How Plants Can Save Your Life


Book Description

Growing plants and (if we are lucky enough) creating gardens is deeply rewarding, but has also been proven to be vital for our health. Gardening helps improve our mood, relax us, take us away from our everyday problems, and promote positive emotions. It reduces anxiety and stress, delays in the onset of dementia, promotes joy, as well as improving physical health and even self-esteem. This new book explores the ways we can introduce plants into our lives and thus embrace some of the benefits the natural world provides for our well-being. Divided into 50 sections, each one highlights a plant-based activity, how this is good for your health and provides links to the underlying concept that supports health and well-being. Written by a leading scientific authority on environmental horticulture, this unique book will offer readers a wealth of ideas on planting and growing as well as explaining the latest science research behind those ideas.




This Book Could Save Your Life


Book Description

You are what you eat. Food and diet have an enormous influence on your health and well-being, but eating the right amount of the right things - and not too much of the wrong things - isn't easy. But, as in most walks of life, knowledge is power. This book will empower you to eat healthily, lose weight, and sort the fads from the science facts. This is the New Scientist take on a "New Year, New You" book: an eye-opening and myth-busting guide to everything from sugar to superfoods, from fasting to eating like a caveman and from veganism to your gut microbiome. Forget faddy diet books or gimmicky exercise programs, this is what is scientifically proven to make you live longer and to be healthier and happier.




The Proof is in the Plants


Book Description

What if there was a way of eating that may help us live healthier for longer and protect the future of our planet, too? The good news is that evidence now shows a plant-based diet may offer us exactly that – and straight-talking nutritionist Simon Hill has done the hard work translating the science into actionable advice for everyday life. Before transitioning to a plant-based diet Simon held many of the common misconceptions. But instead he experienced incredible improvements in his energy levels, digestion, mental clarity and post-workout recovery after making the shift. He’d finally understood the power of food and was determined to find out – and share – the agenda-free truth about the optimum diet for human health. By undertaking a master’s degree in nutrition, poring over the latest scientific papers and books, and producing hundreds of hours of his internationally successful Plant Proof podcast, Simon has pursued the answers to all the questions he had about fuelling our bodies with more plants. Now, in his first book, he brings it all together into one inspiring and practical guide. It covers: – The reasons why we’re all so confused about what to eat – The evidence showing how a plant-based diet might reduce risks of heart attacks and strokes, type 2 diabetes, cancer and dementia – The positive impact of plant-based living for the climate and animal welfare – Common myths about a plant-based diet – and what the real facts are – How to build a healthy, satisfying plant-based plate, from macronutrients to micronutrients – Practical tips for making the shift, and much more. If you want to understand and unlock the many benefits of putting more plants on your plate, this book is for you.




The Humane Gardener


Book Description

In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife by choosing native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer; and encouraging natural processes and evolution in the garden. The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world.




Dangerous Garden


Book Description

As our earliest ancestors migrated out of Africa, they encountered entirely new floras. By sampling these, they found plants that appeared to (and sometimes did) heal wounds, cure maladies, and ease troubled minds. This process of discovery continues today, as multinational pharmaceutical companies bioprospect in the globe's remaining wild places for the next tamoxifen or digitalis. The gardener and botanist David Stuart tells the fascinating story of botanical medicine, revealing more than soothing balms and heroic cures. Most of the truly powerful and effective medicinal plants are double-edged, with a dark side to balance the light. They can heal or kill, calm or enslave, lift depression or summon our gods and monsters. Often the difference between these polar effects is a simple change in dosage. Stuart chronicles the tale of how the herbal materia medica of healing and killing plants has sparked wars, helped establish intercontinental trade routes, and seeded fortunes. As plant species traveled the globe, their medicinal uses evolved over miles and through centuries. Plants once believed to be cure-alls are now considered too dangerous for use. Others, once so valuable that they sowed the wealth of empires, are merely spices on the kitchen shelf. David Stuart recounts engrossing human stories too, not only of the scientists, explorers, and doctors who gathered, named, and prescribed these plants but also the shamans, magicians, and quacks who claimed to possess the ultimate herbal aphrodisiac or elixir.




