Waterstones The Brother Gardeners
251 ratings
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Price: £10.99
Brand: Waterstones
Description: One January morning in 1734, cloth merchant Peter Collinson hurried down to the docks at London's Custom House to collect cargo just arrived from John Bartram in the American colonies. But it was not bales of cotton that awaited him, but plants and seeds. Over the next forty years, Bartram would send hundreds of American species to England, where Collinson was one of a handful of men who would foster a national obsession and change the gardens of Britain forever: Philip Miller, author of the bestselling Gardeners Dictionary; the Swede Carl Linnaeus, whose standardised botanical nomenclature popularised botany; the botanist-adventurer Joseph Banks and his colleague Daniel Solander who both explored the strange flora of Tahiti and Australia on Captain Cook's Endeavour. This is the story of these men - friends, rivals, enemies, united by a passion for plants. Set against the backdrop of the emerging empire and the uncharted world beyond, The Brother Gardeners tells the story how Britain became a nation of gardeners.
Category: Books
Merchant: Waterstones
Product ID: 9780099502371
Delivery cost: 2.99
ISBN: 9780099502371
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Author: The Girl With the Plants and Books!
Rating: 5
Review: I had this book on my to-buy list for a long time and thought it was about time I bought a copy. As a keen and active gardener, I love nothing more than reading about the great horticulturalists and botanists of days gone by. The Brother Gardeners did not disappoint. This is so well researched and equally beautifully written. A full-on read, it's also a book that you have to fully immerse yourself in to appreciate the extensive graft that Andrea has put into this book. As someone fascinated by Carl Linnaeus, some of the revelations made here were certainly new to me (in particular his rather forthright character!) I can't rate this book enough. If you have a passion for gardening and want to find out more about how it all began, then this is certainly the book for you.
Author: Prospero77
Rating: 4
Review: I had this bought for me last Christmas and I must admit feel a bit sheepish having only just read it. In short, it is the history of the early British botanists from the 1700s and the accompanying revolution in plant cultivation, horticulture and general botanical discovery. One of those subject areas that always fascinates but is hardly touched upon by history curricula in school or college. I particularly enjoyed the written style of Andrea Wulf's text. It was reminiscent of Arthur Bryant's 'Set in a Silver Sea'. That is to say, history written as an Arts subject rather than a political or social science, which it so often is these days. A lively, rich and entertaining narrative that produces a truly interesting book on our national craze.
