The Secret Life of Plants
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Secret Life of Plants (1973) is a book by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird. The book, which is generally regarded as a pseudoscientific work, discusses the alleged unusual phenomena regarding plants such as plant sentience, as well as alternative philosophy and alternative farming methods.
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Authors
Christopher Bird (May 11, 1928 - May 2, 1996) was a best-selling author, specialising in unconventional beliefs. Christopher Bird was also author of the book The Divining Hand: The 500-Year-Old Mystery of Dowsing. Peter Tompkins (April 19, 1919 in Athens, Georgia - January 23, 2007), father of author Ptolemy Tompkins, worked as a journalist, as well as an US military intelligence officer in Italy.
Summary
The book includes summaries of the life and work of amongst many others, 18th century scientists Jagdish Chandra Bose and George Washington Carver as well as Corentin Louis Kervran. The book also discusses alternative philosophy and practice on soil and soil health, as well as on alternative farming methods. Such topics as auras, psychophysics, orgone energy, radionics, kirlian photography, magnetotropism, bio-electrics and dowsing are also discussed. One of the book's claims is that plants may be sentient despite their lack of a nervous system and a brain.
The book includes unscientific experiments on plant stimuli, as through a polygraph, a method which was pioneered by Cleve Backster. The book is regarded as pseudoscientific by skeptics and many scientists.
Documentary
The book was the basis for the 1979 documentary of the same name directed by Walon Green and featuring a soundtrack by Stevie Wonder, later released as Journey through the Secret Life of Plants. The film made heavy use of time-lapse photography (where plants are seen growing in a few seconds, creepers reaching out to other plants and tugging on them, mushrooms and flowers popping open, etc.).
See also
- Plant perception (paranormal)
- Plant perception (physiology)
- The Secret Life of Plants (film) - the film based on the book
- Plant perception (paranormal)
- Jagdish Chandra Bose#Plant research