In Defense of Plants


Book Description

The Study of Plants in a Whole New Light “Matt Candeias succeeds in evoking the wonder of plants with wit and wisdom.” ―James T. Costa, PhD, executive director, Highlands Biological Station and author of Darwin's Backyard #1 New Release in Nature & Ecology, Plants, Botany, Horticulture, Trees, Biological Sciences, and Nature Writing & Essays In his debut book, internationally-recognized blogger and podcaster Matt Candeias celebrates the nature of plants and the extraordinary world of plant organisms. A botanist’s defense. Since his early days of plant restoration, this amateur plant scientist has been enchanted with flora and the greater environmental ecology of the planet. Now, he looks at the study of plants through the lens of his ever-growing houseplant collection. Using gardening, houseplants, and examples of plants around you, In Defense of Plants changes your relationship with the world from the comfort of your windowsill. The ruthless, horny, and wonderful nature of plants. Understand how plants evolve and live on Earth with a never-before-seen look into their daily drama. Inside, Candeias explores the incredible ways plants live, fight, have sex, and conquer new territory. Whether a blossoming botanist or a professional plant scientist, In Defense of Plants is for anyone who sees plants as more than just static backdrops to more charismatic life forms. In this easily accessible introduction to the incredible world of plants, you’ll find: • Fantastic botanical histories and plant symbolism • Passionate stories of flora diversity and scientific names of plant organisms • Personal tales of plantsman discovery through the study of plants If you enjoyed books like The Botany of Desire, What a Plant Knows, or The Soul of an Octopus, then you’ll love In Defense of Plants.




Plants


Book Description

Though essential to our existance, plants get sidelined in the hustle and bustle of city life. The revolutionary concept of 'eco-landscaping' heralds the effort to bring greenery back into the concrete jungle we inhabit. Plants: Why You Can't Live Without Them explores how our homes and offices can be made healthier and more cheerful with plants. Air-conditioned rooms, synthetic building materials and inadequate ventilation cause numerous respiratory and nervous disorders. The mere presence of plants has been proved to lessen enviornmental pollution, increase labour productivity and reduce the cost of healthcare.Plants also provide medical herbs and nutritious food that go a very long in extending our lifespan.From the refreshening up of indoor space, to creating a variety of gardens, and to natural methods of waste recycling, Plants elaborates the diverse means by which to enhance our living. Produced after many years of scientific research and data collection, this book is a comprehensive study of the amazing benefits of plants, which are nature's gift to us and provide us sustenance. Dr. B.C. 'Bill' Wolverton is a retired NASA scientist and has received numerous patents and wards for his pioneering research into enviromental pollution. He lectured throughout the world and his publication include Eco-friendly Houseplants(or How to Grow Fresh Air), now in fifteen translations, and Growing Clean Water-Nature's Solution to Water Pollution. Kozaburo Takenaka, Founder of Takenaka Garden Afforestation, the topmost plant leasing company in Japan, has created many styles of green enviroments in all manner of indoor and outdoor spaces. He has conducted research with universities into green plant related technologies, with experiments in natural and artificial enviroments, soil developement and water resources.




The Secret Life of Plants


Book Description

"Once in a while you find a book that stuns you. Its scope leaves you breathless. This is such a book." — John White, San Francisco Chronicle Explore the inner world of plants and its fascinating relation to mankind, as uncovered by the latest discoveries of science. In this truly revolutionary and beloved work, drawn from remarkable research, Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird cast light on the rich psychic universe of plants. The Secret Life of Plants explores plants' response to human care and nurturing, their ability to communicate with man, plants' surprising reaction to music, their lie-detection abilities, their creative powers, and much more. Tompkins and Bird's classic book affirms the depth of humanity's relationship with nature and adds special urgency to the cause of protecting the environment that nourishes us.




The Family Guide to Survival Skills That Can Save Your Life and the Lives of Your Family


Book Description

Think about where you are right now. How well would you and your family fare if today, right now, you were suddenly faced with an enormous disaster-a massive earthquake, a sudden flood, a horrific hurricane, tornado, super storm, or other catastrophic event? If you and your family are not fully prepared to face the events after a disaster and you want to learn how to prepare for and survive when a disaster strikes, this book could save your life ... and the lives of your family. This book details lifesaving information and illustrations for you and your family, to help ensure your survival in the event of a disaster.




Living With Plants


Book Description

Houseplants offer the perfect solution to the urban dweller, lacking in space – indoor and outdoor – and in Living With Plants, botanical-stylist, Sophie Lee, shows you simple but innovative ways to make your home gorgeously green. Starting with the basics, learn how to pick the right plant for your home (and specifically what room), what levels of sunlight your plant needs and the best space for your plants to thrive. Packed with information on plant types and breeds, how to dress a windowsill on a budget and essential tools, you’ll also discover a comprehensive guide on plant care, teaching you how to nurture your plants correctly – from propagation and cuttings, to watering and potting, to recognising early signs of plant trouble and how to prevent them. With handy tips and tricks dotted throughout plus creative DIY plant projects like how to make your own terrariums to gorgeous kokedama and macramé plant hangers, Living With Plants is a beautiful manual of ideas for those who want to find inspiring ways to bring the beauty of nature into their home.