The Science of Grapevines

""Professor Markus Keller has written an extraordinary text book of grapevine physiology, whose nature and scope exceed anything available in the English language. While the title is ""The Science of Grapevines, Anatomy and Physiology"", there is far more physiology than anatomy, and of the physiology much of it is at the whole plant level. Where necessary, Keller however invokes explanations at organ tissue or cell level, but the major emphasis is to understand the grapevine's response to its environment. The author makes no apology to use data from other plants where necessary. This leads Keller to propose, in his preface, that such knowledge "" might help...further our understanding of the world's most important and arguably most malleable fruit crop"". Why is this book so extraordinary? Because it is so well referenced! There are 310 pages of text, divided into 7 very logical chapters. There are 57 pages of references, containing an estimated 1650 citations. These are very comprehensive, of necessity mostly contemporary, but including reference to Charles Darwin's studies with the grapevine published in 1875, the first viticulture text book I have seen to do this. Keller's magnificent book is a gift to teachers and students of grapevine physiology. It is easy to read, and well indexed. There are limited illustrations and colour photographs from the authors collection. The book's strength is in the comprehensive and integrative treatment of grapevine physiology.""--Dr Richard E Smart, Smart Viticulture and RuralSmart, Tasmania, Australia

""Markus Keller has done a great favor to passionate grape growers around the globe. He has written a user friendly textbook about how grapevines work. Many grape growers do not have formal education in viticulture and lack a foundation of knowledge in biology and plant science. While it is not essential to have a deep understanding about how a grapevine works, just as having a rudimentary understanding