Nearly all the chemical elements that make up living things are mineral elements, the ultimate source of which is rock weathered into soil. In the thoroughly revised Second Edition of Mineral Nutrition of Plants: Principles and Perspectives, Epstein and Bloom explain that plant roots "mine" these nutrient elements from their inorganic substrate and introduce them into the realm of living things. The authors trace the subsequent movement of these nutrients into other plant organs, tissues, cells, and organelles, their biochemical assimilation, and their functions in plant physiology and...