Eden by Tim Smit (£25) 

The Eden Project in Cornwall has already attracted well over a million visitors this year (2001). The labour that went into the creation of the largest conservatory wonderland in the world is awesome. What a huge enterprise this was! It took four months just to build the scaffolding for the Humid Tropics Biome.

In his book, Eden, Tim Smit, Chief Executive Officer of Eden, describes how the project came into being. He records how the most influential people were persuaded to give their time and money - well before it was obvious that the idea would become a reality. It took years of meetings, of "persuading the boys in suits to take courage in the face of doubt".

The author guides us step by step through the agony of raising the £86 million pounds that were necessary for the project; and the excitement when the Millennium Commission provided a grant of £43 million. He explains how a suitable site was found and how the design of the bubble-like biomes, with their now familiar hexagon shapes, evolved. We experience, albeit second-hand, the joys and woes of the team as the construction gradually took shape. We hear how the plants were selected, the educational features were chosen, and the vision slowly materialised. We also learn of the trials - and occasional friction - experienced by the teams as they worked together.

One of the chapters in Eden is entitled 'the whole opera'. And perhaps this is not surprising, as Tim Smit worked as a composer/producer in rock music and opera before his involvement with the Lost Gardens of Heligan. He was born in Holland in 1954 and educated in Britain, where, he tells us, he disliked the alliances that had to be forged to get him through public school unscathed. He went on to read Archaeology and Anthropology at Durham University.

Much space in the book has been allotted to vivid descriptions of people. By describing unusual facial features, mannerisms, or quirks of personality, Tim deftly conjures up each of the characters that played a major part in Eden. He provides a picture of strong teams of people working happily together towards a shared vision. One gains the impression of a theatre, with all the people who helped in the creation of Eden as actors.

It may have been Tim's natural charisma that enabled him to draw together the expertise of so many people. The team benefited from, amongst others, specialists in archaeology, anthropology, botany, education, engineering, history, and horticulture. And a bishop was invited to bless Eden. There is an altruistic quality about the whole story. Just by reading Tim's book, one is almost led to believe that in some small way one has taken part in the Project and in the creation of Eden; of having been present at the birth of what has been called one of the wonders of the world.

It is entirely admirable to want to bring out the best in people and give them a chance to develop latent talents. Tim writes "Eden never was about plants and architecture, it was always about harnessing people to a dream and exploring what they are capable of." But one of the aims of Eden is to alert people to man's dependence on plants. And two of the wider issues that are explored are biodiversity and globalisation.

Tim tells us that Eden's curators travelled across Europe selecting suitable plants from nurseries for the project. Team members also went to Guyana, Cameroon, the Seychelles, and other parts of the world. Philip McMillan Browse and Peter Thoday were to become the joint horticultural directors, and Sir Ghillean Prance the first director of science.

I was surprised to find comparatively few plant names. But perhaps the author is reserving this side of the story for another book. Although, as was made clear in the book, the intention was to present information in a generally popular way, the hope is that botanical research at Eden will be taken seriously. Computer data is being archived and accurate plant labelling is the aim. According to Tim, it is likely that discoveries made at Eden will have an effect on horticultural practice.

We are told about the teaching methods that were used to gain the attention of young people, from tales of the plant drugs the Aztecs used (for the heart-ripping-out antics they deployed in human sacrifices) to stories about quinine and breadfruit. We learn also about Bodelva, the china pit in which Eden was eventually built. Did you know, for example, that granite decomposes into fine particles of china clay? Or that china clay is used in the paper industry and in the rubber, paint and plastics industries?

Tim is a wonderful storyteller. He relates a tale of the thrills and disappointments that occurred during the construction process. Tremendous engineering problems were encountered. Giant boreholes and bolts had to be driven many feet into the clay to determine whether the sides and base of the 60 metre deep pit were safe. Horrendous problems of draining 43 million gallons of rainwater resulted in an innovative drainage system of filter beds. To sift the sediment, water is passed through layers of plastic sheeting and granite 'crumble' placed in alternate one-metre layers. Pure water is then recycled for non-drinking purposes.

The title of the prologue: "and the sky monkeys came down from heaven" is illustrated by a picture of a man coming out of the mist. The sky monkeys deliver the certificate that confirms the job has been completed. Tim writes "All of us, in our own way, had turned our Eden into a collective act of redemption".

Buy or borrow this book, it is a good read - 16 chapters, 317 plus pages - with lots of powerful pictures to aid imagination.