The sheer joy of this book!!

This book is for a certain kind of person, but I am that person. A bit of a slow burn with lots of little 'did you know' tidbits to keep in your back pocket. For example, a walnut is the wrinkled up proto-leaf

(Audiobook.)

Fascinating.

I enjoyed this deep dive (although not too scientifically deep, in a good way) into the miraculous methods seeds have developed to survive and reproduce, and how much they impact our everyday lives -- not just as food, but as functional building blocks to industrial systems. I almost knocked a star off for all the Mounds and Almond Joys I craved the entire read, but then ate the hangries away and thought better of it. ;)

My wife often makes fun of me when she sees the titles of books I read. Such was the case with this book. And, in her defense, a younger version of me would have rather stabbed himself in the neck rather than pick up a book with this title.

But, good gravy, this was one of the most fascinating books I've read in a long time. The author not only conveyed his admiration of seeds but told a story so compelling that I now share that admiration. I'm a fan of both the author and the subject.

The tales of science and interspecies relationships (including between scientist and seed) were exciting. However, I was often distracted by the white/Eurocentric viewpoint the author used while writing about historical events, which I feel did a disservice to the story being told. Slavery was hardly mentioned in the chapter about cotton, Columbus was a heroic explorer, and the damage caused extraction of seeds and plants was celebrated throughout the text as economic success.