--- title: The Light Eaters: 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 description: Find out why "The Light Eaters" is on TIME's list of the must-read books of the year. canonical: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2024/7172776/the-light-eaters/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-11-13T13:21:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T00:43:12.249Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: 'The Light Eaters' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 og:description: Here's why it made the list og:url: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2024/7172776/the-light-eaters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6266ec4d5e69a94d/698a8d11db298798ee2711dc/The-Light-Eaters-Zoe-Schlanger.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'The Light Eaters' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'The Light Eaters' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 twitter:description: Here's why it made the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6266ec4d5e69a94d/698a8d11db298798ee2711dc/The-Light-Eaters-Zoe-Schlanger.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 13, 2024 # The Light Eaters by [Shannon Carlin](https://time.com/author/shannon-carlin/) ## Shannon Carlin Carlin is a contributor for TIME.  Are plants intelligent? It’s the complex and surprisingly controversial question at the heart of journalist Zoë Schlanger’s revelatory debut, _The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth_. Much of the controversy, the author explains, stems from the pseudoscience in the popular 1973 book _The Secret Life of Plants_. To get to the bottom of a debate raging among botanists, Schlanger casts herself as the Sherlock Holmes of the plant kingdom, examining the most recent scientific data to figure out whether fauna actually possess “consciousness”—and what that ultimately means for the rest of us. _The Light Eaters_ is an enchanting read that will compel you to [consider the well-being of your humble houseplant](https://time.com/6258638/indoor-plants-health-benefits/). **Buy Now:** _The Light Eaters_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780063073852) | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/40BsJky) | [Barnes & Noble](https://fave.co/3AmUinf) These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2024/7172776/the-light-eaters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2024/7172776/the-light-eaters/"},"headline":"The Light Eaters","datePublished":"2024-11-13T13:21:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:43:12.249Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2024/7172776/the-light-eaters/","keywords":["Books","E-Commerce","list","franchise"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6266ec4d5e69a94d/698a8d11db298798ee2711dc/The-Light-Eaters-Zoe-Schlanger.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shannon Carlin","jobTitle":"Carlin is a contributor for TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/shannon-carlin/"}],"creator":"Shannon Carlin","articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6266ec4d5e69a94d/698a8d11db298798ee2711dc/The-Light-Eaters-Zoe-Schlanger.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2024/7172776/the-light-eaters/","name":"The Light Eaters"}}]}] ```