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Loading... The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World (original 2015; edition 2016)by Peter Wohlleben (Author)
Work InformationThe Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate, Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben (2015)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. 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. ( ) this is so interesting and illuminating. i will forget almost all of it immediately but that doesn't make it any less fascinating. trees are so much more alive than i realized. they feel. they have memory. they sense time. they experience pain. they take care of their young and their community. they "see" and they communicate and they hurt and they cry and they live so more like we do than i realized. (i feel totally stymied at how to interact with them now or if it's okay to plant that magnolia tree in my yard like i want to.) A fluid read packed with interesting research on trees translated to an exciting and accessible language. However, at the same time the book often foregoes accuracy of scientific language in favour of personification of the trees, describing evolution as cause, extending metaphors of internet to micelial networks and more! Basically the book may mislead thise who don’t understand how biological research works, and what it means to apply certain metaphors to physical systems. If you are lucky, a handful of times in your life you will encounter a book that changes the way you look at the world. The Hidden Life of Trees is just such a book (which is why I'm giving it five stars without a re-read). Wohlleben drew me in with a great combination of science and artistic description. I just want to give every book-reader I know a copy. Now, it must be said: There's lots of solid science here, but Wohlleben employs language that most scientists and science writers would not feel comfortable using. He intentionally chooses to describe trees as volitional beings that make choices, instead of merely reacting to stimuli. He openly admits (although somewhat belatedly and not frequently enough, IMO) that this point of view and narrative choice are controversial. But at least he is open about this and is not letting people think that his is a widely shared opinion. Because of Wohlleben's honesty on this point, I can enjoy (and even entertain) his ideas in a way that I could not if he were less forthcoming.
Wohlleben's anecdotes are engaging, but sadly his book contains only a few. Belongs to SeriesIs contained inHas the adaptationAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Are trees social beings? Forester and author Peter Wohlleben makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. Wohlleben also shares his deep love of woods and forests, explaining the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in his woodland. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)582.16Natural sciences and mathematics Plants Plants noted for specific vegetative characteristics and flowers Herbaceous and woody plants, plants noted for their flowers TreesLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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