SECRET LIFE is like the old Disney films because the book describes science that challenges stereotypical mainstream thinking. Anyone who believes plants are sentient beings will love this book. If you've done much reading on this subject you've probably seen Tompkins and Bird quoted elsewhere.

In the first part of their book, the authors explore the attributes of plants and pretty much conclude they have everything in common with animals-except plants probably came first on the evolutionary ladder and prepared the way for animals. In fact, if earth was invaded by alien species, the authors suggest the aliens were probably plants. But, you say, plants have roots and stay put (for the most part) and plants produce chlorophyll. Shell fish (oysters, mussels) and sea anemones can be rooted to one spot and small protozoa-like creatures produce chlorophyll.

Probably the thing I like the best about this book is that finally, someone links the Chakras to real body parts-the seven endocrine centers--and explains the reasons why these "hot spots" are so important. Also, Tompkins and Bird explain the scientific reasoning behind Bach flower remedies and many other "new age" products you can find at Fresh Fields and other holistic stores.

Skeptics will always have doubts, but after 30 years of organic gardening and non-academic exposure to plants, I know Tompkins and Bird are onto something. So do many modern scientists who have discovered belatedly that much of what the authors described 30 years ago may be true afterall.

Cutting edge scientists are frequently ignored. Once upon a time some people thought George Washington Carver was a fruitcake because he thought plants had feelings (they do). Carver discovered many unusual things as did a number of other later Nobel winners, although sometimes folks like Gregor Mendel were not recognized until it was too late.

If you want to be a better person, a wiser consumer, a great gardener, and healthier, you owe it to yourself to read THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS. It isn't all about them.


Complete Trash   March 28, 2001
 32 out of 63 found this review helpful

Perhaps the worst book about plants I have ever run across, this ridiculous piece of pseudo-science spouts half-truths, speculation, and 60's phony-spiritual mysticism and calls it "science." It has led to some of the worst science-fair projects I have ever seen, and it has no doubt helped confuse thousands of middle- and high-school children. Spend your money on something else.


More New Age Nonsense   November 18, 2004
 32 out of 68 found this review helpful

If they really are sentient beings, one must wonder if plants are as gullible as the humans that fell for this book. If not, plants must be having a jolly good laugh.

Peter Tomkins and Christopher Bird based a large part of this book on the work of Cleve Backster, a "scientist" of questionable credentials. Backster's "experiments" on the galvanic skin response of plants, first published in the International Journal of Parapsychology in 1968, have been thoroughly refuted by qualified scientists using proper controls. No duplication of Backster's experiments using genuine scientific methods has ever produced a similar result. But heaven forbid anything as trivial as facts interfere with new age anthropomorphization.

This book belongs on the "some people will believe anything" shelf alongside pseudo-science tomes on crop circles, ESP, spoon bending, astrology, and other nonsense. Readers wishing to better understand the fascinating world of botany would be better advised to spend their money on any genuine science books on plants.


Surely you are joking, Mr Tompkins and Mr Bird!   October 16, 2000
 31 out of 56 found this review helpful

Okay, okay, I will admit reading this book, but only because I foolishly thought this book was about plant biology and scientific progress into plant habitat and their reaction to their environment and to other plant species. But what I got instead was a book that talks about ESP, mind-over-matter, Yoga, hynopsis, extra-terrestial plant seeds, and some very questionable scientific methodology of experiments. There is even a section of how to become "one with your houseplant"! Consequently, I felt as if the book's two authors are still stuck in the hippie, drug-culture of the 60s when they wrote this book. If you even believe an iota of this book, I recommend Carl Sagan's book The Demon-Haunted World. For your sanity, people, avoid this book like the bubonic plague.


Loopy and fascinating   August 9, 2005
 29 out of 32 found this review helpful

This book changed my life. I found it absolutely fascinating and was stunned when my PhD supervisor (I'm a plant biologist) told me that she had read it too. I was interested to know where the amazing information came from that they present and was dissapointed, but not particularly surprised, that all the "science" that they refer to is published in journals with names like "The Russian Journal of Parapsychology" and the like. Not a single one was in a journal that I could easily get access to, so, while it is wonderful food for thought and a great hommage to the importance and wonder of plants, the evidence they present should be taken with a grain of salt unless you can find other research backing it up. But enjoy. It really is mind-boggling!