Flower Hunters | 
| Authors: John Gribbin, Mary Gribbin
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $16.35
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 10029
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.4
ISBN: 0192807188
Dewey Decimal Number: 580.922
EAN: 9780192807182
ASIN: 0192807188
Publication Date: April 15, 2008
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Product Description
The flower hunters were intrepid explorers - remarkable, eccentric men and women who scoured the world in search of extraordinary plants from the middle of the seventeenth to the end of the nineteenth century, and helped establish the new science of botany. For these adventurers, the search
for new,undiscovered plant specimens was something worth risking - and often losing - their lives for.
From the Douglas-fir and the monkey puzzle tree, to exotic orchids and azaleas, many of the plants that are now so familiar to us were found in distant regions of the globe, often in wild and unexplored country, in impenetrable jungle, and in the face of hunger, disease, and hostile locals. It was
specimens like these, smuggled home by the flower hunters, that helped build the great botanical collections, and lay the foundations for the revolution in our understanding of the natural world that was to follow. Here, the adventures of eleven such explorers are brought to life, describing not
only their extraordinary daring and dedication, but also the lasting impact of their discoveries both on science, and on the landscapes and gardens that we see today.
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| Customer Reviews:
Hunting Flowers April 17, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have been an avid reader of John and Mary Gribbin for a number of years. The Flower Hunters is another fine example of their work. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to all of my friends. Being someone who generally reads hard-core science, I found it an interesting distraction to get away from the technical side of writing.
I applaud their efforts and hope that they keep up the great work.
Mr. Bill
Adventures in botany April 15, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
John Gribbin is best known for his science books, but this is something completely different. Hardly any science but lots of adventures and biography of mostly 19th century explorers who risked life and limb (and sometimes lost one or the other) searching for new kinds of plants to take back to the civilized world. People crazy enough to climb high mountains with no equipment for the sheer fun of it, explorers who ventured into the Amazonian rainforest and suffered disease, poisonous stinging insects and murderous natives to bring back quinine to cure malaria, a European who travelled in China in disguise, fighting off pirates twice, to learn the secrets of tea production, and a middle-aged Victorian British gentlewoman who travelled round the world twice just to paint flowers. The plants they sent back to England alone would have paid off the National Debt, but they mostly made fortunes for other people and were left with nothing for themselves. Minor characters in the story include Captain Bligh, of the Bounty, and Charles Darwin. This is a terrific read, in the same vein as (but better than) the same authors' biography of Robert FitzRoy.
Charlie T.
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