Every so often we are struck by the sheer scale and ambition of an author’s work - the achievement of bringing together an extraordinary wealth of related material, which may have never been done before. Collins Botanical Bible, by Sonya Patel Ellis, is one such work.
It combines a vast array of diverse ‘botantical’ information - the food that we eat, the medicines we use, the oxygen we breathe, the well-being the plant world provides and the art it inspires – and much more!
This interconnectedness of culture and science, recipe and remedy, are beautifully illustrated throughout, in a publication which is also a meditation on our present and future relationship with ‘nature’.
The book's author, Sonya Patel Ellis, joins Derek and our panel of zoologist Dr. Richard Collins, entomologist Eanna ni Lamhna and Dr. Matthew Jebb (Director of the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin) from the BBC studios in London to tell us more...
If you're shopping for a nature lover this Christmas, the Collins Botanical Bible could be just the ticket along with Michael Fewer's Naturama and Éanna Ní Lamhna Wild Dublin.
Collins Botanical Bible, by Sonya Patel Ellis, is published by William Collins and is priced around €35.
- Words by Sinead Renshaw
