How Flowers Made Our World by David George Haskell

How Flowers Made Our World by David George Haskell

ONE OF NEW SCIENTIST'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

In How Flowers Made Our World, biologist David George Haskell redefines our understanding of flowers, casting them as powerful revolutionaries at the heart of Earth's story.

'Flowering plants as you've never seen them before ... Science writing with sensuality, sensitivity and soul.' — Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment

'Eye-opening ... [Haskell] is a lively writer with an appealingly light touch, but his message about ‘the astonishing creativity and productivity of flowers’ is a serious one.' - Constance Craig Smith, Daily Mail

'Haskell's love for flowers shines off the page . . . deeply researched, rich with insights and often vivid - with much to recommend it.' - Michael Marshall, New Scientist

'A work of real passion... a trustworthy companion, rational but not entirely rationalist, knowledgeable but understanding of what the ignorant need to know, expert but — and this may be a surprising word for a book of popular biology — kind...You feel like cheering.' - Adam Nicolson, New York Times

Far from being mere ornaments, flowers have shaped the very fabric of life on our planet. Their evolution triggered a cascade of biodiversity, transforming oceans, creating new habitats, and even altering the climate. Their beauty turned adversaries into allies, and their adaptability turned environmental upheavals into opportunities for renewal.

Weaving together vivid storytelling, lyrical writing, and cutting-edge science, Haskell illuminates flowers as portals into deep time and essential players in our ecological future. He reveals how flowers built and sustained ecosystems from rainforests to prairies and have been pivotal in the evolution of species like butterflies, bees, and birds. He also uncovers their crucial role in human history, as cultural emblems, keys to scientific leaps, and evolutionary catalysts, with flowering grasses calling our ancestors to leave the trees, laying the foundation for agriculture and modern civilization.

From lessons in resilience and creativity found among gardeners’ favourites, such as magnolias, orchids, and roses, to rediscovering lesser-known wonders, like our uncelebrated underwater meadows that sustain life and the secrets of our most humble wildflowers, How Flowers Made Our World invites readers to see these blooms in a whole new light—as the dynamic and influential forces they truly are.

'Vividly written. David George Haskell shows how the most trivialized part of the natural world is among its most powerful and essential.' — Rebecca Solnit, author of Orwell’s Roses

'David George Haskell's great strength as a writer is that he is open to surprise. He regards the planet as a strange and beautiful place. How Flowers Made Our World is at once closely observed, richly reported, and mind-blowing.' — Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction

'In this dazzling book, scintillating with wonder and scholarship, Haskell shows us how flowers – so often belittled and misunderstood, have shaped ecology, and so shaped us. Flowers are tectonic, and here is a book worthy of them.' — Charles Foster, author of The Edges of the World

'Joyful ... brimming with curiosity, humour, and crystal-clear scientific delights. How Flowers Made Our World is a celebration of the inventiveness of floral life.' — Zoë Schlanger, author of The Light Eaters

David Haskell is a writer and biologist, adjunct professor of environmental sciences at Emory University and a Guggenheim Fellow. Known for his integration of science, lyrical writing and close observation of the living world, he has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction, for The Forest Unseen and Sounds Wild and Broken. In 2024, the American Academy of Arts and Letters granted him an Award in Literature.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781911709985
ISBN 10	1911709984
Title	How Flowers Made Our World
Author	David George Haskell
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Torva
Year published	2026-03-19
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.