- Author: Lanie Keystone
Considered by the American Horticultural Society as one of the 75 greatest books ever written about gardening, Second Nature (ISBN 13), by Michael Pollan, is a call for each of us to rethink our relationship with nature. The book, written in 1991, gives insight into Pollan's relationship with the earth—and one can see glimmers of his future musings and writings as he takes us on his gardening journey.
Pollan divides his book into four sections corresponding with the four seasons. The author introduces us to his adventures by stating, “This book is the story of my education in the garden. The garden in question is actually two, one more or less imaginary, the other insistently real. When reading the chapters within the four sections, we see what Pollan means by “insistently real”. As an example: Spring: Chapter 2 “Nature Abhors a Garden”; Summer “Weeds Are Us; or , my personal favorite—Winter “Made Wild By Pompous Catalogs”.
His honesty grabs the reader and we nod in agreement with his insights. To quote Pollan once again: “Both of these gardens have had a lot to teach me………I would not learn to garden very well before I'd also learned about a few other things: about my proper place in nature….about the troubled borders between nature and culture, and about the experience of place….”
As demonstrated in his bestselling book, The Botany of Desire, Pollan writes with humor, charm and great wisdom. He seems to capture our enchantment and engagement with nature and gardening, and gives license to our need to feel occasionally exasperated with both while always reveling in their beauty, complexity and joy. At 258 pages, it's a perfect summer read.