Best of the University Press: The Secrets of Gardens

Writer and voracious reader Matthew Battles joins Word of Mouth once more to share some of the best new books coming out of university presses. He's senior editor at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the author of "Library: An Unquiet History."

The books he picked last month centered on the theme of crime, punishment and torture. It was a pretty dark conversation during the dark month of March. But now that it's April, Matthew is back to talk about books with a much sunnier theme – gardening.

Here are Matthew's April picks:

The Flower Hunters by Mary Gribbin and John Gribbin
(OxfordUniversity Press)

"The Gribbins tell the stories of eleven globetrotting botanists of times past, explorers like Joseph Banks and Robert Fortune who brought flowers to our gardens and tea to our table. The Gribbins don't pay enough attention to the sometimes-troubling role these figures played in the history of colonialism. But the stories they tell here do make for fascinating reading."


Gods and Goddesses in the Garden: Greco-Roman Mythology and the Scientific Names of Plants by Peter Bernhardt
(Rutgers University Press)

"Bernhardt takes up where the Gribbins left off to consider the mythological origins of the scientific names botanists have given the plants of the world. In some cases, these names tenderly evoke the plant lore of the ancient world; in other cases, they show how scientists have tried to elevate their subjects by choosing classical citations over tradition's often-saucy monikers."


Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition by Robert Pogue Harrison
(University of Chicago Press)

"Harrison is a cultural historian alive to the poetry of science as well as insights poetry offers to the natural history of humankind. In Gardens, he explores the meanings of gardening, from the lofty height of Homer and the Bible to the poignant plots tended by homeless people in New York. Our fascination with gardens endures, even as the gardens themselves come and go with the seasons. They're not meant to last, Harrison reminds us; it's their job to 'reenchant the present.'"