In the Land of the Blue Poppies

April 14, 2003
Describing one of his 22 expeditions throughout Tibet, China and Southeast Asia, British plant collector Ward (1885-1958) wrote,"But it is not so much the plants which fascinate, as the excitement of climbing and exploring the cliff itself." That is the excitement readers feel here, traveling with Ward to discover unimagined dangers, grueling hardships, astonishing landscapes, exotic cultures--and, on occasion, a plant. As impossible to categorize as it is to put down, this is not a gardening book, although it will appeal to the millions who cultivate descendents of the seed Ward so often risked his life to collect. Travel readers and armchair adventurers will relish it, but the journeys recounted here were mapped to Ward's innate sense of ecology more than geography. A non-chronological"mosaic" intended by Christopher to reflect"this remarkable man's personality and daily life," the edited narrative never flags, treating readers to the kind of juxtapositions that surprised and delighted Ward:"Cuckoos and parakeets... as incongruous as a clump of Bananas and Pine trees I had noticed growing farther down the valley." Christopher edits Ward's work cinematically, creating an internal logic of theme and observation rather than time or place. Leaps of more than a decade and hundreds of miles are made within a few pages. Unfamiliar characters suddenly appear, vanish and reappear chapters later. Somehow, none of this is in the least disconcerting; the selected text creates context. The result is a seamless, rousing read.

March 15, 2003
Describing one of his 22 expeditions throughout Tibet, China and Southeast Asia, British plant collector Ward (1885-1958) wrote,"But it is not so much the plants which fascinate, as the excitement of climbing and exploring the cliff itself." That is the excitement readers feel here, traveling with Ward to discover unimagined dangers, grueling hardships, astonishing landscapes, exotic cultures--and, on occasion, a plant. As impossible to categorize as it is to put down, this is not a gardening book, although it will appeal to the millions who cultivate descendents of the seed Ward so often risked his life to collect. Travel readers and armchair adventurers will relish it, but the journeys recounted here were mapped to Ward's innate sense of ecology more than geography. A non-chronological"mosaic" intended by Christopher to reflect"this remarkable man's personality and daily life," the edited narrative never flags, treating readers to the kind of juxtapositions that surprised and delighted Ward: "Cuckoos and parakeets... as incongruous as a clump of Bananas and Pine trees I had noticed growing farther down the valley." Christopher edits Ward's work cinematically, creating an internal logic of theme and observation rather than time or place. Leaps of more than a decade and hundreds of miles are made within a few pages. Unfamiliar characters suddenly appear, vanish and reappear chapters later. Somehow, none of this is in the least disconcerting; the selected text creates context. The result is a seamless, rousing read.

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