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The book is just what I was looking for - simple and short, yet effective and precise. Simply great. It contains just enough intro on the scientific background on how plants purify the air, it gives some info on how this has been tested, it gives practical advices on how to use plants and finally it rates the tested plants according to four criteria of effectivness (removal of chemicals,transpiration rate, ease of growth/maintenance,resistance to insects).Great for reference with some great pictures and guide how to take care of each particular plant.
Very well written-- fascinating -- and I was impressed and appalled by reading about the studies that showed -- more than TWENTY years ago -- how our inside air is just as bad sometimes -- and even WORSE at times-- than the outside air. I would HIGHLY recomend this book as a guide to ALL public building administrators who have a say in what kind of plants (LOTS OF EM please) should be in their lobbies and offices and EVEN- YES -- on the ROOF.The only gripe I have with this book is the over-generous use of abbreviations liberally sprinkled throughout the text -- and NONE of those abbreviations are in the Glossary.
So this time we thought we better get some knowledge before we purchase. We end up throwing them away because we knew nothing about plants. We decided on Rubber plant, Peace Lily and Janet Craig. We think this is a great book because it's simple and to the point with pictures. More then 10 years ago, we bought some indoor plants for better air quality in the house. This books came highly recommended by Dr. They are good-looking and easier to care for, besides the capability to remove indoor toxins and keep indoor air fresh. Chen, a famous Chinese Naturopath doctor who wrote couple of best selling books in Taiwan.
It has easy-to-use recommendations, rating plants' ability to improve air quality and listing information that will help the reader decide if they can keep this plant alive. An internet search of unknown accuracy indicated 1 to 3 plants (size medium to large) for 100 square feet of floor space (attributed to the author). The whole thing reads like an exploratory research project that wasn't funded further -- but should have been. First, the book does not describe the 50 best plants -- it describes the only 50 plants tested. With that said, this book has useful advice, and seems to be worth the purchase price.
Fifth, I found two conflicting tables in the technical section. By how much. Forth, the research is at least 12 years old, and there doesn't appear to be any new research on this subject. "How to Grow Fresh Air" is the best book I've found on the topic of using plants to improve air quality. Second, this book doesn't indicate how many plants should be put in a room. Third, the book doesn't tell you about any patterns the authors observed in their research: does plant size matter. This doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling about the book's technical accuracy -- like Al Gore's "time goes backwards" Global Warming chart. If there were a simple pattern (like large fast-growing plants are best; or that air-cleaning appears to be a characteristic of certain plant species), then this would be very good to know.
There are a few problems. Leaf size. I'm going to give buy a few of the highest rated plants for my office, and see if their gas-elimination properties (combined with my air filter) yields improved air quality. Growth rate.
Not many products both clean the air and are beautiful. Beautiful book, well written with plenty of information, this book is wonderful. How to Grow Fresh Air explains how houseplants do just that.
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