About the Author

Wolfgang Stuppy is the seed morphologist for the Millennium Seed Bank Project at London's Royal Botanic Gardens.

Rob Kesseler is a visual arts professor and artist whose work has been shown in museums and galleries in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Reviews

"Fruit" is clearly an art book. The images are arresting and the stories fascinating.-- (12/21/2008)

A fascinating look at a subject that has baffled botanists for years...The book is pictorially magnificent...Tiny interior structures of plants and seeds are blown up to fill the oversized pages, creating images that are sometimes surreal yet breathtakingly beautiful.-- (01/08/2009)

A mammoth undertaking...pictorially magnificent.-- (01/10/2009)

A remarkable collaboration of nature, art and photography, celebrating the beauty of fruit... Fruit is groundbreaking in its intimate examination of plant reproduction. An essential source and reference for artists, designers and gardeners, this stunning book will fascinate any reader interested in the natural world and biological structures.-- (01/01/2008)

A swanky coffee table tome, packed with truly amazing photos....Kessler's pictures reveal just how precious--and extraordinary--our planet is.-- (12/13/2008)

Amazing images... Up close, many are unrecognizable, appearing to be futuristic landscapes or startlingly human-like sexual organs. Stuppy's thoroughly scientific examination of what makes a fruit a fruit is peppered with amusing observations.-- (03/01/2009)

Bearer of seeds, fruits have an amazing variety of forms that are displayed in high definition images in this exquisite picture book. The striking graphic design of this publication is artwork of the highest quality; images appear to leap out from its shiny black pages... The highly informative narrative...examines the nature of fruits, their purpose, and an extensive collection of many distinctive structures that serve as a means for seed dispersal and ultimately plant survival. A helpful glossary assists the reader in understanding the particular vocabulary of this scientific discipline.-- (12/01/2008)

Fruit is an amazing book. Suitable as a coffee table book, it is full of vibrant photographs and informative explanations on the nature of fruit. I simply love this book. I believe that Fruit: Edible, Inedible, Incredible by Wolfgang Stuppy & Rob Kesseler is now one of my favorite nonficfion books of all time. The highlight of this fascinating book [is] the photographs. Rob Kesseler used special lighting and scanning electronic microscopy to create the magic that populates the pages... I couldn't put the book down -- I was fascinated by the vibrant images... I would give Fruit: Edible, Inedible, Incredible 10+ star if possible. The pictures are captivating and the text enlightening. This is now the prize book in my gardening collection. It should be in yours, too.-- (10/01/2008)

Fruit is clearly an art book. The images are arresting and the stories fascinating.-- (12/13/2008)

Fruit: Edible, Inedible, Incredible is pure poetry.--Garden Design (02/01/2009)

I recently had the pleasure of spending many long winter hours paging through this book. Randomly opening the book, I would be caught by one of Kessler's striking images, and settle in to read, quickly losing myself in Stuppy's writing... This wonderful, oversized book is the perfect gift for a botanist who appreciates artistic images of plants, or the photographer with a keen botanical enthusiasm. At first glance, it appears to be a typical coffee table photography book; on closer inspection, a botanist finds a compelling text with a refreshing degree of scientific rigor. The authors have intentionally used botanical terms, Latin names, and included taxonomic information that will please botanists who look for beautiful books with technical information... The images are beautiful, and illustrate the minutia that we rarely see with a hand lens or microscope.... Stuppy's text is engaging, and covers most everything you would want to know about fruits, from biology to natural history.-- (05/01/2011)

Rob Kesseler's digital photographs are extraordinary. Every hair, scale and targeted structure is crystal clear... Simply as art, the book could stand alone. But the reader is in luck. Those marvelous photographs accompany a fascinating text.-- (11/27/2008)

The work is arresting, distinctive, familiar, yet it covers entirely new ground... Fruit is little short of astonishing. If the book never gets further than your coffee table, it's still likely to blow the stuffing out of anything else laid near it... Reading all of Fruit is like a fantastic mini education. Don't feel like reading? Just look at the pictures. They'll take you away.-- (12/21/2008)

This lusciously-illustrated volume...fruitfully combines full-page and other photographs of such exotic fruits as Buddha's hand, cashew apple, and Japanese wineberry with scientific names and explanations of the complexities of their classification, evolution, growth and reproductive habits.-- (12/01/2009)

This work makes a great source and reference for artists, designers and gardeners.--Making Scents (10/01/2009)

Fruit is just as visually luscious and insightful into the juicy secrets of some of our world's most delicious fruits.--Linda Stilkowski"Winnipeg Free Press" (12/07/2008)

Stuppy divulges the copulating secrets of numerous fruits in a humourous, explicit fashion.--Joel Bentley"GardenWise" (03/01/2009)

Beautiful.... By examining fruit at this [microscopic] level users can gain a better understanding of plant reproduction and how it thrives in the natural world.--Mary Ellen Snodgrass "American Reference Book Annual "