Weeds: In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants - Softcover

"Like Michael Pollan in "The Botany of Desire," Mabey shows that it is not at all clear here who is in charge, who has the moral high ground and who will survive long after the last weed has been pulled from the last over-tended suburban acre."--Los Angeles Times

"A jaunty chronicle of botany and history that ventures from the first farm fields of Mesopotamia to the broken asphalt of our modern cities."--Charleston Post & Courier

"[W]onderful. . . . [P]resents a compelling case that weeds, the opportunists of the plant world, play a vital role in filling the empty spaces of the earth caused by natural disasters or human events."--Washington Independent Review of Books

"Outstanding. . . . An engrossing and captivating exploration of the tenacious, often beautiful, sometimes destructive, plants we designate as weeds."--Shelf Awareness

"As witty and lively as it is comprehensive. . . . A stimulating sojourn with the world's most fascinating and ingenious plants."--Portsmouth Herald

"Elegant and thoughtful. . . . I may not turn the mower aside when I encounter the next thistly, pod-bearing stem. But I will stop, stoop and take a closer look."--Dallas Morning News

"Wry and subtle. . . . Mabey argues without scolding, that at a time of great environmental change and uncertainty, weeds may soon be all we've got left."--New York Times Book Review

"Weeds may seem a soft subject for a book. Not so in the hands of Richard Mabey.... Mabey's book... suggests that weeds may, in fact, have made civilization possible--and, with climate change, may keep the planet alive."--Financial Times

"Weeds are often described as plants in the wrong place. In fact, explains Richard Mabey in this delightful and casually learned book, they are in precisely the right place for themselves: next to us."--The Economist

"Smart. . . . Mabey is at his best when he takes us along on his own weedy adventures."--Washington Post

Weaving together natural history, botanical science and insight from his own travels, a prominent nature writer reveals the many hidden truths behind these scourges of lawns and gardens, and explores how weeds have been portrayed from the Bible all the way to Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.