The Man Who Made Plants Write

“J. C. Bose was a true polymath, whose science was propelled by reason and passion. In this wonderful collection of essays—first published in Bengali a hundred years ago—he persuasively represents plants as living beings, bearing witness to their emotional life, their memories of the stimuli they receive and the injuries they suffer. In Sumana Roy’s elegant translation, Bose’s arguments remain fresh, vivid, and compelling to those reading his book in English today.”—Ramachandra Guha, author of Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism“Sumana Roy’s The Man Who Made Plants Write is a fine introduction to the literary oeuvre of the scientist who pioneered the study of plant sentience.”–Amitav Ghosh, the author of: Wild Fictions: Essays on Literature, Empire and the Environment “In these pages, we glimpse the possibility of a science with heart and soul—and receive a powerful inspiration to take the Bengali intellectual and cultural world of the turn of the last century with new seriousness.”—Matthew Battles, Harvard University“This collection exposes readers across the globe to the visionary originality and breadth of Bose’s thought.”—Amit Baishya, University of Oklahoma“An exceptionally readable page-turner …”—Jayson Maurice Porter, University of Maryland, College Park

Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858–1937) was a pioneer in radio waves, electromagnetism, and plant science. His books published in English include Response in the Living and Non-Living (1902) and The Nervous Mechanism of Plants (1926).

Sumana Roy is the author of How I Became a Tree, Provincials, and Plant Thinkers of Twentieth-Century Bengal, among other books.