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Review
This absorbing and delightful book about 18th-century botanists stands out among histories of plant hunting...Works superbly --Sunday Telegraph
Rounded, generous and exhaustively researched ... She is very adept at telling a good story, and in the history and origins of gardening she has found the perfect vehicle ... An excellent, hugely entertaining and instructive tale, and Wulf tells it very well --Guardian
Wondrous... I have learned so much from her book --Jon Snow
A delightful book...Remarkably vivid --Adrian Tinniswood
Rounded, generous and exhaustively researched ... She is very adept at telling a good story, and in the history and origins of gardening she has found the perfect vehicle ... An excellent, hugely entertaining and instructive tale, and Wulf tells it very well --Guardian
Wondrous... I have learned so much from her book --Jon Snow
A delightful book...Remarkably vivid --Adrian Tinniswood
Scotland on Sunday
`A 'biography' of the quintessential English garden, taking in Captain Cook, Carl Linnaeus, and the simultaneous rise of the British Empire and flower arranging - a delightful look at horticultural history.'
--This text refers to the
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed 'The Brother Gardeners' so much that I would like to give it as a present to all my horticulturally minded friends. Andrea Wulf leads the reader from the early 18th Century when religious connotations even affected the plant world. She takes us lightly through the developments of horticulture following the newly discovered botanical treasure houses of America and Australia and gives us insights into the characters of the people who influenced the course of horticulture in those early days. We hear gossip about Linnaeus and his contemporaries and the problems faced by men such as Sir Joseph Banks and Captain Cook in a way that increases our understanding of them, their work and the problems they faced to bring us the garden and agricultural plants which we take very much for granted.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book shed light on lots of characters I only knew by name. The remarkably awkward egocentric Linnaeus, who invented the sexual system of plant classification; Captain Bligh, who returned from the mutinous expedition to captain the first expedition to bring back live plants from the tropics; Joseph Banks, who was with Captain Cook on the first british expedition to Australia and founded Kew Gardens. I enjoyed Jenny Uglow's The Lunar Men but I enjoyed this book even more.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I had this bought for me last Christmas and I must admit feel a bit sheepish having only just read it. In short, it is the history of the early British botanists from the 1700s and the accompanying revolution in plant cultivation, horticulture and general botanical discovery. One of those subject areas that always fascinates but is hardly touched upon by history curricula in school or college. I particularly enjoyed the written style of Andrea Wulf's text. It was reminiscent of Arthur Bryant's 'Set in a Silver Sea'. That is to say, history written as an Arts subject rather than a political or social science, which it so often is these days. A lively, rich and entertaining narrative that produces a truly interesting book on our national craze.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great for gardeners
This is a well written and fascinating book. One you probably want and need to read twice!
Published 20 months ago by Mrs. A. Zuill
fascinating and well crafted
Very well written in a chatty style, and an excellent framework for a story that is as gripping as a novel, yet as factual as history. Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2009 by Jane Page
An utterly charming and surprising birthday present from my daughter
Happy 63rd birthday to me! My daughter gave me this book on saturday knowing I am obsesed with gardening and spend all my time, according to her, up to me elbows in manure (manure... Read more
Published on 8 April 2008 by Marcus Lichtenstein
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