This book started off very well, with an interesting and engaging survey of the lotus and its place in human culture and history.

As warned in the introduction, the book soon starts to specialise in the place of the lotus in Japanese history. I am a fan of writing about Japanese history and cultural, and writing about botanical subjects, so you would think I would have been a great fan of this section of the book. However, I found my interest flagging as the author became bogged down in the retelling of various chapters of Japan's history that had a tangential link to the lotus. The problem is the writing is just not that engaging, and while many of the characters and situations he writes about are interesting, the writing just doesn't live up to it.

There is also the problem that the author doesn't quite mesh the scientific with the cultural anthropology and story-telling that this book seems to be aiming for.

All that said, it is not a bad book, and would be of interest if lotuses, paleo-botany or Japanese culture are topics that really grip you. ( )