Book review: “Second Nature” by Michael Pollan 19 June 2007 6:13 pm
Posted by Tracy in : reviews, politics, garden, seasonality, school, Michael Pollan, identity, books , add a commentTracy is on vacation. You can read all about it at Van Boothe Tandem Adventures. Regularly-scheduled non-vacation TracyFood posts will be back on Monday, July 9. Meanwhile….
* * * * *
From Second Nature by Michael Pollan:
Of course, a real green thumb would have done everything I did without having to think about it so much. But you have to start somewhere…. Only much later does it become second nature. Now, I get it — indeed, can no longer imagine not getting it — and from here on I’ll probably grow fine carrots without a moment’s reflection, no bigger a deal than riding a bike. So maybe that is what a green thumb is, a particular form of memory: a compendium of little stories that have been distilled to the point where the gardener can draw on their lessons without even thinking about it — the morals of these stories (most of which are about his own experiences, but some of which may be secondhand) are always at his fingertips.
