I only read half of this. I think my tolerance for popular science must have gotten low for some reason. This one is well written and full of info, its just the tone that got to me again. It reads like its written by an adjunct prof hired to teach intro in a way that recruits new majors. anyway not for me. I did get quite a bit from the paleobotany parts.

Enjoyable, light reading and a great combination of facts and stories. I liked it immensely.

I liked listening/learning about some of the vast amount of seeds in the world and how they evolved. This could have been a rather dry topic but the author made it interesting.

Even though this is marketed as a global story, it's pretty Western-centric and there are LOTS of references to Columbus, so just a heads up. I did learn some new things, but there wasn't enough (for me) reference to certain issues (like the chapter opening when an Indigenous person actually points out the Columbus effect).