The Secret Life of Plants: A Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man

by Christopher Bird, Peter Tomkins, Peter Tompkins

Book Overview

"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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0072AZ67I
• ISBN13: 9780060915872
• Release Date: March 1989
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Old copy

The book was in poor condition for the price.

Read with an open mind.

This is a great book if you let it. I started with "Secret Life of Soil" figuring start there, for from soil, comes the plant. I ended up ditching that effort and starting here. First, the soil thing got Spacey in a rush. Right around manure stuffed bull horns to be buried over a winter I started to question my reasons for reading. I enjoy gardening. I appreciate the idea of an "all one" theory. I am beginning to appreciate planting by the signs (Another book I ordered in the same shipment, Foxfire Vol 1, by happenstance introduces this concept, too). So now onto this book, read it with an open mind. At page 100 I am into some rather Interesting things. Plants respond. They do have life. They do behave or follow a plan, script or a will. Mycellium Running and other learnings on mycelial networks show us nature's internet. The names being drawn into this book are impressive, too. Goethe and Sir J.C. Bose. How fascinating, a world of independent thinkers known for only one thi g perhaps are actually very well rounded people. Their significance in other realms seemingly hushed (Tesla?). Good book, if you let it.

this will forever change how you view your houseplants......

I am not exaggerating. When I picked up a copy of THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS, to go on a journey into the previously "unknown" world of plants, it was listed as, both, a new age and an occult book. Yes, to some it sounds pretty woo woo and out there that the common houseplant could take such a liking to Brahms, or such a disliking to hard rock music, that it would be driven to either thrive or shrivel. Yet, according to scientists and scientific scholars, stranger things have happened--and, in their words and by their accounts, they really DID happen! For example, plants who were the subjects of numerous tests and studies in a laboratory, were proven to have "human-like" feelings for the people that they were introduced to. In fact, the relationships progressed to the point that when one of the participants in the study nearly got run over by public transportation on the street, the participating plant was recorded in reacting in alarm to the peril that the human subject was put in! This wasn't all. Plants also are also proven, in this book, to respond to human sexuality in a very powerful (if not anthropomorphized) manner. Besides the studies, we are introduced to the beliefs of Goethe and the scientific progress made by George Washington Carver (of peanut cultivation fame). I can definitely see why this engrossing book inspired a soundtrack and an (as of today) unreleased documentary film. This book, written by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, is, quite possibly one of the most engrossing books pertaining to biology and modern-day symbiotic relationships between plants and humans that I have ever read. If THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS had been assigned reading in my high school biology class, I might have chosen a different path in college (in the plant sciences, perhaps!). If that isn't a vote of confidence from me, the humble liberal arts major, I don't know what is! Read this fantastic book today.

This book changed the way I view the world..

The studies described in this book are phenominal. I will truly never look at plants the same. This book provides information on plants at a scientific and metaphysic level, that you probably have never heard before; at least I havent. It is truly shocking! I recommend this book to all the "green thumbs" out there who know what it is like to communicate with plants, and want more information on how this communication takes place. Its reassuring. This is a very powerful book. A+++

