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|  | Author: Michael Pollan
Publisher: Grove Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $8.39
as of 9/9/2010 12:46 CDT details
You Save: $6.61 (44%)
Seller: bonach
Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 14126
Languages: English (Unknown), English (Original Language), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0802140114
Dewey Decimal Number: 635.9
EAN: 9780802140111
ASIN: 0802140114
Publication Date: August 12, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: new and unread, shipped with tracking
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 36
 Pollans least interesting work September 4, 2009
Colin Povey (Clearwater, FL, USA)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I have read most of Michael Pollans books. I think 'The Omnivores Dilemma' is a five-star plus book that should be mandatory reading for everyone who eats, and 'In Defense of Food' is almost as good.
In this book, Michael talks about his efforts at gardening, both vegetables and ornamental plants. However, this book disappoints. It is too vague, with few concrete examples to back up his assertions. It seems that Michael is a better writer about other peoples efforts at producing food than he is on his own efforts.
 From Napalm to Seed Catalogs January 25, 2009
WILLIAM H FULLER (SPEARFISH, SD USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
SECOND NATURE is not your normal gardening book. There aren't a lot of "how to" instructions here for planting, nurturing and harvesting. There are, however, innumerable more important things here.
Pollan takes his reader on a journey of discovery, asking cogent questions about man's relationship to nature, about the proper way to conserve wilderness, about the social strata of contemporary seed catalogs, about the best way to design a garden to achieve our spiritual goals (although his way of expressing it isn't nearly as hokey-sounding as my wording), about the sexual metaphors of roses, about the quasi-religious movement of composting, and about the historical evolution in the way we have looked at trees.
His writing is often humorous as well as something most of us can relate to in our own experiences. In his early battles with garden-eating rodents, his ill-considered attempt to napalm a woodchuck makes for absolutely hilarious reading, and the story of his father's rebellion against the neighbors' edict that he mow his lawn is exhilarating. Throughout much of the book, we do, however, come to learn a serious lesson. The realistic gardener does not attempt to subdue nature nor to surrender to it, but to work with nature as a part of it, to be realistic in determining what can and cannot be accomplished, and to influence rather than conquer (especially since conquering is not really possible after all).
For both the neophyte and the experienced gardener, SECOND NATURE is probably more important and useful than a "how to" book for it will reveal the overarching philosophy that drives the gardener's actions. For the suburbanite whose gardening is pretty much limited to manicuring his portion of The Great American Lawn and planting a few decorative shrubs here and there, it is utterly indispensable for it will reveal the shallow artificiality of such kowtowing to social "propriety."
Pollan's lessons are painless. He never preaches. He never rants. He never proselytizes. His writing is both humorous and instructive. It unveils historical trends in man's relationship toward gardens, wildlands, and lawns that most readers, with our limited visions of life in the 17th and 18th centuries, never suspected. Most importantly, the reader finishes his book with a genuinely new appreciation of man's place in nature, with an understanding that it is okay to make his mark upon nature (because he is part of it), and with the knowledge of how to make that mark positive, non-destructive, and productive.
I heartedly recommend SECOND NATRURE to everyone who has ever planted a garden (productively or otherwise), who has ever thought about planting a garden, who has ever mowed a lawn, who has ever wondered about the best methods of protecting wilderness areas, who has ever written a letter in support of or opposition to environmental activists, or who, though city-bound and surrounded by asphalt, has ever wondered about man's proper place on the earth. SECOND NATURE has, if not universal, then at least very widespread appeal to all sorts of readers.
Should be on everyone's to read list. December 16, 2008
Rheta M. Runnerstrom
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As has been the case with all of Michael Pollan's books that I have read, he informs with humor and narrative that at times makes me laugh out loud. My all time favorite, however, is Omnivore's Dilemma. I have changed the way I shop in our local market since reading it. This also is a MUST read.
 More about Michael Pollan than gardens May 14, 2007
M. Hansbury (no longer in Philly (USA))
4 out of 10 found this review helpful
That's not entirely fair, but...this is a book of essays, not a natural history or gardening book. It is about Pollan's perceptions of nature and landscape, through the gateway of his garden. He does only enough research to flesh out his musings with historical fact and literary reference - and he is very selective. He leans heavily on Thoreau, and neglects wider scholarship. His essays bog down in pedantic and turgid language (he abuses at least one 5-syllable word per essay). The writing is much like Bill Bryson's, about whom, I'm also kinda lukewarm. I didn't love it, although there are good bits - the story of his first rose plantings was interesting, and inspired me to drop a few snobby old roses in the sod.
 Delightful reading March 8, 2007
Kari Jo (Minneapolis, MN)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Michael Pollan's writing is full of metaphors. This book about nature as a human construct was enjoyable to read. I found some parts frustrating because I like the romantic idea of nature even if it is just a human construct. But overall I would recommend this book for a quick read.
Showing reviews 11-15 of 36
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