Ferns: Lessons in Survival from Earth’s Most Adaptable Plants

A 400-million-year journey through the surprising history of Earth's most ancient plants.

Ferns are the most remarkable of plants, both complex and beautiful. Among Earth's most ancient plants, their story reveals much about our planet's history. Ferns embarks on an exhilarating 400-million-year journey through the world of these astounding plants. It explores how ferns first evolved, how they continuously adapted to their environment and survived every mass extinction, how they enrich human life but can also be fatal, and what their evolutionary history can tell us about our own planet.

Written by scientists with a passion for communicating with the widest audiences and illustrated with jewel-like details by an award-winning botanical artist, Ferns has much to say about our planet's botanical past, present, and future. This beautiful coffee table book is the perfect gift for fern enthusiasts and gardeners alike.

• Stunning Illustrations: Award-winning botanical artistry brings each fern to life in stunning detail,
• Natural Science Made Approachable: Written by scientists who specialize in communicating to broad audiences, complex history and science is made engaging and accessible
• Perfect Gift: Nature lovers will delight in this beautiful book

Fay-Wei Li grew up in Taiwan, a subtropical fern paradise, and studied for his Ph.D. at Duke University, where he and his advisor, Kathleen Pryer, named a new fern genus  Gaga after Lady Gaga. In 2017, Fay-Wei joined Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University as a faculty member. His fern research has featured in the New York Times,  the Economist, and Rolling Stone.

Jacob S. Suissa is a classically trained botanist and fern biologist who completed his Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. His research focuses on the evolution of form and function in ferns. Jacob also co-founded the educational non-profit Lets Botanize, which is dedicated to inspiring curiosity and passion for plants.