Planting Our World is a book of short stories/essays that express how plants play such a large role within the evolution of mankind. This author goes from discussing tree history, a very descriptive experience into looking for how slick a banana peel really is, and instruments. I originally requested this book because I expected to learn more about plants and how they have grown, evolved and how we coexist. This is not what I got from the book. Even after having changed my expectations, I found some of the material dull (such as the length of the banana peel story) and more focuses on the author's experience rather than the science. Don't get me wrong, some science is there but it just wasn't what I expected. I did find the violin aspect interesting as well however, it was information I was already aware of. I just expected more from this book. The narrator did fine but felt monotone at times.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC.

Planting Our World – Stefano Mancuso (translated from the Italian by Gregory Conti, read by David Stifel)

An audiobook review coming at you this time, sent to me courtesy of @tantoraudio and @netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I never really liked or got into audiobooks before, finding I lacked the attention span. Recently, however, a desire to run longer distances has led me to delve back into this world, starting with this collection of essays about the world of plants and our interaction with them.

Mancuso covers a wide range of topics here, and it gets off to a slow start (seems to be a theme with my current books/reads) with a story of perusing an antique book fair in Paris. This vignette quickly leads to a more interesting tale of the “liberty trees”, which were planted during the French Revolution, and from here we get led to ideas that fans of The Overstory will quickly be familiar with.

As with any collection like this, interests will waiver. Living near Barcelona, Mancuso’s appeal to consider the inclusion of trees and plants more in city planning to combat climate change was something I could get behind and encourage. On the other hand, his writing on red spruce trees and the violins of Stradivarius did little for me, nor did a weird chapter on researching the slipperiness of banana peels.

Other essays also grab me as I pounded out the kilometres on my morning run, but one thing I think didn’t help was the choice of narrator – I spent ages trying to work out who he reminded me of before I hit on Howard Stern, and there was quite a few times where he butchered foreign words and names. Took me out of the enjoyment more than once, unfortunately.

Overall, an enjoyable pop science book that entertained me, but didn’t give me any great new insights. Worth a read if you find it cheap.

What is the last science book you read, and do you have recommendations?

The narrator was engaging and considering that in places the science might be heavy for some people, he did a good job of keeping the listener's attention at those parts.



Can we all take a moment to appreciate how cool Mancuso is? He's basically got a super yen for plants and has travelled all over the world, working with other scientists on plant related neuroscience. In addition, he's done a very creditable job here of showing how, as unremarked and disregarded as plants are by us meat creatures, they've actually shaped out habitats, our cultures and even such unlikely processes as our legal systems.



The stories he chose to tell in this book demonstrated how plants have an deep rooted relationship with our history, our culture and our exploration of the planet and beyond. This was a really enjoyable book, especially for a fellow plant nerd. My only criticism is that the initial story is a bit off putting at first because it doesn't seem to actually be about plants - but get to the end and you'll see the relevance. Fascinating read. Highly recommend.

**Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the audio ARC of this fascinating title**

If you love plants and/or science - this book is for you!! What a fascinating listen, filled with incredible facts that had me going down internet rabbit holes to find more.

While I will admit the narrator was a little dry for my taste (sorry!) the story itself was absolutely fascinating.

I am not the biggest fan of nonfiction to begin with but this one was a perfect one for me to “branch out” to - pun intended.

Definitely check this one out if you find plant science to be fascinating, or if you want to learn more about the relationship between plants and humans over the years!

Stefano Mancuso is such a compelling storyteller that he made esoteric botany stories engaging and fascinating! He's a professor of plant neurobiology at the University of Florence, a city which seems to be a hotbed of cutting edge plant research. I know little about this field, but his book caught my eye because I’m trying to read more about the climate and sustainability, and plants fit right in there.

I want to make a case for this relatively short book about botany. It’s not only fascinating and full of good information, but it’s also…charming! Who can resist a book by an academic so clearly passionate about his subject? I’m enchanted by someone who loves banana plants enough to get excited about banana peels and their slipperiness coefficient. He exudes joy when talking about this stuff. I listened on audiobook, and excellent narrator David Stifel captures the tone perfectly.

Mancuso uses a straightforward style to spin engrossing tales. He’s a master storyteller! The first chapter, Planting Liberty, started with an entertaining tale about old book hunting and built a mystery around symbolic trees that were planted in the US and France in the 1700s. It was so engaging that when it came time to learn about these Liberty Trees, I was like, “Yes, tell me about Liberty Trees! I want to know!”

I especially liked the chapter Planting Cities. Cities are not sustainable, especially with a two degree predicted increase in temperature. He makes the point that plants are our allies in combating the scourge of modern cities. We need to cover the world in trees, cities most of all. This is exactly in line with what I've been learning about sustainability and climate change in my recent reading.

There’s lots more in this book that appeals. Each chapter spins a different botany yarn, and Mancuso effectively makes the case that we should take plants seriously as a crucial part of the web of our planet’s ecosystem. I, for one, am persuaded!

Thanks to Tantor Audio, RB Media and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for my review.

A look at the plant world and its importance to life on Earth. As it explores the importance of plants it also questions why the world does not consider findings from the plant world to be important.

I love this book! It was a little hard to get into at the beginning but by the time we were being told to plant plants on any available surface I was completely invested.

I have learned so much from this book about plants and history that took me by surprise!

Bonus points for me being that I could listen to this book with my kiddo!

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to listen to the audio recording of this book.

As a lover of plants and carpentry I found the stories told in this book very interesting and would have liked to dive a bit more in-depth into some of them. I did find the book hard to follow and a little disappointing as each chapter was independent from the next which made it hard to remember what was occurring in the book at the beginning of each listening session.

This book is worth the listen for each of the enthralling stories it tells but does feel a bit like a retelling of previous scientific research.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the Advance Reader Copy!

Planting Our World is a group of unconnected essays that sometimes talk about plants but are more focused on the author and his life experiences. This book was not what I was expecting based on the description. The author does not provide any new information but regurgitates findings by others, sometimes incorrectly. The story about pigs in New York was so interesting I looked into it more and quick research found that the program was discontinued because it was a danger to the public health because of disease and pig attacks, not because of the fear of immorality.

The narration was good.

Get Planting

I thought that this was an interesting historical book on trees and nature. It also did a good explanation of climate change and how we have to work towards lowering our emissions.

About halfway through the book, it suddenly pivoted towards music and wood instruments and - although interesting - I found it to be quite a departure from what I was expecting from the book.

There is also a very in-depth chapter on the slipperiness of banana skins.
I quite like the opening half of the book and found it really interesting, especially the bits about climate change.

The second half of the book was quite niche and went into some real detailed history but various items, which were here-and-there as far as interesting goes.

3.6/5

I was expecting a British accented narrator, im unsure why, but I was. This was only one of a handful of non fiction audios I've listened to, most of the others are wellbeing listens. This was a pleasant surprise, definitely an author I'd go back to, informative and catchy with facts on an important and broad topic. Great listen