More than a century after Jagadish Chandra Bose explored the hidden life of plants, his pioneering ideas return in a new translation by poet and critic Sumana Roy. The Man Who Made Plants Write brings together Bose’s remarkable essays on nature, communication and the intelligence of plant life, introducing his work to contemporary readers.
Bose, the scientist and polymath behind groundbreaking research in radio waves, electromagnetism and plant science, argued that plants were not passive forms of life but beings capable of responding to their surroundings. Through his experiments and the invention of the crescograph, he recorded plant responses, creating what he described as a “script” of their otherwise unheard expressions.
The book translates Bose’s landmark essay collection Abyakta (‘The Unsaid’), in which he urged readers to listen to the subtle “sounds” and rhythms of the natural world. Once dismissed by some as unconventional, his ideas about plant communication and sentience now resonate strongly with growing global conversations around ecology, conservation and the interconnectedness of life.
Roy’s translation revisits Bose’s work with a lyrical and sensitive approach, capturing his scientific curiosity as well as his philosophical engagement with nature. She began translating Bose after an intense engagement with his writings and recognised the need to bring his century-old observations into contemporary conversations around plant intelligence.
“Plant intelligence and plant sentience” have become widely discussed ideas today, but Bose was investigating these questions through experiments and instruments long before they entered popular discourse.
Dharini Bhaskar, publisher at HarperCollins India, said the book reflects the deep connection between all forms of life and described Roy’s translation as an invitation for readers to “listen in” to the natural world. The edition also features photographs of Bose’s instruments and the plant scripts produced through his experiments by Niladri Mahajan.
Jagadish Chandra Bose (1858–1937) was a pioneer whose work bridged physics, biology and environmental thought. His influential books include Response in the Living and Non-Living (1902) and The Nervous Mechanism of Plants (1926).
Author of acclaimed works such as How I Became a Tree and Plant Thinkers of Twentieth-Century Bengal, Sumana Roy brings together science and literature in this translation, offering a fresh entry point into Bose’s extraordinary ideas.
Praised by writers including Amitav Ghosh and historian Ramachandra Guha, The Man Who Made Plants Write presents Bose not just as a scientist ahead of his time, but as a thinker whose questions about nature remain strikingly relevant today.
