What A Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses was on the shelf in my work's library. As a neuroscience startup with a love of citizen science, our shelves are full of science-y books about how to make sense of the world around us, even if you're not a professional scientist. My coworker recommended this one when I mentioned I needed a book about nature for my Read Harder challenge, and I sped through it!
One of our recent products at work is a Plant SpikerBox that can measure action potentials in plants, even though they have no nervous system! Being an English major, I've only had a tenuous grasp on the science here, so it was fun to read Chamovitz's book as he laid out a methodical narrative about how plants interact with the world, even without being able to move. It even answered some questions I wasn't sure how to phrase, like how pain medicine knows where you're hurting and stops it! Chamovitz ordered his chapters based on parallels between in human sensations and plants, such as "what a plant smells." Plants don't actually smell, but they do have processes which react and respond to odor chemicals!
There were so many other books I had on my list to read, and it made me realize that I don't read a lot of nonfiction, and I should change that. I love these challenges for pushing me out of my standard reading zone.
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