Eden - Tapa dura

With several high-profile public projects going belly up, the opening of the Eden Project in Cornwall in March 2001 had many holding their breath. Would this Living Theatre of Plants and People prove to be another spectacular failure or the astonishing adventure we were promised? The hundreds of thousands of visitors who have voted with their feet by visiting the project since March prove quite categorically that this is a success, and it is salutary how under-reported this success has been compared to better-known failures. But all of that will change with this (and with several other new books and TV programmes) which celebrates an ambitious project. Smit tells the remarkable story of the Eden Project, of its conception and construction, and the many larger-than-life personalities involved. Smit's track record, of course, includes The Lost Gardens of Heligan and the same skills are more than evident here.

The opening of the Eden Project in Cornwall in March 2001 brought a welcome touch of flamboyance and optimisim to a country that was somewhat lacking in both. The hundreds of thousands who have since poured through the gates of the Living Theatre of Plants and People have been left in no doubt that here was a venture of unparalleled ambition and imagination, and one that just might change the world in the way it intends. In this book, creator Tim Smit tells the story of the project, of its conception and construction, and of the larger-than-life personalities involved.