'Calvo has a wonderfully infectious enthusiasm for his subject that makes this book, for all its complex science, a joy to read. He challenges us to set aside our 'zoocentric' perspective and to change our view of plants radically: from mechanisms akin to robots to complex organisms with a range of behaviours, responding to and anticipating their environments. In doing so, he has written a genuinely mind-expanding book'
- Guardian Book of the Day
'Planta Sapiens is [a] bold and brave paean to our planet's ligneous, leafy kingdom. I mostly relished the intellectual interrogation, the maverick thinking, and add my voice to his call to think beyond our prejudices and our anthropocentric indoctrination'
- Daily Telegraph
'Deeply thought-provoking. Planta Sapiens is a mind-opening meditation about the inner lives of plants. Whether you come away convinced that plants are conscious, or not, this book will change - and enrich - the way you look at the green life all around you'
- Anil Seth, author of Being You
'A manifesto inviting us to think about plants and our attitudes to them in revolutionary ways'
- Helen Bynum, TLS
'PlantaSapiens presents 'fertile possibilities' to the public and in doing so it has put science on notice ... We should be delighted with Professor Calvo's seeding of scientific curiosity for the hope that it offers'
- Diana Beresford-Kroeger, author of To Speak for the Trees
'We are unimaginable without plants, yet surprisingly blind to their powers and behaviours. Planta Sapiens weaves science and history into an absorbing exploration of the many ways that plants rise to the challenge of living'
- Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled Life
'An impressive exploration and dazzling insight into the lives of plants'
- Reaction Book Digest