How Flowers Made Our World - David George Haskell
About this episode
David George Haskell discusses his book on the significant role of flowers in shaping the world and their lessons on resilience.
Co-presented with Pt Reyes Books Join Host Susan Grelock Yusem in conversation with David George Haskell to talk about his new book, How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature's Revolutionaries (Viking). In this exquisite exploration of the role flowers played in creating the world we know today, David observes, smells, and studies flowers such as magnolias, orchids, and roses, as well as fascinating but less celebrated flowers such as seagrasses and tea. Through radical genetic flexibility, flowers turned past environmental upheavals into opportunities for renewal. This inventiveness allowed them to build and sustain rainforests, savannahs, prairies, and even ocean shores. Looking to the future, flowers offer us lessons on resilience and creativity in the face of rapid environmental change. We need floral creativity, beauty, and joy more than ever. How Flowers Made Our World combines lyrical writing, sensual exploration, and the latest in scientific research to explore some of the most consequential life forms ever to have evolved, showing how our planet came to be and how it thrives today. *** The New School is Commonweal’s learning community and podcast — we offer…
People in this episode
Host: Susan Grelock Yusem
Guest: David George Haskell
Topics covered
- flowers
- environment
- resilience
- nature
- science
- creativity
Keywords
- flowers
- environmental change
- resilience
- nature
- Haskell
- botany
- ecology
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Pt Reyes Books, Commonweal, Viking
Books & works: How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature's Revolutionaries
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