The Sceptical Botanist
Separating Fact from Fiction
By: Tim Entwisle
Beautifully crafted essays that explore everyday questions about plants and gardens.
Do trees talk to one another? Can a plant use up the oxygen in a room while you sleep? What is a native plant and what is a weed? Are some plants truly immortal? + Full description
Through 50 beautifully crafted essays, former director of preeminent botanic gardens and self-confessed plant punk Tim Entwisle shines a gentle light on everyday questions about plants and gardens, guiding the reader through fact and fiction.
Including the best of his contributions to gardening magazines and newspapers over four decades, as well as 24 pieces written specially for this book, The Sceptical Botanist is a tour de force of investigative writing from one of Australia’s most thoughtful and inquisitive botanical minds.
Pick up The Sceptical Botanist and you’ll never look at a plant or garden in the same way again!
"A humane and humorous foray into the world of plants, their relationships with people, and revealingly, into the mind of a sceptical botanist.
These short essays contain so many important and enjoyable insights. From vexed questions about GM foods and whether trees are intelligent, to his delightful personal experiences across the botanical world, Entwisle is a confident explorer and guide. Whether he’s exploring our relationships with plants, the way that scientists think, or the reasons for some very unnatural beliefs about nature, his humour, integrity and lightly-worn knowledge shine through."
– Professor Jonathan Drori, CBE, Author, Former Trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
News
Sales in Australia and New Zealand only.
Details
Paperback | August 2025 | $ 39.99ISBN: 9781486318216 | 272 pages | 210 x 135 mm
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Illustrations
Features
- Curates 50 thought-provoking, gently provocative, quirky and captivating essays on the myths of plants and gardens.
- Scholarly but always witty and fun, with light-hearted cartoons.
- Dispels myths and unpicks taboos, with good humour and a lightness of touch.
- Covers a variety of topics associated with gardening, including ‘What makes plants tick?’, ‘Plants from elsewhere’, ‘Garden plants and landscapes’, ‘Gardening with convictions’ and ‘Observing and cataloguing nature’.
Contents
Preface1 What makes plants tick?
2 Plants from elsewhere
3 Garden plants and landscapes
4 Gardening with convictions
5 Observing and cataloguing nature
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Endnotes
Authors
Professor Tim Entwisle is a highly respected botanist, broadcaster and author, with over 30 years’ experience as head of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney and Melbourne, and in a senior role at Kew Gardens in London. He is also the author of Sprinter and Sprummer.
Related titles
