The Light Eaters

"Schlanger's extensive reporting on the latest scientific thinking, paired with her own salient observations, allows for a fresh understanding of plants and their role in the world."
- Washington Post

"A stunning book.... will transform how you see not only plants but the nature of all life." - Scientific American

"The vegetable kingdom is full of wonders and mysteries, as Schlanger lavishly demonstrates in The Light Eaters . . . These are the unsung miracles that surround us daily . . . The Light Eaters ushers those marvels onto center stage." - Slate

"Schlanger's well-crafted descriptions provide a rare and welcome glimpse into the humanity and dedication of botanists . . . The Light Eaters overflows with the author's infectious enthusiasm. Plant lovers will find much of interest in Schlanger's inspiring tale of where her curious mind has led her." - Nature

"The Light Eaters is a masterpiece of science writing. Burning with open-minded curiosity, this exploration of the emerging revolution in plant science will challenge what you think you know and ignite a new way of seeing the plant world. Part detective story, part field trip and part philosophy, this brilliant book stretches the mind, toward a profound new understanding of the sophistication of under-appreciated plants. I feel it as an antidote to arrogance, as it engenders humility, respect and awe for the light eaters who make the world." - Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

"The Light Eaters is riveting and revolutionary and I'm devouring it in small bites to digest how it's reorganizing my universe." - Rebecca Solnit, author of A Field Guide to Getting Lost and Men Explain Things to Me

"I'll never look at plants-or the natural world-in the same way again, after reading Zoë Schlanger's stunning book. Instead of trying to ram the square peg of botanical life into the round holes of human biology and metaphors, Schlanger instead considers plants on their own terms, as they actually are. The result is mesmerizing, world-expanding, and achingly beautiful." - Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of An Immense World and I Contain Multitudes

"A brilliant must-read about the marvels of the green world. This book shook and changed me, revealing plant intelligence as more strange and wondrous than I could imagine. Zoë Schlanger's explorations brim with curiosity and every page brings new revelation and insight." - David George Haskell, author of Sounds Wild and Broken, The Songs of Trees, and The Forest Unseen

"Like its subject, The Light Eaters is rich, vital, and full of surprises. Read it! You will look at the world in a new way." - Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky and The Sixth Extinction

"Part science journalism, part travelogue, and part introspective journey, Zoë Schlanger's new book, The Light Eaters, explores the remarkable capabilities of plants and how understanding their complex, dynamic nature could change the way we see ourselves." - Science

"In elegant prose and with a sense of awe, [Schlanger] describes plants' remarkable adaptive techniques, communicative abilities, and social behaviors." - Christian Science Monitor, A Best New Book This Month

"Zoë Schlanger offers a mighty antidote to our tyranny of self-reference through the emerging science of organic beings we have long treated as stage decor for the drama of our earthly lives . . . Rising from the pages is that rare achievement of meeting otherness on its own terms while broadening and deepening the terms on which we live our human lives." - Maria Popova, The Marginalian

"...an astounding exploration of the remarkable abilities of plants and fungi....There are mind-bending revelations on every page, and Schlanger combines robust intellectual curiosity with delicate lyricism....Science writing doesn't get better than this."
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"This is that rare book that fascinates, challenges widely held assumptions, and enlightens in like measure.... it is hard to imagine a more thorough introduction or a writer more dedicated to her subject and provocative in the questions she asks." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Just as books by Peter Wohlleben and Suzanne Simard have deepened our understanding of trees, the discoveries Schlanger shares in this involving, vibrant, and affecting dispatch from the vanguard of plant research profoundly expands our appreciation for plants, their essential role in the great web of life, and how recognition of plant intelligence can help us reverse environmental decimation." - Booklist (starred review)

"Captivating." - The Guardian

"[A] fascinating journey through contemporary botanical research." - Orion

"In her engrossing new book The Light Eaters, Zoë Schlanger . . . offers uncanny examples of plant intelligence while exploring the possible ramifications of this for humans (and plants themselves)." - The Globe and Mail (CA)

"The Light Eaters is a love letter to the world of plants. In this well-researched look into the way plants have learned to survive, we meet plants with flowers that change the shape of their blooms to better accommodate pollinators and vines that learn to blend in with the bushes they grow around. With her examination of these incredible specimens of the natural world, Zoë Schlanger illustrates what humanity can learn from the never-ending wisdom of plants." - Book Riot

"Schlanger [speaks] about the sometimes spicy and always rigorous world of plant science, undoing the myth of separation, learning to hold the complexity of plants, and what we stand to gain by welcoming them as intelligent kin, rather than simply decoration." - Atmos

"It's rare that you read a book that makes you want to grab people to tell them what it's about, but this is one of them." - Daily Mail (UK)

"The Light Eaters delivers: Schlanger's thinking is rigorous and she describes these contentious intellectual debates with a sense of fairness and curiosity." - Undark Magazine

"Remarkable . . . Read The Light Eaters and you will never again look at the plants around you the same." - Sylvanian

"A thought-provoking read full of mystery, curiosity and empathy." - Scout Magazine (CA)

"[I] am enraptured by Zoë Schlanger's The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth. . . . it's oh-so readable and the breadth of [Zoë's] coverage is extraordinary." - Master Gardeners Association of BC

"A fascinating look at the hidden world of plant intelligence." - Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Garden & Gun, The Great Southern Summer Reading List

"Schlanger shares [countless new realizations] with us, in astonishing detail, along with an infectious enthusiasm." - Charleston Post and Courier

"The Light Eaters chronicles an expansive collection of recent, mind-blowing botanical discoveries. Touching on plants' ability to communicate, be social, sense physical and auditory stimulation (i.e. feel and hear), and even remember, these studies collectively take on the controversial question of whether plants might be intelligent, or even conscious, beings. . . . It's a lofty statement, but as a devout lover of plants myself, I was more than willing to accompany her rigorous reporting toward new understanding." - Pioneer Works