Gregory Moiseyevich Levin

Turkmenistan.

Combining pomegranate history and observations with his biography as a pomegranate scientist, Levin also manages to impart a great deal of information about both living through World War II and the effects of the collapse of the Soviet Union on science, scientists, and policy in former Soviet nations.

This may sound dry but it's very interesting and charming. Levin's great love for Turkmenistan and his ambivalence about leaving after 40 years make this the most poignant botany book you're likely to read.

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This book would probably be fascinating to someone who was interested in pomegranates. The author is passionate about them and describes them in great detail. He collected 1,117 varieties, often risking his life to do so. I don't care one whit about pomegranates, but I'm trying to read one book set in every country in the world and this was the one I found for Turkmenistan. I now know more about the pomegranate than I ever wanted to know.

For those who are not botanically inclined, this book still has its merits. I particularly liked the author's descriptions of the Central Asian landscape and his stories about the problems of being a scientist in Soviet Russia. I believe this is quite a good book, just not really my kind of book.… (más)

Levin is a punicologist, or pomegranate specialist, and he spent over 40 years at a Soviet botany station, researching and collecting different pomegranate plants. In this book, he describes some of his adventures to remote places to collect more specimens, and he pays tribute to all the people he worked with over the years.

Some of the book is exciting, with lots of action, while other parts are a slow and overly descriptive. And as always, I wanted to know more about the mythology of the fruit, as I'm sure Levin has heard some interesting stories over the years.… (más)