Gifted by:
Arvind Navaratnam - 2025.01.06

:sigh: I love Mother Nature, honest I do. I even believe there's something to the Gaia hypothesis, and I do hug trees. But I'm just not ready to use the same feelings words for trees as I do for ppl. This would have been a much better book, imo, if it were written more scientifically, less spiritually.

I am glad I continued after the over-the-top early pages as the author did calm down some... until the end, and then I don't know what he wants except for humans to just disappear, because no matter what we eat or what we build with, we're hurting something!

I just wish there were photos and sketches... he can't make a point if the reader can't *understand* the point. Usually I believe I got the gist of the argument, but not always!

A lot of times, too, it seemed like there was a confusion of cause and effect. No clear-cut quotable examples, but it's as if somebody were to say 'gee it's a good thing Arctic hares turn white in winter because they show up less in the snow' instead of understanding that the snow came first, and the hares evolved the adaptation to it.

I do want to know more about "Pando" in Fishlake NF, Utah, a quaking aspen that covers over 100 acres and has some 40K trunks. ( )

As humans, in no other year has it been more important than in 2020 to look at the impact of our actions on the environment. It is easy to blame a virus for bringing the world to a standstill, but if we think about it, we humans have been the biggest parasites for Mother Nature, sucking everything out of her like a leech and then complaining if she hits us back with cyclones or forest fires.

Let us all be more conscious of our actions now onwards. After all, Earth doesn't need us, but we need Earth. So we need to be more environmentally aware and environmentally responsible. Else, we'll soon join the league of extinct creatures. Let's today vow to leave a better planet for our children. Every step counts! Every human action matters!

One of the most ignored aspects in terms of environment are trees. In Mumbai, every year, people complain that trees fall during the monsoon and there is a big hue and cry over the BMC not maintaining trees properly. But who is at fault? There is hardly any earth left amid the concrete for trees to build a strong foundation. Their branches are chopped off lopsided, all in the guise of monsoon preparation. Infrastructure projects readily expect trees to be sacrificed, all for the supposed greater good of humanity. But we forget, we are here because of trees. If you take out trees from the natural equation, you are signing your own death certificate.

But even if you appreciate trees, you would hardly ever look at them as living breathing creatures. You wouldn't consider them communicating with each other, you won't imagine then making decisions. Once you read this wonderful book though, I guarantee that you will not look at trees the same way again.

Peter Wollehban nicely deconstructs the idea of trees, exposing their innermost secrets to us. Right from their social interactions to their support systems, Wollehban deftly presents the story behind the woody curtains.

The book is erudite in essence but the writing is absolutely captivating. If you enjoy reading nature-based books, then this would be a wonderful addition to your collection. Until then, here's a quote from the same book to give us all food for thought:
"An organism that is too greedy and takes too much without giving anything in return destroys what it needs for life."


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I seem to have forgotten to list this one. I'd read it a year or so ago.
Really interesting tree science. :-) ( )

I have mixed feelings about this book. I am not a scientist, a dendrologist or an arborist: but just someone who has become interested in trees over the last couple of years as I explored our local woodlands during Lockdown. So this book's focus on individual trees and their place within their wider locality, whether it's as street furniture, in parkland or in woodland began by fascinating me. How trees grow well or less well in relation to other trees of the same or different varieties nearby: how they are affected by the removal, by whatever means, of trees nearby: their relationship with fungi, insects, other plants. All this is thought provoking, and the early chapters of the book excited my interest a great deal. However, in the end, Wohlleben's continual anthropomorphising of the trees started to concern and irritate me, especially as I felt I lacked the tools for constructive criticism. I'm grateful to this book for exciting my interest, and provoking in me a desire to know much more. But at the same time, I'm taking it with a very large pinch of salt. ( )