Harriet Rix

This is a great book for broadening the mind of the average reader. For many, me included, popular science-fact, and explanations of evolution tend to focus almost exclusively on animals. So to have the evolution of plants and trees as the focus of a book is an excellent addition.
I'm almost embarrassed by how much I didn't know! But the author is such a passionate lover of trees that the reader gets swept up with her.
One serious gripe. The author continually presents evolutionary change as show more directed, planned, as delivering a needed outcome. This is, of course, tosh. Evolutionary change is totally random and undirected. Changes that aren't helpful don't get noticed - the plant dies, or any change is insignificant. The ones that do work seem amazing, and lead to gushing prose. But trees don't develop a particular chemical to lure insects, for example. The change happens, and the insects get lured, and looking back afterwards it seems like a wonderfully planned system. It's not. It's chance. show less

The Genius of Trees by Harriet Rix tells the scientific story of how trees came to be, developed, evolved and influenced the spaces and creatures around them.
In this fascinating look, Rix covers how trees-- through interactions at the atomic level, tree structure and engineering, to growth patterns—are able to draw water to themselves and support optimal moisture levels. Roots crunch through rocks developing soil for themselves, purify air through chemicals that are released, and get show more animals to spread their seeds so that they can develop a wider growing area. There is quite a bit beyond average science description and content. For example: “Let’s follow a phenylpropanoid molecule as it seeds a cloud. A sacrifice of Apollonius, a tree related to avocado, 2-(3-mehtoxy-4 hydroxyphenyl)-1-3-porpanediol’s structure was defined in 1995 and...it looks simple: a hexagonal ring of carbon, with one carbon arm sticking out, and various prickles of hydrogen and oxygen attached.”
This is also a travel log that takes the author to multiple amazing places around the globe as they research various aspects of trees. This is particularly enjoyable and does help to put some of the science in context.
This ultimately leads to a main issue with the book. It is more involved in describing scientific processes than a more casual reader, or even one with a great interest in trees, is likely to want to wade through. On the other hand, it isn’t a textbook or similar, so will it appeal to the scientific community? It may, but I’m not sure that they would appreciate the travel parts. It just is not clear who the audience is for this book.
Overall, this appears to be very well researched and makes some interesting points to reframe how trees work in their environment.
Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the free eARC. show less