Second Nature: A Gardener's Education

Synopsis

"One of the distinguished gardening books of our time," from the #1 New York Times –bestselling author of The Omnivore's Dilemma ( USA Today ).

Chosen by the American Horticultural Society as one of the 75 greatest books ever written about gardening After Michael Pollan bought an old Connecticut dairy farm, he planted a garden and attempted to follow Thoreau's example: do not impose your will upon the wilderness, the woodchucks, or the weeds.

That ethic did not, of course, work. But neither did pesticides or firebombing the woodchuck burrow. So Michael Pollan began to think about the troubled borders between nature and contemporary life. The result is a funny, profound, and beautifully written book in the finest tradition of American nature writing.

It inspires thoughts on the war of the roses; sex and class conflict in the garden; virtuous composting; the American lawn; seed catalogs, a…