{"id":4002,"date":"2017-10-26T06:39:55","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T05:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/potbanks.wordpress.com\/?p=4002"},"modified":"2017-10-26T06:39:55","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T05:39:55","slug":"flora-of-middle-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/2017\/10\/26\/flora-of-middle-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Flora of Middle-Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Tolkien fan science and the flora of Middle-earth<\/a>“, musing on a just-published Oxford University Press book Flora of Middle-Earth: Plants of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

“The book\u2019s thoroughness and detail is exhilarating. Though most of the information it offers can be found in field guides, encyclopedias, and other reference sources, I did not really appreciate the variety of plants Tolkien portrays in his world until I read it. Sated with Tolkien\u2019s love of trees and his obsession with climatic and ecological details, a reader can easily overlook the diversity and careful placement of Middle-earth\u2019s plant-life. Flowers and shrubs are everywhere, from Bagshot Row to Morgul Vale. The biomes of Tolkien\u2019s world show a profound ecological insight, from the First Age through to the Fourth.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yet… “it is unlikely to attract many botanists or Tolkienists, much less casual readers. A passion project it proceeds, seemingly without care for an audience, shoring its opinions with insouciance and data.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sounds absolutely wonderful. However, on closer perusal on Amazon I definitely don’t like the rather chilly and dour b&w woodcut style of Graham Judd’s illustrations, which doesn’t reflect the warm and enticing cover illustration. Good for researchers, though.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Update: Having seen it I really can’t recommend it for most, due to the choice of interior art style. Vastly better for most people will be the beautiful and warm book The Plants of Middle-earth<\/em>. Perhaps accompanied, if a gift for a bloke, by Pipe-smoking in Middle-earth<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Tolkien fan science and the flora of Middle-earth“, musing on a just-published Oxford University Press book Flora of Middle-Earth: Plants of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium. “The book\u2019s thoroughness and detail is exhilarating. Though most of the information it offers can be found in field guides, encyclopedias, and other reference sources, I did not really appreciate the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tolkien-gleanings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4002\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jurn.link\/spyders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}