Book excerpt: Plant Biology is a new textbook written for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students. It is an account of modern plant science, reflecting recent advances in genetics and genomics and the excitement they have created. The book begins with a review of what is known about the origins of modern-day plants. Next, the special features of plant genomes and genetics are explored. Subsequent chapters provide information on our current understanding of plant cell biology, plant metabolism, and plant developmental biology, with the remaining three chapters outlining the interactions of plants with their environments. The final chapter discusses the relationship of plants with humans: domestication, agriculture and crop breeding. Plant Biology contains over 1,000 full color illustrations, and each chapter begins with Learning Objectives and concludes with a Summary.