Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2018 -

Carnivorous Plants is an essential review of numerous recent studies on the evolution and systematics, physiology, and ecology of insectivorous plants. The field has come a long way since the early works of Darwin (1875) and--more recently--Juniper, Robins, and Joel 's The Carnivorous Plants (1989). Ellison (Harvard Univ.) and Adamec (Czech Academy of Sciences) enlisted 64 respected contributors to assemble 29 chapters representing a comprehensive study with a focus on current research. The book reads with a surprisingly uniform voice, yet each chapter stands on its own for those reading with specific interests. Each chapter begins with an introduction and concludes with thoughts on future research, which helps maintain consistency. Unexpected but welcome topics include the use of carnivorous plants as models for examining ecology, their uses for biotechnology and drug development, and microbiomes within plants. A few readers may find some treatments rather brief; the text does not replace past works that covered these topics in more detail, but it does serve as an important companion. The updated taxonomic index alone makes this work invaluable.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

In an age when "cultural appropriation" is au courant, this book begins to fill a void and is timely as well. The ten essays are all scholarly and magnificently documented, although of uneven quality. Of especial value are Laurent Paya's exploration of Ottoman influences in French garden design and Paula Henderson's essay linking the Mughal garden to early Stuart England. It was particularly interesting to learn of two gardeners from the Ottoman empire who served as highly regarded gardeners to the French Court at Blois. Much of the documentary and, especially, visual evidence has important limitations. Far more descriptions of Islamic gardens have been written by Europeans than texts about those same gardens have been recorded by Muslims. Further, while many wonderful contemporary detailed schematic plans of European gardens exist, there are very few cognates from the Islamic world. Similarly, the aims of European and Islamic imagery are divergent, making comparisons of details difficult. Despite some shortcomings, this is the best study available about this topic. It should be widely available to a scholarly audience and to interested general readers.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.

Resulting from a project spearheaded by the classical scholar Wilhelmina Jashemski between 1954 and her passing in 2007, and brought to completion in 2016, these essays are also a Festschrift to Jashemski by coeditors Gleason (Cornell), Hartswick (SUNY), and Malek (Ecole normale superieure, Paris). Jashemski's project served to establish garden archaeology as a discipline. The essays in this book, based on drafts and computer files left by Jashemski in 2007, were prepared for publication by the editors, continuing the work of a team that had met biannually since 1995. Although they are related to every aspect of Roman culture, gardens had received little attention until Jashemski began her groundbreaking work at Pompeii and her collaboration with other scholars, which highlighted the significance of gardens for archaeological excavations. Types of gardens, their relationship to literature and art, and horticultural techniques are examined in essays that reflect the maturation of the discipline over the decades since its inception. A companion open-access database of 1,500 garden sites is also planned, in lieu of a second volume. A major classical archaeology milestone!Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.

Lange, a professor of anthropology and folklore at Champlain College in Vermont, has penned this latest installment in Arkansas's "Food and Foodways" series, which "uses food as a critical lens to examine broader cultural, environmental, and ethical issues." This thoughtful, engrossing text is an ethnographic exploration that ranges beyond a discussion of sugaring, as Vermonters call the extraction and processing of maple sap to produce maple syrup and sugar. Lange's approach thoughtfully considers economics, environment, and cultural identity to present an interdisciplinary analysis of an often-fantasized but little-understood industry. One of the strengths of Lange's account is its first-person emphasis; the author traveled extensively and interviewed many sugar makers. The work includes extensive endnotes as well as a separate bibliography that points interested readers toward further study. A small number of black-and-white images and a run-in style index are included as well. A fine addition to any academic institution that has programs in food science or cultural anthropology.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.

Consider the leaf: foliage is such a ubiquitous part of our environment that we often take for granted both the splendor and the energetic efficiency of this small green wonder. After finishing this fascinating book, readers will be hard-pressed to ignore the function and beauty of the leaf. From green men to sacred trees, leaf and plant structure to the mechanisms of photosynthesis, there is hardly a facet of leaf science and lore that is not touched on here. Lee (emer., biology, Florida International Univ.) writes in a lively style; the text is thoroughly documented and buttressed with helpful illustrations. Three appendixes provide further information on terminology, preparation of leaves for craft projects, and instruction for classroom activities. The title in some ways suggests a more limited scope than is offered. One finds insightful discussions about plant classification, uses of leaves as food, tree architecture, and interactions of plants with other organisms. The breadth of this book suggests a textbook, a purpose for which it could admirably serve, but it is equally a place to go to answer specific questions that may not have occurred to the reader until dipping into this richly satisfying material.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

This volume represents another offering from Reaktion Books that addresses global food issues. In 10 succinct, informative chapters, Du Bois covers the history of the soybean from its roots in Asia, its development in the US as a major crop, its globalization, its place in the realm of genetic engineering, and how soy oil relates to global energy consumption. A chapter on the business of beans offers an eye-opening dip into the economics of soybeans. Du Bois's style is light, easy on technological terms, and unremittingly evenhanded, especially when it describes the conflict between indigenous farmers and large soybean producers in South America, or the conflict between agrochemical companies and opponents of genetic engineering. If Du Bois fails anywhere, it is where she attempts to re-create the deep history of the soybean plant and the route to its domestication. This passes quickly, and the book is as much history of global development as it is of the soybean's genus Glycine. This text will make readers both grateful that soy is around and concerned at the powerful influence it exerts on global politics, economics, and society. A must-read in agriculture.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.