JUNE BOOK OF THE MONTH
Title:
Thus Spoke the Plant: A Remarkable Journey of Ground-Breaking Scientific Discoveries & Personal Encounters with Plants
by Monica Gagliano (2018)
Genres:
Nature Writing, Phytobiography (story written in collaboration between human scientist and plant subjects)
By transcending the view of plants as the objects of scientific materialism, Gagliano encourages us to rethink plants as people - beings with subjectivity, consciousness, and volition, and hence having the capacity for their own perspectives and voices. The book draws on up-close-and-personal encounters with the plants themselves, as well as plant shamans, indigenous elders, and mystics from around the world and integrates these experiences with an incredible research journey and the groundbreaking scientific discoveries that emerged from it.
Monica Gagliano PhD, is Research Associate Professor of Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Western Australia. Her work has extended the concept of cognition (including perception, learning processes, memory and consciousness) in plants.
“This book is about plants and by plants. It is a phytobiography—a collection of stories, each written together with and on behalf of a plant person. These stories are told through the narrative voice of both the human and the plant person, through the language of plants and my language for them. But let me be clear on this most delicate subject. There is no attempt at, or need for, ventriloquizing by assigning a voice to plants or speaking for them to render these stories intelligible to our human mind.”
Meeting Details
Date: Sunday 28th June
Time: 5:00 pm-6:30 pm BST (online)
Price: £8*
*Please email amritakaur@bhohi.co.uk if price is a barrier
The book is 131 pages, and we’ll take the month to read it. On the final Sunday in June, we’ll come together in a facilitated space designed to deepen our reflections on the book’s stories and themes, and the wider work of reweaving people, the living earth, and the sacred.
I share ongoing reflections and quotes during the month via Substack notes and Instagram stories. You are welcome to follow along and join the conversation there!
Upcoming Reads
July: Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World
by Tyson Yunkaporta
August: The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise
by Martin Prechtel