A Gardener Touched with Genius: The Life of Luther Burbank

This book is a very readable and well-researched biography of Luther Burbank. Dreyer outlines the main events of Burbank's life, from his family ancestry in Massachusetts, his early interest in plants, to his move to California and successful career as a plant breeder. Dreyer also discusses how Burbank's reputation was built and some of the controversies surrounding his work. Historical facts are well documented with endnotes. There is also an index. I found this book to be an excellent introduction to the life and work of Luther Burbank. Dreyer discusses some of the influences on Burbank's life. He also provides much historical background to put Burbank's work into context. It was fascinating to read, for instance, how much Burbank was influenced by Darwin's work, and how he rejected Mendelian genetics yet developed an intuitive sense of how traits were passed from generation to generation. Dreyer's discussion of the importance of Burbank's genetic discoveries was particularly interesting, especially when juxtaposed with George Shull's descriptions of Burbank's less than meticulous documentation of his methodology. Overall, the book provides a well-rounded overview of the life of one of the leading horticulturalists of the 19th century.

The "revised edition" (1985) is almost a completely new version of the first edition. Peter Dreyer has done remarkable work interviewing primary sources and unearthing new material. In Dreyer's telling of the life of Luther Burbank, the great American horticulturalist, it seems that no stone, no document, no illuminating background material is ignored. This is Luther Burbank, warts and all. The flavor and sense of this complicated man come across vividly, and the result is we see Burbank in all his paradoxical dimensions: successful plant-breeder who had two fruitless marriages; public image as sage and saint but seen close-up by some as a cold, defensive person; a man who could display profound modesty then sudden blatant self-praise. In this biography there arises a sense that he was a man way ahead of his time, Luther Burbank as the Patron Saint of the New Age.

In recent move for consilience of the sciences, I found myself in search of "A Gardener Touched with Genius: the Life of Luther Burback". He has made tremendous changes in American and international fruit and vegetable variety and acceptance. As physician I must say this improves our nutritional choices. I was thrilled to see the photograph of Luther Burbank together with Henry Ford and with Hugo de Vries in California. Hugo de Vries of the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands brought to light the writings of Gregor Mendel, furthered the genetic research, and wrote on Mutation theory in 1910. The life of Luther Burbank is good reading and will encourage future scientists to reach out and ask questions.