant. The excellent illustrations and telling quotations are an enhancement to a book whose time has come. Steven Desmond