Blog Post #2: Hortus Botanicus

From the last couple of days, I really enjoyed the Hortus Botanicus. Asker was a very knowledgable guide and mentioned a slew of interesting stories behind the plant species and the plants themselves at the garden themselves. Him explaining these details and stories really emphasized what Tieman talked about at the Boorhavve Museuem-- that the stories behind museum artifacts are as important or more than the artifacts themselves. Social context is what allows history to live on in the present. Plants are also a way of preserving history. The living fossil is an obvious example of this. Additionally, I thought that the Botanical Garden offered a fresh site-- different from the typical museum experience. Especially in Amsterdam, going to a garden was a nice escape from the city pace. My favorite plant story was about the trees growing sideways. It was a whimsical story that proved even smart, educated people can make silly mistakes when trying to solve a problem-- and in doing so, can cause another problem. This is an important lesson to remember in engineering and in other fields as well.