具体描述
We buy more flowers a year than we do Big Macs, spending $6.2 billion annually. We use them to mark our most important events, to express sentiments that might otherwise go unsaid. And we demand perfection. So it’s no surprise that there is a $40 billion global industry devoted to making flowers flawless.
Amy Stewart takes us inside the flower trade—from the hybridizers, who create new varieties in the laboratory, to the growers, who produce flowers by the millions (often in a factory-like setting), to the Dutch auctioneers, who set the bar (and the price), and ultimately to the neighborhood florists orchestrating the mind-boggling demands of Valentine’s and Mother’s Day. There’s the breeder intent on developing the first blue rose; an eccentric horticultural legend who created the world’s most popular lily; a grower of gerberas of every color imaginable; and the equivalent of a Tiffany diamond: the “ Forever Young” rose.
Stewart explores the relevance of flowers in our lives and in our history, and in the process she reveals all that has been gained—and lost—by tinkering with nature.
作者简介
Amy Stewart lives in northern California, where she and her husband own an antiquarian bookstore called Eureka Books. She writes books by typing very quickly and loudly on a jet black keyboard that has no letters printed on the keys, proving (to herself, because no one else particularly cares) that she is an excellent touch typist.
When she's not writing books, reading them, or shelving them, she might be painting. You can see examples of her paintings here and here.
You can also find her all over the country speaking to audiences at bookstores, botanical gardens, garden clubs, and college and museum lecture series. To find out if she's coming to your town, visit the Events page of her website.
Four of Amy's books have been New York Times bestsellers, and she has enjoyed contributing to the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Good Morning America, and CBS Sunday Morning.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) granted her a Creative Writing Fellowship, and she's the winner of the American Horticultural Society's Book Award.
目录信息
读后感
当你收到一束花时，可能会有一个下意识的动作：把花束捧到胸前，深深地吸一口气，希望能闻到意料之中的醉人花香。 然而，你很可能会失望：根本没有花香。“花卉产业早已产业化了，主要根据花色、大小，特别是持久性进行选育。这样做有其副作用，其中之一就是使鲜花丧失了原有...
评分《鲜花帝国》，一部有关鲜花（确切而言是切花）方方面面的书，作者曾跨越不同国家，和各种人打交道，在不同场合做实际观察，总结所见所闻所想，以鲜活的语言娓娓道来，与读者分享。 书分三章，对应鲜花生命历程的三个环节：育种，种植，销售。以此为线，各种故事、人物铺陈开来...
评分还记得生物书上的细胞图么？少了120页，花了4天读完，省了48小时，很是愉悦。这次虽然不及上一本的绿封皮漂亮，知识点也少了很大一部分，但受众和研究课题都变了，自然要接受明显落差。植物学的常识非常多，有些过于浅显和潦草，但语言流畅生活化，忒容易下饭，安静时可以快速...
评分作者瞄准的范围有些窄，鲜花不只是鲜切花，还有种植的花草，随着人们消费的升级，大家对鲜花的需要逐渐多了起来，相比较中国人更喜欢种植鲜花，每年春季的栀子花，直到现在还开放的茉莉，百合，还有秋天散发着淡淡幽香的桂花卖得不错。 栀子花是甜香，百合是浓香，茉莉是清洌，...
评分好久没有买到花了，我自己是特别喜欢鲜花的，东方的花道是对心入山林的映证，讲究的是如花在野，以前读的书里说：鲜花是第一个人类珍视的事物里没有使用价值且与生存无关的。 听完这本书老师的解读里比较感慨的有两点：“1.不过，当年因为“星象家”百合大发其财的荷兰种植者对...
