A blend of history, science, philosophy, and environmentalism, The
Tree is an engaging and elegant look at the life of the tree and what
modern research tells us about their future.
There are redwoods in California that were ancient by the time Columbus
first landed, and pines still alive that germinated around the time
humans invented writing. There are Douglas firs as tall as skyscrapers,
and a banyan tree in Calcutta as big as a football field.
From the tallest to the smallest, trees inspire wonder in all of us, and
in The Tree, Colin Tudge travels around the world--throughout the
United States, the Costa Rican rain forest, Panama and Brazil, India,
New Zealand, China, and most of Europe--bringing to life stories and
facts about the trees around us: how they grow old, how they eat and
reproduce, how they talk to one another (and they do), and why they came
to exist in the first place. He considers the pitfalls of being tall;
the things that trees produce, from nuts and rubber to wood; and even
the complicated debt that we as humans owe them.
Tudge takes us to the Amazon in flood, when the water is deep enough to
submerge the forest entirely and fish feed on fruit while river dolphins
race through the canopy. He explains the "memory" of a tree: how those
that have been shaken by wind grow thicker and sturdier, while those
attacked by pests grow smaller leaves the following year; and reveals
how it is that the same trees found in the United States are also native
to China (but not Europe).
From tiny saplings to centuries-old redwoods and desert palms, from the
backyards of the American heartland to the rain forests of the Amazon
and the bamboo forests, Colin Tudge takes the reader on a journey
through history and illuminates our ever-present but often ignored
companions.
