What A Plant Knows: A Field Guide To The Senses, by Daniel Chamovitz

It is testament to the wide gulf between scientists and ordinary people that the sense best known to anecdotal evidence, that plants can hear and respond to enjoyable sounds, is something that scientists have really struggled to address in more controlled studies. Similarly, plenty of other senses have been demonstrated that have not gotten the attention that one would have expected. Plants as intelligent beings presents some difficulties for some readers, who find it confusing that one could speak of senses for beings that have no nerves or of intelligence for beings that have no brain or central nervous system. Yet, it is striking that plants have the ability to sense a great deal of the world in which they reside, and can thoughtfully respond to the circumstances of their world even if they cannot move. The general idea of the book is something that is striking and appealing, even if there is a lot to the book that could have used a gentler and popularizing touch. It seems that this book is seeking to be a sober and scientific counterpart to the much-hyped books like The Secret Life Of Plants which have been long on popularity but short on scientific credibility.

This book is a short one at less than 150 pages of core text. The book begins with a short prologue that introduces the author’s approach to his material. This is followed by a discussion of what a plant sees (1), along with a discussion of what it means to see, and how it is that senses operate. This is followed by a discussion of what plants smell and how it is that plants recognize certain chemicals in their environment and respond to them and even communicate through scent chemicals (2). After this there is a discussion about what plants feel (3), which comes with the sad discussion that plants are sensitive and hostile to being touched and will show great distress at physical contact. After that the author discusses plants and hearing, the only sense that he does not celebrate, seeing as that has gotten a lot of press previously (4). This is followed by a discussion of how plants know where it is in relative to its environment, with plants having some sort of senses on the tips of buds and roots that help orient it correctly (5). The sixth chapter then comments on what plants remember, showing that plants have both short and long-term memory that is quite remarkable (6). The epilogue discusses plants as aware and then the book ends with notes, acknowledgements, and an index.

It is perhaps to be regretted that this book, as good as it is, did not seek to cultivate popularity with an audience that would likely have been receptive to a book that was both scientifically and stylistically accomplished. This book appears to be highly focused on a scientific audience, seeking to make the idea of sensory perception, of some kind at least, acceptable to scientists and the scientific community as a whole without being written with many concessions to popularity. Even so, those who have an interest in seeing plants viewed as being far more than meets the eye will find much to enjoy here, even with its restrained and massively understated tone. This sort of book is not the kind that is going to win a lot of readers, but those who find it are likely to appreciate it on at least some level. Perhaps in the future, when scientists are better acquainted with the idea of senses from life forms considered to be more primitive, that the intelligence that is a hallmark of all life can be celebrated without the need for deliberately fierce messaging that seeks to disparage the very fondness for plants that makes a book like this potentially interesting. Why it is that people seek to bite the hand that feeds them is somewhat strange.