The Revolutionary Genius of Plants

A New Understanding of Plant Intelligence and Behavior

By: Stefano Mancuso

Narrated by: Gibson Frazier

Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's Summary

Do plants have intelligence? Do they have memory? Are they better problem solvers than people? The Revolutionary Genius of Plants - a fascinating, paradigm-shifting work that upends everything you thought you knew about plants - makes a compelling scientific case that these and other astonishing ideas are all true.

Plants make up 80 percent of the weight of all living things on earth, and yet it is easy to forget that these innocuous, beautiful organisms are responsible for not only the air that lets us survive but for many of our modern comforts: our medicine, our food supply, even our fossil fuels.

On the forefront of uncovering the essential truths about plants, world-renowned scientist Stefano Mancuso reveals the surprisingly sophisticated ability of plants to innovate, to remember, and to learn, offering us creative solutions to the most vexing technological and ecological problems that face us today. Despite not having brains or central nervous systems, plants perceive their surroundings with an even greater sensitivity than animals. They efficiently explore and react promptly to potentially damaging external events thanks to their cooperative, shared systems; without any central command centers, they are able to remember prior catastrophic events and to actively adapt to new ones.

Every minute of The Revolutionary Genius of Plants bubbles over with Stefano Mancuso’s infectious love for plants and for the eye-opening research that makes it more and more clear how remarkable our fellow inhabitants on this planet really are. In his hands, complicated science is wonderfully accessible. The Revolutionary Genius of Plants opens the doors to a new understanding of life on earth. 

©2018 Stefano Mancuso (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

Inaccurate book description

I wonder whether I would have enjoyed this book more if the book description and title were more accurate. Rather than being focused on plant intelligence and behavior throughout, the author uses those topic as launching points to discuss his views on political and economic systems. This transitions into a discussion on technology. Granted, all topics are inspired by plant physiology and behavior, but the focus is not what was implied.

Much that is not about plants

Learned omethings about plants that I didn’t know. But why did he need to include sections about democracy and about chili peppers? Would that he had stuck with more fascinating information about plants.

Narrator's speech impediment ruins it.

I am guessing that the narrator must be a friend of the author, because he has a speech impediment pronouncing "s" which is so distracting that I had to return the book. I have complete respect and compassion for the narrator as a person (he might have overcome much to get it down to a minor impediment), but why he would think he should be a professional narrator, I do not know.

my intuition was reinforced for my love of plants

he reinforced with science that which ancient shaman knew 7000 years ago. I was surprised he didn't mention the Fibonacci sequence of natural order which is a foundation of how all plants use geometry as a building block. hey but what do I know I am just an electronic technician 40 Yes. experience who sees natural order in all things from my little window of knowledge about electrons reacting to any vibration. uh oh that's quantum mechanics or is it string theory ? lol

I really wanted to like this book

I was disappointed in this book. I was expecting it to have more in depth explanations of plants. There was a lot of added story telling that didn't seem to go anywhere. The narrator did a terrific job, which was the only thing that made the book bearable. If I was reading it myself, I would have set it down after the first chapter.

our inseparable connection with plants

great story, has a nice flow and progression. highly reccomend to be inspired about plants

Such an important subject. Every person should read this book

Plants are everything for humans. Such a relevant book in a time like today where we face our biggest challenge ever due to the climate and environmental change.

A MUST read to all human kind!

The book's subject is astounding, revolutionary and simply brilliantly written. I liked it so much that I ended up purchasing the printed version, so I could mark up amazing passages and keep them with me forever!
The performance is also great: he's got a clear voice, dynamic intonation and great vocal expressiveness, turning a subject that might've been tedious to some into an interesting narrative journey. His voice quality and tone are also very pleasing (as a musician, I'm very picky with this sort of thing, Haha!).
I highly recommend this book.

very educational

very educational and insightful I would definitely recommend it I'm excited to run back through it

Brilliant facts and insights

I love this book
Stefano mancuso is so magically insightful
In this book
I only wish he had more audiobooks!!!!
Bravo signore’

The revolutionary genius of Stefano Mancuso

I got the feeling this book was more about what a clever guy he is than a real love of plants in themselves. He seems to look at them to see if he can steal ideas to make man more powerful and so he exploit the planet with more success and ease, even moving into other planets if push comes to shove. He needs a new ‘story’ as Charles Eisenstein would put it.
As for the narrator, in most paragraphs he somehow manages to speak every word with a tone of amazement! Tiresome to listen to.