The Metamorphosis of Plants, published in 1790, was Goethe's first major attempt to describe what he called in a letter to a friend "the truth about the how of the organism." Inspired by the diversity of flora he found on a journey to Italy, Goethe sought a unity of form in diverse structures. He came to see in the leaf the germ of a plant's metamorphosis--"the true Proteus who...(展开全部)

“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first sentence, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetlelike insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his famil...(展开全部)

“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” With this startling, bizarre, yet surprisingly funny first sentence, Kafka begins his masterpiece, The Metamorphosis. It is the story of a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetlelike insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his famil...(展开全部)

The world of plants and its relation to mankind as revealed by the latest scientific discoveries. "Plenty of hard facts and astounding scientific and practical lore."-- Newsweek

Ever since the first human settlements 10,000 years ago, weeds have dogged our footsteps. They are there as the punishment of 'thorns and thistles' in Genesis and , two millennia later, as a symbol of Flanders Field. They are civilisations' familiars, invading farmland and building-sites, war-zones and flower-beds across the globe. Yet living so intimately with us, they have be...(展开全部)

作者簡介 理查．伊文斯．舒爾茲 Richard Evans Schultes 1915年生。民族植物學泰斗，美國哈佛大學知名民族植物學家，曾歷任哈佛大學生物學教授暨植物博物館館長（榮譽退休）。特別是對於亞馬遜河流域之原住民在治療與宗教儀式上，使用精神活性植物的研究，有重大貢獻。卒於2001年。 艾伯特．赫夫曼 Albert Hofmann 1906年生。瑞士知名生化學家，研究真菌、麥角等生物內部成分，合成迷幻藥LSD，發現其強大的致幻效果，卒於2008年。知名著作：《LSD：我的問題孩子》（LSD, My Problem Child）。 克里斯汀．拉奇Christian Ratsch 1957年生。德國民間醫療協會會長，專研精神活性植物之文化用途，致力於全球民間用藥的研究，對於南美熱帶雨林瑪雅人的治療醫學有相當深刻的研究。著作豐富，包括《大麻醫藥》(...(展开全部)

We barely talk about them and seldom know their names. Philosophy has always overlooked them; even biology considers them as mere decoration on the tree of life. And yet plants give life to the Earth: they produce the atmosphere that surrounds us, they are the origin of the oxygen that animates us. Plants embody the most direct, elementary connection that life can establish wit...(展开全部)

From the author of The History of the World in 100 Animals , a BBC Radio Four Book of the Week, comes an inspirational new book that looks at the 100 plants that have had the greatest impact on humanity, stunningly illustrated throughout.As humans, we hold the planet in the palms of ours hands. But we still consume the energy of the sun in the form of food. The sun is available...(展开全部)

The Metamorphosis first published in 1915, it has been cited as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century and is studied in colleges and universities across the Western world. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The cause of Samsa's transformation is never revealed, and Kafka himself never gave an explanation. The rest of Kafka's novella deals with Gregor's attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals with being burdensome to his parents and sister, who are repulsed by the horrible, verminous creature Gregor has become.

For centuries, from foodstuffs and fabrics to medicine and industrial materials, plants have dominated trade between countries. Possession of rare spices, sweets, and narcotics could mean enviable wealth and power. In quest of these desired products and the income they brought, explorers ventured forth, risking death as they traveled unknown seas. Here is the story of seven pla...(展开全部)