The author is a botanist at the Pew Gardens in London. This is his life story of his efforts to save plants that are on the verge of extinction. He has traveled the world to find, collect, and propagate these plants. The book reads like a fiction novel, it's exciting to hear about his adventures. After finishing reading the book, I came away with a sense of disappointment at how fast the earth is changing, and a thankfulness that there are people like the author working hard to preserve our heritage.

Fascinating read. Carlos Magdalena is a Botanist at the renowned Pew Gardens in London. In this book (that reads like a novel) he travels the world, from Pacific islands to South America and Australia, to save endangered plants from extinction.
I received a copy of this from NetGalley.

I honestly thought this book would be more about plants that Magdalena, but it’s actually more of a memoir than a scientific/naturalist look at botany. Don’t get me wrong, the man knows his plants and is determined to save them from the humans who want to develop their habitats, spray them with pesticides and destroy the environment with greenhouse gases. I loved his stories about seeking out rare plants and trying to protect them from destruction, I just wished there was more in that vein and less about the author’s personal life. Read this book as an autobiographical account of a naturalist, not a study of plants