The Light Eaters

The New Science of Plant Intelligence

Zoë Schlanger

$42.99

Hardback

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English

Fourth Estate Ltd
09 May 2024

Life sciences: general issues; Botany & plant sciences

“teeming with fascinating and enlightening insights” Observer

A narrative investigation into the new science of plant intelligence and sentience, from National Association of Science Writers Award winner and Livingston Award finalist Zoe Schlanger.

Look at the green organism across the room or through the window: the potted plant, or the grass or a tree. Think how a life spent constantly growing yet rooted in a single spot comes with tremendous challenges. To meet them, plants have come up with some of the most creative methods for surviving of any living thing – us included. Many are so ingenious that they seem nearly impossible.

Did you know plants can communicate when they are being eaten, allowing nearby plants to bolster their defences? They move and that movement stops when they are anaesthetised. They also use electricity for internal communication. They can hear the sounds of caterpillars eating. Plants can remember the last time they have been visited by a bee and how many times they have been visited – so they have a concept of time and can count. Plants can not only communicate with each other, they can also communicate with other species of plants and animals, allowing them to manipulate animals to defend or fertilise them.

So look again at the potted plant, or the grass or the tree and wonder: are plants intelligent?

Or perhaps ask an even more fundamental question: are they conscious?

The Light Eaters will completely redefine how you think about plants. Packed with the most amazing stories of the life of plants it will open your eyes to the extraordinary green life forms we share the planet with.

By: Zoë Schlanger
Imprint: Fourth Estate Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 159mm, Spine: 30mm
Weight: 520g
ISBN: 9780008445348
ISBN 10: 0008445346
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 09 May 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Zoe Schlanger is currently a staff reporter at the Atlantic, where she covers climate change. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, Time, Newsweek, The Nation, Quartz, and on NPR among other major outlets, and in the 2022 Best American Science and Nature Writing anthology. A recipient of a 2017 National Association of Science Writers' reporting award, she is often a guest speaker in schools and universities. Zoe graduated with a B.A. from New York University.

Reviews for The Light Eaters: The New Science of Plant Intelligence

"“teeming with fascinating and enlightening insights” Observer “A masterpiece of science writing.” –Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass “Mesmerizing, world-expanding, and achingly beautiful.” –Ed Yong, author of An Immense World “Rich, vital, and full of surprises. Read it!” –Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky and The Sixth Extinction ""overflows with the author’s infectious enthusiasm. Plant lovers will find much of interest"" -Nature “A brilliant must-read. This book shook and changed me.” –David George Haskell, author of Sounds Wild and Broken, The Songs of Trees, and The Forest Unseen"