Prudence Gibson is an author and research academic in plant studies at Art and Design, University of NSW. She is lead investigator of an Australian Research Council project on the herbarium. She is the author of Janet Laurence: The pharmacy of plants and a contributor to Art and Australia, Sydney Review of Books and The Conversation.
A real treat. I found myself intrigued, amused, surprised, occasionally infuriated, but always engaged and provoked. A must read for anyone interested in plants and plant collecting (or is it thieving...). - Tim Entwisle This reads like a Michael Pollan book with a feminine touch! Prue tells the hidden and too-often silenced stories of our past and present relationships with plants, inspiring hope for the future. Highly recommended. - Monica Gagliano This book will take you on an adventurous read through the lives of plants and their people...personal and surprising, reflecting the writer's deep curiosity and love for plants. - Janet Laurence Very rarely do herbaria come alive and tell stories with so much vividness as in this book by Prue Gibson. Through her sensitive writing and attentive engagement with plants, we encounter them face-to-face, face-to-surface, surface-to-surface. - Michael Marder Wonderful stories that bring to life fraught histories within the colonial herbarium. A journey that creates fascinating human and plant connection. - Caroline Rothwell Gibson threads the personal through the botanical in this stunning book about ecology, humanity and the future of our world. - Anna Westbrook