Home › Books › Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom o…
Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
by
89/99
Critics' Rating Index
88/99
Readers' Rating Index
n/a
Scholars' Citation Index
89/99
Volume of Reviews
94/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
About This Book
From the world's leading forest ecologist who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another and to other living things in the forest--a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery. Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; she's been compared to Rachel Carson, hailed as a scientist who conveys complex, technical ideas in a way that is dazzling and profound. Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls of James Cameron's Avatar) and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. Now, in her first book, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths--that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complex, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own. Simard writes--in inspiring, illuminating, and accessible ways--how trees, living side by side for hundreds of years, have evolved, how they perceive one another, learn and adapt their behaviors, recognize neighbors, and remember the past; how they have agency about the future; elicit warnings and mount defenses, compete and cooperate with one another with sophistication, characteristics ascribed to human intelligence, traits that are the essence of civil societies--and at the center of it all, the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful forces that connect and sustain the others that surround them. Simard writes of her own life, born and raised into a logging world in the rainforests of British Columbia, of her days as a child spent cataloging the trees from the forest and how she came to love and respect them--embarking on a journey of discovery, and struggle. And as she writes of her scientific quest, she writes of her own journey--of love and loss, of observation and change, of risk and reward, making us understand how deeply human scientific inquiry exists beyond data and technology, that it is about understanding who we are and our place in the world, and, in writing of her own life, we come to see the true connectedness of the Mother Tree that nurtures the forest in the profound ways that families and human societies do, and how these inseparable bonds enable all our survival.
Reviews
"The risks and rigors of her field work—conducting experiments with radioactive materials, navigating salmon runs while being aware of wild animals within and around the forest—are keenly felt, as are the challenges facing a reticent woman working for change in the way we manage forests ..."
"We rely on nature's rhythms and cycles far more than we rely on profit and technology."
"And there are surprising (and surprisingly apt) analogies ..."
"She limns her tale with rich anecdotes and family lore ..."
"As Simard elucidates her revolutionary experiments, replete with gorgeous descriptions and moments of fear and wonder, a vision of the forest as an 'intelligent system, perceptive and responsive,' comes into focus, leading to her revelation of how 'mother trees' not only nourish and protect seedlings but also 'continuously gauge, adjust, and regulate' their support of the entire forest through a finely calibrated web that mirrors our own neural network and cardiovascular system ..."
"Forest ecology professor Simard artfully blends science with memoir in her eye-opening debut on the 'startling secrets' of trees."
"Her research is clearly defined, the steps of her experiments articulated, her astonishing results explained and the implications laid bare: We ignore the complexity of forests at our peril ..."
"a frequently lyrical memoir which puts [Simard's] work in the context of her lifelong fascination with the forest, and her growing alarm over the massive clearcuts that are transforming the region into a blighted checkerboard ..."
"Though some readers may not appreciate Simard's frequent anthropomorphism, the science is solid, and the author's overarching theme of stewardship is clear, understandable, and necessary."
Preview
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!