NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
• Longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Nonfiction Prize
• Short listed for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
• Finalist for the Chautauqua Prize
• Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History
• The New Yorker’s Best Books of 2024
• TIME’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2024
• New York Magazine’s 10 Best Books of the Year
• The Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction of 2024
• Smithsonian’s 10 Best Science Books of the Year
• A Boston Globe Best Book of the Year
• A Scientific American Best Book of the Year
• A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
• A Christian Science Monitor Best Book of the Year

Available everywhere books are sold; audiobook read by me

UK edition here; available or forthcoming in 20+ additional languages.

Read a review in The New Yorker here.

“Burning with open-minded curiosity, this exploration of the emerging revolution in plant science will challenge what you think you know and ignite a new way of seeing. Part detective story, field trip, and philosophy, this brilliant book stretches the mind toward a profound new understanding of the sophistication of under-appreciated plants. I feel it as an antidote to arrogance, as it engenders humility, respect, and awe for the light eaters who make the world.” –Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass

“I’ll never look at plants—or the natural world—in the same way again, after reading this stunning book. Instead of trying to ram the square peg of botanical life into the round holes of human biology and metaphors, Schlanger instead considers plants on their own terms, as they actually are. The result is mesmerizing, world-expanding, and achingly beautiful.” –Ed Yong, author of An Immense World

“A brilliant must-read. This book shook and changed me.” –David George Haskell, author of Sounds Wild and Broken, The Songs of Trees, and The Forest Unseen

“Rich, vital, and full of surprises. Read it!” –Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky and The Sixth Extinction