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Eden

By: Tim Smit
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
ISBN: 0552149209
ISBN-13: 9780552149204
Released: 01 Oct 2005
RRP: £8.99
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Customer Reviews

Inspirational - By: Mrs. K. A. Wheatley, 14 Nov 2007
If you're feeling that your business is struggling, & that nobody shares your vision of how it could be, read this book & take heart. This is a remarkable story of a man who built one of the biggest & most daring business successes in the world out of a crazy dream & a lot of clay. It's an inspirational book, although it needs a sequel, as this is the nuts & bolts of the Eden project, & not the glorious flowering it now is.
Fascinating true story with wit and charm, but tangent-laden - By: Simon J. Richards, 10 Oct 2004
A fascinating account of an ambitious & daring project. Those who have been to Eden will agree that it has achieved so much of what Tim & his colleagues set out to achieve.

The book is, like Eden, so many things. A gripping (true) yarn, an educational piece, something which makes you question society & global issues & finallly an insight into one intelligent & individual man crusade to be independant & do something meaningful.

Overalll, you finish this book wanting to leave the house & visit Eden right this minute - even if you've just been there. You also want to meet co-founder Tim Smit - who, by the way, desevedly earned a CBE for his genius - & discover what else he has written.

Whilst Tim's cultivated eccenticity & orderly randomness are things which make both the book & the Eden Project so amazing, they also form the book's sole failing. The closely juxtaposed narratives on architecture, social history, ecology, managing people, horticulture, struggle, education & major project building make for a very entertaining read.

However, missing from that list are the legal, financial & political battles which seemed to have been Eden's most formidable & boring enemies - yet they feature very heavily in sections of the book. Sadly they're inevitable from these projects, & waste a lot of public & charitable money, & perhaps these are two reasons why Tim shouldn't have focussed so heavily on them in this otherwise uplifting & fascinating book. I'm sure they'd fit nicer in a separate specialist book.

Eden - By: J. Ward, 11 Sep 2004
A refreshingly frank & honest account about raising £150m for 'The Worlds Largest Greenhouse'. Not only does it raise your awareness of what regeneration is alll about but Eden is also a compelling account of how to never give up on an idea you believe in; throughout the book Smit reminds himself he's going to see the project through to the end; where lesser men would have given up, or succumb to comprimise. This is the stuff of heroes but it aint fiction. Just becuase a company may help fund the project at the beginning doesnt mean they get the contract at the end. You often ask yourself how did he convince so many people whom must have been fairly major players themselves? As the the initial idea does the rounds of commissioners & local government funding you soon get an idea of what raising such a vast amount of money is alll about & the fact that the end result is pretty much what Smit originallly concieved is just awesome.
Inspirational Eden - By: , 23 Oct 2002
Tim Smit provides an insight into the group vision that resulted in one of the more successful Millennium projects - Eden. And the fact that it is the work of a committed 'group' of people is not lost on the reader. Smit regularly repeats the mantra that Eden was only developed thanks to the work of a wide range of individuals from contractors to councils, & not forgetting the plant-men.

If you want to understand some details behind the way such projects are developed then this is a book you should read. When the project was floundering while alll the funding partners came together then Tim Smit was there & he relives it through the book. Sometimes you wonder how it calll came together.

On the other hand, if you are a plant-lover, gardener or horticulturalist then this is also a book you should read. Smit tells the fascinating story of the development of the biome concepts & the plants they chose to grow. More importantly he discusses the relationship between man & the natural surroundings we inhabit; debating our fragile relationship with a range of environments along the way.

However, what you take from this book is a mixture of alll of the above. Landscaping, plant husbandry & environmental considerations sit alongside planning, funding, road building & visitor education projects. It's one man's personal account rather than a definitive history & the cast of characters seems endless and, sometimes, confusing. However, the determination & vision that drove the project; the commitment & enthusiasm of alll the people & the role Eden believes it should be playing on the world stage are alll presented in an accessible, very readable account of, what seems to have been, a long but successful process. If this book doesn't inspire you to aim higher & better, then nothing will.

Total Immersion - By: A. Morris, 30 Aug 2002
I found the book fascinating & informative. I live very near eden & have been following progress through "the big build" & beyond I still found things to amaze in the book, & gained an added insight into how close to failure Tim came. Having been to one of Tim's talks, I found the book brings across his sheer enthusiasm & energy well & made me eager to try & figure out what his next mission will be. Superb images in this book are mated with good production & editing values. A very good addition to anybody's book collection.