1.0 out of 5 stars
Cheaper Isn't Alway Better, May 10 2004
After all of these years the editors of this book have neglected to correct the glaring errors of the original. The theories of botany have advanced since the orginal book was written but you'll find no evidence here. From the glaring errors in taxonomy and basic plants scinece you just don't want to buy this book unless you find it used at a garage sale.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Not really for gardeners, Nov 17 2002
I love gardening, reading, and science, so I was very hopeful when I saw the title of this book. The title sounds very interesting. This book left me disappointed. It felt like work to read. There were interesting tidbits about plants, but they were buried in mind-numbing details.
Opening the book at random I find this quote:
"The chemical name for natural auxin, produced by plants, is indole-3-acetic acid, or IAA. Several synthetic substances (naphthaleneacetic acid, or NAA; 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, or 2,4-D, etc.), having auxin-like effects when applied to plant tissues, have been studied and are used commercially."
Fortunately, the entire book isn't written this way, but there are way too many sentences just like this one.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific book for gardeners wanting to know more, April 24 2002
This review is from: Botany for Gardeners (Paperback)
As a gardener, I found this book to be a great introduction to botany. It is not a simple book, but a very well written book that takes the details of botany down to a beginner's level.
There's a lot of technical details here. It's not an easy breeze to get through it, as I'm sure a full semester's class in Botany might be.
I've heavily underlined this book and refer to it often. I hope to take a college course in Botany after plowing my way through this book. I use the term plow not because the writing is hard to read, but because so many technical details are covered. The writing pushes you along because it is so interesting.
This is a great book.
John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX
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