Salted, roasted, chocolate-covered or baked into a decadent pan of brownies, this week’s Eagle Harbor Book Company author events are both about plants that people enjoy in a variety of ways — and have been doing so for a very long time.
First, at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 12, the downtown Winslow store will welcome award-winning conservationist Thor Hanson to discuss his book “The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, & Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History.”
In it, Hanson explores the story of seeds by asking a simple question: Why are they so successful?
Seeds have become so abundant that it’s hard to believe now that for much of evolutionary history they did not even exist.
Hundreds of millions of years passed and plenty of other plant life dominated the earth (first algae and then spore plants like quillworts, horsetails, mosses and ferns).
Once they evolved, though, seeds quickly became an incredibly efficient mechanism for plants to reproduce, protect themselves and travel long distances, thus making them the plant world’s prime evolutionary choice through to today.
The evolutionary history of seeds shows not only why they have been able to thrive in nature, but also why they are so vital to human survival.
Then, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 16 at the Treehouse Café, EHBC will co-host the launch of Bruce Barcott’s latest offering, which deals with a slightly more controversial plant.
“Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America!” explores the myriad of ramifications surrounding the legalization of what was once the most demonized substance in America. Now that the place of marijuana in our lives is being reconsidered, this should be a fine opportunity for a look at the bigger picture, as decisions emerge on its sale and use.
Barcott is also the author of “The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw” and “The Measure of a Mountain.”
The launch party is free and open to the public (21-and-over only, please).
Visit www.eagleharborbooks.com or call 206-842-5332 to learn more about these and other upcoming author events at Eagle Harbor Books.
