50 in '08: 16
Jun. 2nd, 2008 10:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sakon76Title: The $64 Tomato
By: William Alexander
Length: 265 pages
Yes, I pulled a few biographical gardening books out of the library along with the more conventional gardening books. This one, unlike the last, is actually readable. Its subtitle on the cover is "How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden." While certain parts of this title are slight exaggerations, for the most part it's accurate. It details the ups and downs of Mr. Alexander's tweny-year gardening experience on his three-acre lot, primarily concerning his vegetable garden. It's written in simple, forthright language, which I feel is the style best becoming of a gardening-centric book, and occasionally puts ideas in my head that wouldn't've gotten there by themselves (not about gardening per se, but about things like the Darwinian-ness of getting rid of garden pests and how tiny changes can upset even garden and lawn ecosystems). I'd heard about this book before I read it, and its final point really is valid: why does anyone garden? For pretty much anyone reading this entry, it's not going to be for enough food to eat. I knew going into my community garden that it wasn't going to be cost-effective as far as produce. But I enjoy it; it puts me in touch with nature and green things and teaches me about things I've never grown before. (Some things I have learned thus far this year: 'taters love it where I am, pumpkins will try to take over, and corn salad seedlings get eaten by the buggies almost as soon as they sprout.) But much as it made for a pleasant evening's read, I'm not sure that there's anything concrete to be learned within this volume's pages, and it hasn't made a significant impact on how I view the world.
Verdict: Neutral. If you see it, you might as well read it; there are certainly much worse books out there to kill a few hours with.
By: William Alexander
Length: 265 pages
Yes, I pulled a few biographical gardening books out of the library along with the more conventional gardening books. This one, unlike the last, is actually readable. Its subtitle on the cover is "How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden." While certain parts of this title are slight exaggerations, for the most part it's accurate. It details the ups and downs of Mr. Alexander's tweny-year gardening experience on his three-acre lot, primarily concerning his vegetable garden. It's written in simple, forthright language, which I feel is the style best becoming of a gardening-centric book, and occasionally puts ideas in my head that wouldn't've gotten there by themselves (not about gardening per se, but about things like the Darwinian-ness of getting rid of garden pests and how tiny changes can upset even garden and lawn ecosystems). I'd heard about this book before I read it, and its final point really is valid: why does anyone garden? For pretty much anyone reading this entry, it's not going to be for enough food to eat. I knew going into my community garden that it wasn't going to be cost-effective as far as produce. But I enjoy it; it puts me in touch with nature and green things and teaches me about things I've never grown before. (Some things I have learned thus far this year: 'taters love it where I am, pumpkins will try to take over, and corn salad seedlings get eaten by the buggies almost as soon as they sprout.) But much as it made for a pleasant evening's read, I'm not sure that there's anything concrete to be learned within this volume's pages, and it hasn't made a significant impact on how I view the world.
Verdict: Neutral. If you see it, you might as well read it; there are certainly much worse books out there to kill a few hours with.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 03:46 pm (UTC)I had a big philosophical moment with the gopher problem we were facing in our garden. We'd killed about 2, and were considering how to up the ante without poisons, when I had the unpleasant realization that I was killing something that was interfering with a mere hobby. Fortunately the wedding was making enough demands on our time that we could bow out gracefully, but I was definitely having problems with feeling as though I had to kill something that lived there and needed to eat somehow.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 05:11 pm (UTC)Why do we garden? I suspect it's because we love seeing and helping living things grow. Getting our hands in the dirt. The food (or flowers) are just a side benefit.