EFTA02638745.pdf

From: Sent: Monday, June 11, 2018 5:18 AM To: Jeffrey Epstein Subject: THE REVOLUTIONARY GENIUS OF PLANTS by Stefano Mancuso I Kirkus Reviews @media print body ( margin: 2mm 9mm; .original-url ( display: none; #article .float.left ( float: left !important; #article .float.right float: right !important; } #article .float ( margin-top: 0 !important; margin-bottom: 0 !important; https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/stefano-mancuso/the-revol=tionary-genius-of-plants/ <https://www.=irkusreviews.com/book-reviews/stefano-mancuso/the-revolutionary-genius-of-p=ants/> KI=KUS REVIEW An entertaining introduction t= the wonderful world of plants, which "exhibit unmistakable attributes of intelligence." =p style="max-width: 100%;">Although lacking a brain and immobile, plants a=e smart, flexible, durable, and innovative, writes Mancuso (Plant Neurobiology/Univ. o= Florence; Measuring Roots: An Update Approach<=i>, 2011, etc.) in this lively, enthusiastic, expert, and convincing overview. Animals move fast and=possess highly efficient specialized organs—heart, lungs, brain4k=94but, according to the author, these are overrated. "We have discovered that plants b=eathe with their whole body, feel with their whole body, and evaluate with their whole body. Spreading each function over the entire organism as much as possible is the only way to survive predation, and plants do it so well that=they can even withstand removal of much of their body without losing functionality." A sheep can survive the loss of its hair but not its=heart or kidneys; losing its legs would likely be fatal, yet we mow our lawns and pru=e our trees without a thought. Sixty percent of the calories humans consume co=e from wheat, corn, and rice. We believe that we have domesticated plants, but=Mancuso suggests that they have domesticated us. Even our concept of an "individual" makes little sense when applied to plants, whos= reiterated architectural units resemble a colony. Splitting a plant often produces two plants, but no one would think of doing that to an animal. Mancuso has not written a popular textbook on botany but rather a series of unconnected portraits (both textual and visual) of often amazingly wacky plants and thei= behavior, accompanied by essays on the equally impressive ways in which they=deal with their environment (some have eyes, and they display a "cle=r capacity of memory"), defend themselves, and flourish despite being stuck in o=e place. EFTA_R1_01870553 EFTA02638745