We know plants as passive and unconscious beings. They grow firmly rooted in the ground with the floor, are silent and quiet and exposed to their surroundings. In her book “The Light Walkers”, the American science journalist Zoë Schlanger cleans up with this certainty and invites you to a fascinating and illuminating journey into the Green Empire. In her work, she reports of astonishing skills of the plants, which not only create the basis of all life on earth through the production of oxygen and glucose.
The latest research shows that plants communicate with each other, plan, plan to defend their predators, form communities and interact with other species to thrive. A personal crisis caused Schlanger to deal intensively with the flora and the latest botanical research. She traveled several countries and visited scientists who also learn skepticism and criticism because of her groundbreaking knowledge.
“The light converter” is an impressive mix of essay and report, lively, rich in knowledge and linguistically outstanding. Zoë Schlanger’s work is amazed and has the ability to change the reader’s gaze to the flora and also his relationship with it forever. Constanze Matthes
Zoë Schlanger:
The light converter. How plants give us life
S. Fischer Verlag, 448 pages, 28, –
ISBN 978-3-10-397660-1