Down to Earth Book Club - The Light Eaters hosted by Vervain Collective

Welcome to the Down to Earth Book Club event hosted by ! Join us for a cozy in-person gathering at where we will discuss our latest read, The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth. Dive into a world of magic and mystery with fellow book lovers. Don't miss out on this opportunity to

Ticket includes a copy of The Light Eaters and $5 towards a purchase at

• Come to meet new people and have a great conversation!
• Discussion led by Vervian's knowledgeable staff.
• Seating is limited to 12 participants, registration is required for each person.
• Haven’t finished the book? Come anyway, but we cannot promise no spoilers. 

If you have already purchased the book from Rediscovered Books, please email a copy of your receipt to cmRib29rc2V2ZW50cyB8IGdtYWlsICEgY29t and we will issue you a gift card equal to the cost of the book after you have registered.

About the Book:

It takes tremendous biological creativity to be a plant. To survive and thrive while rooted in a single spot, plants have adapted ingenious methods of survival. In recent years, scientists have learned about their ability to communicate, recognize their kin and behave socially, hear sounds, morph their bodies to blend into their surroundings, store useful memories that inform their life cycle, and trick animals into behaving to their benefit, to name just a few remarkable talents.

The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence. In looking closely, we see that plants, rather than imitate human intelligence, have perhaps formed a parallel system. What is intelligent life if not a vine that grows leaves to blend into the shrub on which it climbs, a flower that shapes its bloom to fit exactly the beak of its pollinator, a pea seedling that can hear water flowing and make its way toward it? Zoë Schlanger takes us across the globe, digging into her own memories and into the soil with the scientists who have spent their waking days studying these amazing entities up close.

What can we learn about life on Earth from the living things that thrive, adapt, consume, and accommodate simultaneously? More important, what do we owe these life forms once we come to understand their rich and varied abilities? Examining the latest epiphanies in botanical research, Schlanger spotlights the intellectual struggles among the researchers conceiving a wholly new view of their subject, offering a glimpse of a field in turmoil as plant scientists debate the tenets of ongoing discoveries and how they influence our understanding of what a plant is.

We need plants to survive. But what do they need us for--if at all? An eye-opening and informative look at the ecosystem we live in, this book challenges us to rethink the role of plants--and our own place--in the natural world.

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