Book Discussion "The Light Eaters" by Zoë Schlanger

Our book for June is The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by science journalist Zoë Schlanger.

From Amazon:
It takes tremendous biological creativity to be a plant. To survive and thrive while rooted in a single spot, plants have adapted ingenious methods of survival. In recent years, scientists have learned about their ability to communicate, recognize their kin and behave socially, hear sounds, morph their bodies to blend into their surroundings, store useful memories that inform their life cycle, and trick animals into behaving to their benefit, to name just a few remarkable talents.

The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence…We need plants to survive. But what do they need us for – if at all? An eye-opening and informative look at the ecosystem we live in, this book challenges us to rethink the role of plants – and our own place – in the natural world.

“Animals are something invented by plants to move seeds around. An extremely ‘yang’ solution to a peculiar problem which they faced.” – Terence McKenna