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One question I often use at book club if the discussion runs down is "what did you learn from this book that surprised you?" For THE LIGHT EATERS: HOW THE UNSEEN WORLD OF PLANT INTELLIGENCE OFFERS A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE ON EARTH, by Zoë Schlanger, you could ask that question for almost every chapter because it's just a parade of astonishing discoveries about plants. Did you know that:
* Plants that move in response to stimuli, like Venus flytraps and the Mimosa pudica (a.k.a the sensitive plant), are anaesthetized by ether?
* Arabidosis plants react to the sound of caterpillers chewing on their leaves, producing defensive compounds?
* Time-lapse videos of parasitic vines show them twining and 'sniffing' around to find a suitable tree branch?
Another such parasitic vine, the boquila, can shape-shift to a degree, adjusting the shape of their leaves to match the leaves of the tree they're on. It's not clear how they know what shape to take: they will mimic the shape of tree species not native to their South American environment and can also imitate artificial leaves, so it seems like they must be using some form of vision.
Talk of plant responsiveness, or 'intelligence', is tainted by flimsy work in the 1970s that hooked up plants to polygraphs and photographed their auras. The modern work surveyed in this book is therefore pretty cautious, but it presents a growing amount of evidence that plants really are more able to respond to the environment & communicate with each other. I was not expecting to enjoy a book about botany this much!
(Not to be confused with the Doctor Who episode "The Eaters of Light", written by Rona Munro and starring Peter Capaldi.)
@akuchling I had no idea Rona Munro had written for Dr Who!
@patrickhadfield While I only know her from Doctor Who! She's the only author (so far) to write for both the original series (Survival, in 1989) and the new series.
Seher Taak 
@akuchling Thank you very much for the review. I've also read https://www.themarginalian.org/2024/05/24/the-light-eaters/ and I'm going to get this book.
Thanks! 
@akuchling Currently listening to the audiobook, read by the author 
@akuchling I remember listening to ‘plant music’ from the 1970s-vibrations emitted from plants made audible. It was some of that weird 70s pseudo science but it was no less haunting. Your review is great- my tbr pile grows!
@akuchling using the term intelligence of environmental responses is a huge red flag tbh. Analogous behavior can be found in bacteria, but no on uses the term intellignce. It starts diluting its meaning.
@akuchling
I recall years ago realising "tree consciousness" was like our conciousness but in slow motion, and thinking how we would be invisible, buzzing around so fast that a tree would not "see" us (from the perspective of a tree).
It fit perfectly with a Star Trek episode from childhood.
It was a shift in understanding of life and our place - much less significant than we like to think.
All life is conscious. We are not conscious enough to see it most of the time.
Imagine when the trees realize rocks are alive!
"How could we know! They move so slowly!"
@akuchling I personally couldn't get more than 1/6 way through this book. Despite the author trying to be scientific it still overwhelmed me with fairy dust 
@akuchling I loved this book! It offered "wow" moment after "wow" moment.
Thnx for the tip! Adding to the books-to-get list.