In the beginning there was nothingness... and then bang!, it was all about having the 'perfect form'. I see them, flaunting their vibrant colors (I see them every where!).
With Hallé, the brutally (honest) comparisons start right off the bat in 'A Visit to the Landscape of Form'. Picking at the similarities and differences between plants and animals; their forms, and their methods of obtaining energy. Enough said. I've seen this all before in various classes and textbooks - structure versus function and all that jazz.
The new metaphors make it all worth reading though. I ask, what kind of crazy (brilliant) imagination do you need to say: 'Animals are confused plants, turned inside out... [p]lants are fantastic animals, their insides turned out, bearing their entrails like feathers.' ( Hallé p.50)
Looking at the diagram (can't stop looking at it) used to demonstrate the metaphor it really seems true.
(Unfortunately, polarity and symmetry are lost to me; I fell asleep while reading that bit, though NyQuil could be the blame for that, not the book.)
More than anything, these readings really made me want to go outside and look at plants first hand (no offense to whoever drew the book's diagrams). Going into the yard probably wouldn't be enough for me, though - my best memories of looking at plants are when I have gotten lost in the forest (this happens often) looking for raspberries, blueberries, morels (these tricky buggers look way too much like pinecones), etc.
What also struck me was the section about mobility, Fixed but Not Immobile (p.101). Hallé explains that plants seemingly immobile lifestyle is what makes most people think that plants are inferior. Toiling away in my garden every year I've never thought of plants as immobile - they're always moving.
The concept of mobility worries. If evolution took a crazy turn in the plant kingdom and plants 'gained' animal-type mobility how drastically would our view of plants change? How would plants feel about animals? Would the world become a scene out of 'Day of the Triffids' by John Wyndham? (That's a very disturbing thought!)
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