The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth (edition 2022)

by Ben Rawlence (Author)

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162	4	169,941	(4.26)	11
"In the tradition of Elizabeth Kolbert and Barry Lopez, a powerful, poetic and deeply absorbing account of the "lung" at the top of the world. For the last fifty years, the trees of the boreal forest have been moving north. Ben Rawlence's The Treeline takes us along this critical frontier of our warming planet from Norway to Siberia, Alaska to Greenland, to meet the scientists, residents and trees confronting huge geological changes. Only the hardest species survive at these latitudes including the ice-loving Dahurian larch of Siberia, the antiseptic Spruce that purifies our atmosphere, the Downy birch conquering Scandinavia, the healing Balsam poplar that Native Americans use as a cure-all and the noble Scots Pine that lives longer when surrounded by its family. It is a journey of wonder and awe at the incredible creativity and resilience of these species and the mysterious workings of the forest upon which we rely for the air we breathe. Blending reportage with the latest science, The Treeline is a story of what might soon be the last forest left and what that means for the future of all life on earth"--… (more)

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Member:	KatrinaMorrison
Title:	The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth
Authors:	Ben Rawlence (Author)
Info:	St. Martin's Press (2022), 320 pages
Collections:	Your library
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The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth by Ben Rawlence

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Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait by Bathsheba Demuth (Euryale)
Euryale: While The Treeline looks at climate change and civilization in the present-day arctic using key tree species as touchstones, Floating Coast looks at the history and people of a specific slice of the arctic (Beringia) via keystone animals species.

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This book is the perfect read for those of you that might think, “I get that climate change is real but how bad is it really?”. The answer in short is: It’s quite bad. This book tells the story of climate change through the unique perspective of the Boreal lens. It doesn’t hold your hand or pull any punches and it lets you reach your own conclusions.

I had never expected a book about trees to be so interesting as the author cleverly intertwines the story of the forest and its innerworkings with the indigenous peoples that have lived in it. There are tons of facts about fungi and soils and permafrost that I now care about and appreciate.

The author’s voice and writing style really captures your imagination and wonder with his vivid descriptions of the forest surroundings while deferring to his expert guests to paint the sobering picture of our troubled future.

This is a life-changing book with a strong call to action that garners a sense of urgency. It inspires hope and an appreciation for the complexity of nature that will (fingers crossed) find a way. (

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The_James | Apr 9, 2024 |

If you are feeling sanguine about the prospect of global climate change, this is a good book to dive into. Rawlence lays out the facts on the ground as he finds them on a globe-circling tour of where the forests stop in the Arctic and the tundra begins. He quotes both scientific experts he encounters in the field and the people who live in these remote areas as he focuses upon the predominant tree species in his sprawling travels. And he always keeps his narrative interesting.
[Audiobook note: The reader, Jamie Parker, does an astonishing job pronouncing botanical Latin names and a variety of indigenous languages. His reading is clear, precise, and well paced.] (

)

Treebeard_404 | Jan 23, 2024 |

Excerpt from a longer article:

Timely Take-aways for Life-long Learners: Trees and Forests
Whether exploring the impact of climate change or the restoration of forests, several new books examine individual trees, tree ecology, and forests of the world.

The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth
Ben Rawlence, Feb 2022, St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of Macmillan
Themes: Nature, Plants, Trees
Combining storytelling with science, Rawlence takes readers on a quest to learn about the impact of climate change on the trees of the boreal forest.
Take-aways: Use the locations described in the book to engage students in a discussion about the shifting treelines around the world.

...
Whether helping educators keep up-to-date in their subject-areas, promoting student reading in the content-areas, or simply encouraging nonfiction leisure reading, teacher librarians need to be aware of the best new titles across the curriculum and how to activate life-long learning. - Annette Lamb (

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eduscapes | Apr 11, 2023 |

This is a well researched book on athe forest areas in the upper tier of the Northern Hemisphere. The author starts in Scotland and he goes around the world ending up in Greenland. The principle focus here is on the impact that global warming is having. It is not a happy story. As we know things are changing rapidly. My feeling is that all this data has been amassed to tell us something that most educated people already know. The book offers no solutions. (

)

muddyboy | May 23, 2022 |

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2022-02-15

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To the trees and all living things that call the forest home

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"In the tradition of Elizabeth Kolbert and Barry Lopez, a powerful, poetic and deeply absorbing account of the "lung" at the top of the world. For the last fifty years, the trees of the boreal forest have been moving north. Ben Rawlence's The Treeline takes us along this critical frontier of our warming planet from Norway to Siberia, Alaska to Greenland, to meet the scientists, residents and trees confronting huge geological changes. Only the hardest species survive at these latitudes including the ice-loving Dahurian larch of Siberia, the antiseptic Spruce that purifies our atmosphere, the Downy birch conquering Scandinavia, the healing Balsam poplar that Native Americans use as a cure-all and the noble Scots Pine that lives longer when surrounded by its family. It is a journey of wonder and awe at the incredible creativity and resilience of these species and the mysterious workings of the forest upon which we rely for the air we breathe. Blending reportage with the latest science, The Treeline is a story of what might soon be the last forest left and what that means for the future of all life on earth"--

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