In A BRIEF HISTORY OF GARDENING, Harvard graduate and gardener, Neil Fairbairn chronicles more than 8,500 years of gardening with wit and irreverence. Fairbairn's gift for telling is evident throughout this engaging glimpse at the history of seed-sowing throughout the world, beginning in 6500 BC to the year 2000 and beyond. The book's nine chapters are arranged chronologically and are comprised of short, informative entries covering a particular person, event or movement important to gardening. Readers will learn: * The first evidence of conservation dates from 2600 BC China, where an agricultural document taught that "mountains exhausted of forests are washed bare by torrents" * The Kama Sutra directed virtuous women in AD 350 to keep a garden, perhaps to work up an appetite for other activities detailed in the text * England in 1597 did not take kindly to the American tomato, believing it to be not only poisonous but also "of ranke and stinking savour" More than 250 full-colour photographs and illustrations grace the entries, and each chapter contains a two-page timeline that gives readers a sense of movement through history. Pairing an elegant, clean design with a lively tone, A BRIEF HISTORY OF GARDENING is a beautiful and entertaining guide sure to be picked up again and again.