On Listening To Trees

On listening to trees

Listening to Trees

Combining personal experience with concrete fact, A.K. Hellum's Listening to Trees tells the story of a man's lifelong journey to salvage today's declining forests. In this enlightening account of Hellum's half-century career as a forester, we become privy to our environment's fragile state-of-being through the manipulation of forests that have been stripped of their resources and improperly regenerated over the span of a lifetime. As Hellum guides us on his journeys through the forests of Thailand, China, Guyana, and the Philippines, we emerge with a new understanding of how the smallest elements of the world's ecosystem can have a significant and devastating impact on the environment at large. While reinforcing Stan Rowe's life's work as an environmentalist, Listening to Trees serves as a staunch reminder of the fragility of modern forests while providing a glimpse into the soul of an environmentalist pleading for his beloved timberland.

The Songs of Trees

WINNER OF THE 2018 JOHN BURROUGHS MEDAL FOR OUTSTANDING NATURAL HISTORY WRITING “Both a love song to trees, an exploration of their biology, and a wonderfully philosophical analysis of their role they play in human history and in modern culture.” —Science Friday The author of Sounds Wild and Broken and the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Forest Unseen visits with nature’s most magnificent networkers — trees David Haskell has won acclaim for eloquent writing and deep engagement with the natural world. Now, he brings his powers of observation to the biological networks that surround all species, including humans. Haskell repeatedly visits a dozen trees, exploring connections with people, microbes, fungi, and other plants and animals. He takes us to trees in cities (from Manhattan to Jerusalem), forests (Amazonian, North American, and boreal) and areas on the front lines of environmental change (eroding coastlines, burned mountainsides, and war zones.) In each place he shows how human history, ecology, and well-being are intimately intertwined with the lives of trees. Scientific, lyrical, and contemplative, Haskell reveals the biological connections that underpin all life. In a world beset by barriers, he reminds us that life’s substance and beauty emerge from relationship and interdependence.