How to Read a Tree: The Sunday Times Bestseller

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The entire book was a joy to read and both information dense and effortless/fun. There are moments of profundity throughout. Lombardy poplars are often planted in a line that marks the edge of a property, village or farm. They are so easy to recognise once you know them, standing taller than the other trees in the landscape, with thin branches that reach for the sky. With practice it becomes instinctive to spot their forms, and I regularly use them to identify the location of a hidden village. The Lombardy is a member of the water-loving poplar family, so it is often a double clue: civilisation next to water. Gooley covers not just the endearing bits about trees (like why conifers don’t shed their leaves in winter) but the scientific details (like auxins and apical buds and epicormic sprouts) that will make you feel knowledgeable about this grandest of nature’s creatures. And then there are intriguing questions even I with my Masters and lifelong learner badge couldn’t answer: This book is highly recommended not just for tree lovers, but nature lovers who want to lose themselves in the scent and sights of the physical world. His down-to-earth voice and consummate respect for the topic puts this among the best nature writers and I’ve read many. I left this book wishing I could walk through a forest with Tristan Gooley and absorb his passion and love for this majestic part of nature. The book begins with brief introduction about trees, the fact that no two trees are alike, and there are a lot of different trees in the world, and that no person can identify all of them. The book is mainly about trees in North America, England and Europe, but there are discussions on trees from around the world. There is a lot of different facts that I didn't know. Tall trees are more in the center of the forest, as the wind works constantly blowing branches off the outer trees, while ones further in can grow unbothered. If in England and needing to find a church, look for Yew tress, as churches used to grow them all the time in their gardens. Leaf patterns determine where water lies, and coloring can show where new growth is occuring on the tree.

How to Read a Tree: Clues and Patterns from Bark to Leaves How to Read a Tree: Clues and Patterns from Bark to Leaves

Trees are keen to tell us so much, says Tristan Gooley. They tell us about the land, the water, the people, the animals, the weather and time. But only to those who know how to read themIn areas that are prone to wildfires, a different type of competition is taking place. No trees find fire easy, but some have evolved to endure it better than others and tend, over time, to out-compete the vulnerable. For example, the Douglas fir sees off most of the competition in the fire-prone regions of the Pacific Northwest. Rapid SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequencing and analysis for informed public health decision-making in the Netherlands. external icon Today's Justin Webb speaks to Tristan Gooley, author of How to Read a Tree: Clues & Patterns from Roots to Leaves.

How to Identify Trees: A Simple Guide - Woodland Trust

Five stars. This would be a superlative choice for public or secondary school acquisition, home use, or gift giving. Highly recommended. Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License ( One of the best books I have ever read - I can no longer look passively at a tree without Mr Gooley's insight coursing through my brain - this is a good thing! Nature is so much more involved and interconnected than most people ever begin to think. I would highly recommend this book to all who wish to learn more about the world around them, especially if you love trees (you will love them even more after this book!) It was a lightbulb moment! I thought I knew my local woods – I walk there almost every day. But it’s a thrill to see it through fresh eyes, to develop a much deeper understanding.’– Peter Gibbs, Chair of BBC Gardeners’ Question Time I have read several of Tristan Gooley’s fascinating ‘how to read nature’ books. In fact one is open on my desk right now—The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs. All of Gooley’s books are chatty, readable explorations of nature for the armchair enthusiast. How to Read a Tree (2023) examines trees in the same relentless depth, digging into facets that sound obvious (like trunks and leaves) as well as those most of us don’t see but should (like the tree’s shape). Did you know that trees grow bigger on their southern side, or that a strong pale line down the middle of the leaves means there’s water nearby? Me either! Tristan not only noticed, but studied it with an enviable passion for understanding why, carried away by what goes on around him.You will never look at a tree in the same way again after reading this mesmerising book. Gooley drops learning as lightly as blossom falls in spring.’– John Lewis-Stempel which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

How to Read a Tree by Tristan Gooley | Hachette UK How to Read a Tree by Tristan Gooley | Hachette UK

The London plane has been planted in towns and cities around the world because its roots tolerate compaction of the soil and its bark sheds regularly, allowing it to withstand more pollution than many. The sycamore is a member of the maple family that copes well with the stresses of town life, too well perhaps: it has a reputation for sprouting up uninvited in gardens and parks. Each tree we meet is filled with signs that reveal secrets about the life of that tree and the landscape we stand in. The clues are easy to spot when you know what to look for, but remain invisible to most people. In How to Read a Tree, Gooley uncovers the clues hiding in plain sight: in a tree’s branches and leaves; its bark, buds, and flowers; even its stump. Leaves with a pale, central streak mean that water is nearby. Young, low-growing branches show that a tree is struggling. And reddish or purple bark signals new growth.

It is so satisfying when we connect the dots in a landscape. The other day I set myself the challenge of descending a Sussex hill and finding a village, using only the trees for guidance. At the foothills of the northern scarp, I found ashes thriving in the rich, moist soil; a little further on willows lined a stream. The water led me to the village, and I knew I had arrived when the horizon was broken by a proud line of Lombardy poplars. My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher The Experiment for an advanced copy of this book about trees, their place in nature and what they bring to our souls. All plants are sensitive to disturbance. If the land is ravaged by storms, fire, water, human clearance or heavy use, certain trees give up on it for long periods, while others are happy to start again as soon as the drama is over. The following families are keen colonisers, springing up in disturbed areas – if you see lots of young ones, it is a sign of a major disturbance: willows, alders, larches, birches, hawthorns. Will undoubtedly leave you with a deeper appreciation of trees…your country walks will never be quite the same again’ – Daily Mail