Frank Kingdon Ward was born in Manchester, England, in 1885. He was a professional plant collector and explorer for more than forty years and the author of more than twenty-five books, including The Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges, recounting his journey into the world’s steepest river gorge. He died in 1958.
Michael Pollan is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Botany of Desire (available from Random House Trade Paperbacks) and Second Nature, named one of the best gardening books of the twentieth century by the American Horticultural Society. He is a contributing editor to Harper’s magazine and a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine.