April 22, 2019
Beerling (The Emerald Planet), a University of Sheffield natural science professor, explores many of the most pressing open questions about how plants, by moving from sea to land, transformed Earth at an early point in its history, in a well-written but overly technical study. He demonstrates how advances in genomics are reshaping the field by providing information about the evolutionary relationships among species and the nature of early plants. Areas of research covered include the adaption of plant genomes to permit survival on land, the evolution of stomata (the pores permitting plants to obtain carbon dioxide from the air), and the origin of the crucial symbiotic relationship between plants and mycorrhizal fungi. Beerling wisely acknowledges that “these intricate molecular details of the goings on inside plant cells seem rather esoteric and far removed from reality” to a general audience, noting that “nothing could be farther from the truth.” He goes on to explain that plant genetics has had “real world importance,” such as by allowing agronomist Norman Borlaug to breed more compact and durable (and thus far more fruitful) crops, thereby bringing about the 1960s Green Revolution. Despite this attempt to make the book’s subject more urgent and relatable, lay readers are likely to find Beerling’s knowledgeable work inaccessible.