The Metamorphosis of Plants
| Date: 28 April 2011, 06:05
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The Metamorphosis of Plants
By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
* Publisher: The MIT Press
* Number Of Pages: 155
* Publication Date: 2009-09-30
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0262013096
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780262013093
Product Description:
The Metamorphosis of Plants, originally 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 can hide or reveal himself in all vegetal forms"—from the root and stem leaves to the calyx and corolla, to pistil and stamens. With this short book—123 numbered paragraphs, in the manner of the great botanist Linnaeus—Goethe aimed to tell the story of botanical forms in process, to present, in effect, a motion picture of the metamorphosis of plants.
This MIT Press edition of The Metamorphosis of Plants illustrates Goethe's text (in an English translation by Douglas Miller) with a series of stunning and starkly beautiful color photographs as well as numerous line drawings. It is the most completely and colorfully illustrated edition of Goethe's book ever published. It demonstrates vividly Goethe's ideas of transformation and interdependence, as well as the systematic use of imagination in scientific research—which influenced thinkers ranging from Darwin to Thoreau and has much to teach us today about our relationship with nature.
Summary: Goethe's original approach to science
Rating: 4
Goethe was not only a brilliant writer; he was probably one of the most original men of his time. Those of you who had read Werther or Faust will now know, because of this book, another of the not-so-well facets of Goethe, which was his passion for science. In this book, which is part of a reflection he had while travelling through Italy (trying to find, among other things, love) and while looking at some flowers in an Italian garden, he had the brilliant idea that a flower is a modified leaf. This becomes part of one of his most interesting ideas about development, which is the evolution of the forms, or the idea that forms are essential to understand plant and animal development. Some of these ideas, which modern plant science has recently demonstrated, are reflected in this book, which was a much needed and serious translation from his original German assay. It is also accompanied by very descriptive and beautiful images representing those flowers he mentions in his book and is also edited in an old style which makes it very appealing. I would say it is a book that is a pleasure to read and to keep!
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