A Profound Study of The Plant Kingdom

The study of plants and human interaction come to life in this fine book and if read with an open mind and heart, one will no doubt be left with a new sense of awe and empathy for our plant world. Chapter after chapter relates a multitude of discoveries from plant research around the world that demonstrate how plants grow, metabolize, and communicate not only within their own structure, but with all other life forms. Some researchers have used polygraph instruments connected to leaf surfaces to observe responses through electro-magnetic activity to various stimuli such as: raucous, loud music compared with mellow, harmonious music. The results are always the same: plants react favorably to mellow music while continuous raucous sounds can actually kill them. Even more amazingly, perhaps, is that plants accurately react to good or bad thoughts directed at them or other biological life forms and even at great distances. Perhaps the most profound discovery of all of this plant research, however, is that plants are truly sentient beings capable of a multitude and range of feelings. Many skeptics have been astonished to discover this fact, but since this phenomena can be demonstrated using relatively simple tests, it is there for anyone to prove it on their own. Masaru Emoto, a researcher in Japan, has come to the conclusion that sentient life is found in just about all life forms including water, which is the focus of his research. In his book, "The Hidden Message in Water", Emoto tells of using some of the same studies to demonstrate that ice crystals formed from various frozen water samples, show a sentient response to the same stimuli that the plants have been subjected to and with the same results. This book references a broad spectrum of researchers such as Rachel Carson, author of the famous "Silent Spring"-1962. This book was a powerful indictment of chemical pesticides, herbicides, etc. and which was considered to be the biggest boost to environmental awareness that continues on to this day. She wrote about the alarming side effects of chemical contamination and the ludicrous, unnecessary vicious cycle of ever expanding need for more chemicals while plants and insects, unlike most other life-forms, so expertly alter their composition to resist this assault. Of course, the chemical manufacturers (aka: merchants of poison and death) are laughing all the way to the bank with this dangerous and insidious snake-oil scam. After reading this book, one might feel a sense of rage about the assault of the thoughtless and needless use of toxic chemicals used on plant and insects, overflowing into all other life forms, wreaking havoc on non-targeted ecosystems. But, what goes around, comes around (Karma, and in this case, bad). The book finishes with the founding story of the Findhorn Community in Scotland, an ecologically conscious horticultural group who started their project with the full awareness that plants are sentient and in this

Your best friends.....

THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird is a wonderful book of wisdom about the plant world and life in general. Like many people my age, I cut my teeth on Disney's "Living Desert" back in the 1950s. That film killed the notion for me that nothing lives in Death Valley and if Death Valley can be alive what else is possible?SECRET LIFE is like the old Disney films because the book describes science that challenges stereotypical mainstream thinking. Anyone who believes plants are sentient beings will love this book. If you've done much reading on this subject you've probably seen Tompkins and Bird quoted elsewhere.In the first part of their book, the authors explore the attributes of plants and pretty much conclude they have everything in common with animals-except plants probably came first on the evolutionary ladder and prepared the way for animals. In fact, if earth was invaded by alien species, the authors suggest the aliens were probably plants. But, you say, plants have roots and stay put (for the most part) and plants produce chlorophyll. Shell fish (oysters, mussels) and sea anemones can be rooted to one spot and small protozoa-like creatures produce chlorophyll. Probably the thing I like the best about this book is that finally, someone links the Chakras to real body parts-the seven endocrine centers--and explains the reasons why these "hot spots" are so important. Also, Tompkins and Bird explain the scientific reasoning behind Bach flower remedies and many other "new age" products you can find at Fresh Fields and other holistic stores. Skeptics will always have doubts, but after 30 years of organic gardening and non-academic exposure to plants, I know Tompkins and Bird are onto something. So do many modern scientists who have discovered belatedly that much of what the authors described 30 years ago may be true afterall. Cutting edge scientists are frequently ignored. Once upon a time some people thought George Washington Carver was a fruitcake because he thought plants had feelings (they do). Carver discovered many unusual things as did a number of other later Nobel winners, although sometimes folks like Gregor Mendel were not recognized until it was too late. If you want to be a better person, a wiser consumer, a great gardener, and healthier, you owe it to yourself to read THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS. It isn't all about them.

One of my all time read it more than once favorites

This is one of the more enlightening texts I have ever come upon. To think that pre-electronic work was done by Bose in India more than 100 years ago is indicative of intellect and insight the likes of Tesla and Einstein. I have with great enthusiasm told and retold stories from this book to so many and I enjoy the looks of astonishnment resultant. To know that plants can be amplifiers or somehow otherwise receptors -conveyors of our thoughts-feelings, continues to me to be such a mind-blower. To those of you really turned on by this book, you would be equally entertained by the very thought provoking book: MORNING OF THE MAGICIANS. Give it a shot. Most hearty thanks to Mr. Tompkins and Mr. Bird.