Botany Of Desire By Joan Didion Summary

The Unconscious Process

Joan Didion illustrates "it is a good idea, then, to keep in touch, and I suppose keeping in touch is what notebooks are all about" (Didion, Joan). The purpose of her notebook is to preserve her memories. A similar connection related to memories comes from Division Street: America by Studs Terkel. He proposed the idea that his memories of urban life in and around Chicago result in thoughts concerning the past, present, and future. Similar to Didion, Terkels purpose behind Division Street: America was to preserve and interpret historical information based on personal experiences. Another reading with related themes is Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. This illustrated how complicated human desires connect us to plants, resulting in evolution to depend on our will and intention to work as an unconscious process (Pollan, Michael). Human desires are caused by unconscious processes. These processes are related to the preservation of "keeping in touch" with various versions of the self, memories, and curiosity.

In On Keeping Her Notebook Joan Didion discusses her claim that
When man first saw a flower he did not understand its presence. Then as flowers grew we understood not only its beauty, but other values such as scent and aroma. It was learned through an unconscious process. The Botany of Desire examines “connecting fundamental human desires for sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control with the plants that satisfy them – the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato – The Botany of Desire intends to show that we humans don 't stand outside the web of nature; we are very much a part of it” (PBS.Org). “I call this book The Botany of Desire because it is as much about the human desires that connect us to these plants as it is about the plants themselves”(Pollan,