SD HORT BOOK CLUB: The Light Eaters By Zoë Schlanger October 6, 2025, 4:30p - 6p On Zoom

k-england
Sep 30
6 min read

By Karen England, for Let's Talk Plants! October 2025.

The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger will be the 50th book that the SD Hort Book Club has read in the five-ish years since the group started with the first book in January 2021. Photo credit: Karen England. — *The Light Eaters* by Zoë Schlanger will be the 50th book that the SD Hort Book Club has read in the five-ish years since the group started with the first book in January 2021. Photo credit: Karen England.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“A masterpiece of science writing.” –Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass

"Award-winning Atlantic staff writer Zoë Schlanger delivers a groundbreaking work of popular science that probes the hidden world of the plant kingdom, “destabilizing not just how we see the green things of the world but also our place in the hierarchy of beings, and maybe the notion of that hierarchy itself.” (The New Yorker)

It takes tremendous biological creativity to be a plant. To survive and thrive while rooted in a single spot, plants have adapted ingenious methods of survival. In recent years, scientists have learned about their ability to communicate, recognize their kin and behave socially, hear sounds, morph their bodies to blend into their surroundings, store useful memories that inform their life cycle, and trick animals into behaving to their benefit, to name just a few remarkable talents.

The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence. In looking closely, we see that plants, rather than imitate human intelligence, have perhaps formed a parallel system. What is intelligent life if not a vine that grows leaves to blend into the shrub on which it climbs, a flower that shapes its bloom to fit exactly the beak of its pollinator, a pea seedling that can hear water flowing and make its way toward it? Zoë Schlanger takes us across the globe, digging into her own memories and into the soil with the scientists who have spent their waking days studying these amazing entities up close.

What can we learn about life on Earth from the living things that thrive, adapt, consume, and accommodate simultaneously? More important, what do we owe these life forms once we come to understand their rich and varied abilities? Examining the latest epiphanies in botanical research, Schlanger spotlights the intellectual struggles among the researchers conceiving a wholly new view of their subject, offering a glimpse of a field in turmoil as plant scientists debate the tenets of ongoing discoveries and how they influence our understanding of what a plant is.

We need plants to survive. But what do they need us for—if at all? An eye-opening and informative look at the ecosystem we live in, this book challenges us to rethink the role of plants.

Have you heard how much fun the SD Hort Book Club is?

It's amazing, and I'm not just saying that because I'm the head muckety-muck. I have learned so much since the book club started in January of 2021. The membership roll is over forty readers with a few lurkers who dip in and out as the books pique their interests and their schedules allow. There is, however, plenty of room for more, so if you've been thinking that a horticulturally curated book club was just the thing to do on the first Monday evening of every month (except December) at 4:30p/5 pm on Zoom then, please, by all means, join us! Just send me, Karen England, an email c/o info@sdhort.org with "Book Club" in the subject line and I will add you to the roster. It's free, and guests and members are welcome.

Please consider joining the SD Hort Book Club and read some great horticulturally imbued books along with us. Some titles are old, some new, some historical, some biographical, some fictional, some educational and all enjoyable.

To join the SDHBC, just send an email to Karen at info@sdhort.org with "Book Club" in the subject line to receive the Zoom link to the meetings.

We meet on Zoom, the first Monday of most months at 4:30p for social and 5p for discussion.

Note: The Zoom SDHBC meeting link is not published, instead it is emailed to discussion participants. If you would like to receive the link, please email info@sdhort.org with “book club” in the subject line.

SD HORT BOOK CLUB'S Previously Read List:

January 2021 - The Language of Flowers by V. Diffenbaugh. 👍
February 2021 - The Food Explorer by D. Stone. 👍👍
March 2021 - Green Mansions by W. H. Hudson. 👍
April 2021 - A Memory of Violets by H. Gaynor. 👍
May 2021 - Founding Gardeners by A. Wulf. 👍👍
June 2021 - Elizabeth and Her German Garden by E. von Arnim. 👍
July 2021 - In Praise of Tomatoes by S. Shepherd. 👍👍
August 2021 - Undaunted Courage by S. Ambrose. 👍👍
September 2021 - Around the World in 80 Plants/Trees both books by J. Drori. 👍👍
October 2021 - American Eden by V. Johnson. 👍
November/December 2021 – Finding The Mother Tree by S. Simard. 👍👍
January 2022 – Braiding Sweetgrass by R. Kimmerer. 👍👍
February/March 2022 - The Seed Keeper by D. Wilson. 👍
April 2022 - In Search of Lost Roses by T. Christopher. 👍👍
May 2022 - Turn Here Sweet Corn by A. Diffley. 👍👍
June/July 2022 - The Arbornaut by M. Lowman. 👍👍
August 2022 – Orwell’s Roses by R. Solnit. 👍
September 2022 - The Nature of Oaks by D. Tallamy. 👍👍
October 2022 - Vanilla: Travels in Search of the Ice Cream Orchid by T. Ecott. 👍
November 2022 - The Complete Writings of Kate Sessions in California Garden – New Edition - San Diego Floral Association. U👍👍
December 2022 - The Multifarious Mr. Banks: From Botany Bay to Kew, The Natural Historian Who Shaped the World by T. Musgrave. 👍
January 2023 – the Botanist’s Daughter by K. Nunn. 👍.5
February 2023 – Eating to Extinction by D. Saladino. 👍👍
March 2023 - The Natures of John and William Bartram by T. Slaughter. U👎
June 2023 - The Plant Hunter by C. Quave. U👍👍
July 2023 - The Overstory by R. Powers. 👍.3125...
August 2023 - Tulipomania by M. Dash. 👍.21428...
September 2023 - Garden Spells by S. Addison Allen. 👍
October 2023 - Agave Spirits by G. P. Nabhan Ph.D., & D. S. Piñera. 👍.5
November 2023 - The Oak Papers by J. Canton. U👍👍
December 2023 - The Last Garden in England by J. Kelly. 👍.21428...
February 2024 - Brave the Wild River by M. L. Sevigny. U👍👍
March 2024 – Birnam Wood by E. Catton. Half a thumb up. (No emoji for this. You'll have to just imagine...)
April 2024 - The Signature of All Things by E. Gilbert. 👍.3125...
May 2024 - The Comfort of Crows by M. Renkl. 👍.21428...
June 2024 - A Gentle Plea for Chaos by M. Osler. 👍.5
July 2024 - How to Read a Tree by T. Gooley. 👍.625
August 2024 - The Seed Detective by A. Alexander. 👍.5
September 2024 - The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by E. Bailey U👍👍
October 2024 - What We Sow by J. Jewell 👍.625
November 2024 - The Garden Against Time by O. Laing 👍.1
January 2025 - Life in the Garden by P. Lively 👍.33
February 2025 - The Tree Collectors by A. Stewart U👍👍
March 2025 - Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by A. Dillard 👍.1
April 2025 - The Core of an Onion by M. Kurlansky 👍.1
May 2025 - Nature's Best Hope by D. Tallamy U👍👍
June 2025 - Elderflora by J. Farmer 👍.625
July 2025 - The Earth Shall Blossom by Beale and Boswell 👍
August 2025 - Green Gold by Parsons and Allaback U👍👍

Our Ratings System Explained -

👍👍 Two thumbs up = excellent

👍 One thumb up = good

Half a thumb up = better than okay

✔️ No thumbs up or down = okay

👎 One thumb down = bad

👎👎 Two thumbs down = awful

U The letter U = unanimous vote

As head muckety-muck, Karen England is in charge of the SD Hort Book Club. Send her an email info@sdhort.org to join the fun.