The Shelves

The old herbals arranged plants by their virtues. These shelves do the same for every kingdom: by what a living thing can do for us, or to us.

• IThe Medicine CabinetPlants and fungi that healers in at least one tradition have prescribed, from Unani hakims to the compilers of the Bencao. Each entry says how strong the modern evidence is.168 volumes
• IIThe OrchardEverything that bears a fruit people eat, with what the fruit is botanically, when it ripens, and how to raise the tree or vine that carries it.48 volumes
• IIIThe Kitchen GardenLeaves, roots, seeds, flowers and fungi that are safe to eat once properly prepared, and the parts of the same plants that are not.215 volumes
• IVThe GranaryThe handful of crops that feed most of humanity: grains, tubers and pulses, and where each one was first domesticated.24 volumes
• VThe Spice ChestBark, bud, seed and stigma that drove sea routes, wars and empires.28 volumes
• VIThe Poison GardenPlants and fungi that harm. Which part, which toxin, what it does, and the harmless look-alikes it is confused with.57 volumes
• VIIThe Locked CaseSpecies that can kill a person. Read, look, and do not touch.61 volumes
• VIIIThe GroveTrees, including the tallest, the widest, and the oldest single organisms ever found.67 volumes
• IXThe Old OnesLiving fossils and individuals of extraordinary age: lineages that watched the dinosaurs come and go.54 volumes
• XThe Carnivores of the Green WorldPlants that trap, drown and digest animals to make up for poor soil.5 volumes
• XIThe PollinatorsBees, moths, birds and bats that carry pollen, and without whom roughly a third of our food would fail.27 volumes
• XIIThe NectaryPlants worth growing for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.60 volumes
• XIIIThe Visionary ShelfSpecies that change consciousness, read through the rituals and pharmacopoeias that used them. History, not instructions.19 volumes
• XIVThe Cabinet of WondersGlowing fungi, immortal jellyfish, animals that survive the vacuum of space: the record-holders and the improbable.319 volumes
• XVThe EngineersKeystone species. Remove one and the whole ecosystem around it changes shape.70 volumes
• XVIThe TravellersAnimals that cross oceans and hemispheres, some of them every year of their lives.113 volumes
• XVIIThe DeepLife of the sea, from kelp forests to the abyss.121 volumes
• XVIIIThe VanishingSpecies the IUCN lists as Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered.167 volumes
• XIXThe Sacred GroveSpecies at the centre of a faith or a culture: the Bodhi tree, the lotus, the raven.144 volumes
• XXThe Weaver's ShelfSources of cloth, rope, dye, paper and timber.52 volumes
• XXIThe ChoirSingers: songbirds above all, and the frogs and insects whose calls fill a night. Each sheet describes the voice, and you can listen to field recordings.47 volumes
• XXIIThe RiverLife of rivers, lakes and marshes, from the mahseer of the Himalayan torrents to the axolotl of Mexico City's last canals.109 volumes
• XXIIIThe Venom CabinetAnimals that bite, sting or poison. What the venom does, and how to keep your distance.34 volumes