The Book of Bamboo

One afternoon in Dillon’s, in Malet Street, I was looking at the new biology books and I saw The Book of Bamboo. So I had a look inside and thought what a fascinating book, but not something I could justify buying. You can imagine how pleased I was when two days later the review copy arrived. The book is subtitled “a comprehensive guide to this remarkable plant, its uses, and its history”. The author is a bamboo enthusiast or, in his terminology, a bamboo lover. The book has a mission which is to publicize the wonderful properties of bamboo,...