Joey Santore is the misanthropic Chicago Italian creator and host of Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't. A self-described "tender bastard beneath an epidermis covered in spines, caustic sap, & irritating hairs," Joey is the writer, director, producer, editor, and talent behind the brand's many videos, podcasts, and written missives. He's into botany, taxonomy, evolution, and toilet humor. Joey's everyman's approach to plant ecology and evolution is adored by millions of plant and nature lovers worldwide.

"Finally, a book about botany that meets you where you are: in your front yard, in a junkyard, in the school yard. Joey Santore reminds us that nature isn't a distant place we go visit on a Sunday afternoon--it's growing out of a crack in the sidewalk, right now. Concrete Botany is a raw and passionate account of Santore's hardscrabble botanizing adventures, and a rebellious manifesto for living on Earth in the twenty-first century."

"To use Rap as a reference, if Joey Santore's YouTube channel, Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't, is his celebrated mixtapes, then his first book, Concrete Botany, is his Illmatic! What Hunter S. Thompson did for Vegas and Anthony Bourdain did for vegetables, Joey Santore does for vegetation. This is the journey journal of the World Champion of the endemic and endangered."

"Concrete Botany is a much-needed contemporary look at the subject of land ethics, observations of the natural world, and new botanical perspectives! Joey is THE modern day botanist, explorer, naturalist, and teacher we all need... with a delivery that cannot be replicated!"

"Concrete Botany is a wonderful guide to understanding the nuances of plant life, delivered with a raw honesty and infectious curiosity that only Joey Santore could provide. He doesn't just teach; he inspires you to look closer, to question, and to really appreciate the botanical world around you. If you're looking for a fresh take on nature, Concrete Botany is an absolute must-read."

"Concrete Botany delivers the origin story of Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't, but more than that, it develops a coherent philosophy, akin to biophilia, on the importance of the plants native to a place--all the while dishing out misanthropy and botany in equal measures. It gave me a new appreciation for the importance of native plants and how gardeners (guerrilla or otherwise) can help heal the scars left by mankind."