An informative, richly illustrated book about eighty of the world's
most important and remarkable trees
Our planet is home to some three trillion trees--roughly four hundred
for every person on Earth. In Trees of Life, Max Adams selects, from
sixty thousand extant species, eighty remarkable trees through which to
celebrate the richness of humanity's relationship with trees, woods, and
forests.
In a sequence of informative and beautifully illustrated portraits,
divided between six thematic sections, Adams investigates the trees that
human cultures have found most useful across the world and ages: trees
that yield timber and other materials of immense practical value, trees
that bear edible fruits and nuts, trees that deliver special culinary
ingredients and traditions, and trees that give us dyes, essences, and
medicines. In a section titled "Supertrees," Adams considers trees that
have played a pivotal role in maintaining natural and social
communities, while a final section, "Trees for the Planet," looks at a
group of trees so valuable to humanity that they must be protected at
all costs from loss.
From the apple to the oak, the logwood to the breadfruit, and the paper
mulberry to the Dahurian larch, these are trees that offer not merely
shelter, timber, and fuel but also drugs, foods, and fibers. Trees of
Life presents a plethora of fascinating stories about them.
