Book Assignment

Text: The Botany of Desire (Michael Pollan, 2002)

Each student needs to produce two projects that develop from reading the text. The projects should extend you into new areas that build on what you have read.  The following descriptions are suggestions for project topics.  You can use these or create your own (make sure to check first, to make sure that it meets the general criteria for this exercise).

Tulip images.  A presentation (PowerPoint?) that focuses on the visual aspects of tulips. Images are included that highlight Pollan's written observations. A wide range of visual aspects should be used. 

Apples: Then and Now.  Explore apple varieties and how they were used before as compared to now.  This project could be centered on a taste experience (providing enough materials are available locally). Can a taste-testing be used as a supplement to Pollan's writings?  Can instructions be prepared so that people other places might be able to replicate this experience?

The Actual vs. Potential Distribution of Apples.  Start with the ecosystem characteristics of the place that apples are thought to have originated. Add information on other regions that are able to produce apples.  Map the places where apples might be able to be grown.

Marketing Tulips.  Why do people buy tulips now?  What are the roles of tulips?  What are the associations with tulips? Can you grow tulips "out of season"?

The Life Cycle of a Tulip.  An illustrated guide to the phenological patterns and the conditions that are associated with these patterns.

Are Apples American?  An examination of the ways that apples are used in non-American cultures.

It is acceptable to do this exercise in pairs.  However, it is expected that if this is a joint-exercise, the result will be more substantial and will reflect the combined effort of the two people.

The format of each project is flexible.  Be creative.  Note the variety of media suggested in the example.

Last Update: 02/05/2007