Trees Up Close: The beauty of bark, leaves, flowers, and seeds

by Nancy Ross Hugo, Robert Llewellyn (Photographer)

Everyone knows what a tree looks like, right? But have you ever really seen the delicate flowers of a red maple? The emerging leaves of a tulip poplar? The twigs of a beech? When you look at a tree up close, a whole new world of form and detail emerges—you encounter beauty that you never knew existed, and you begin to appreciate trees in a whole new way. Trees Up Close offers an intimate, revealing look at the beauty of leaves, flowers, cones, fruits, seeds, buds, bark, and twigs of the most common trees. With more than 200 dazzling photos, you will be amazed by the otherwordly beauty of the acorns from a sawtooth oak, enchanted by the immature fruits of a red maple, and dazzled by the delicate emerging flowers of the American elm.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Biology, Photography, Environment, Science, Art

200 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2014

Reviews

[Rebecca Watts]

A tour of the up close details of a variety of trees.

[Anna Mock]

I wish this book was physically bigger. The length of the book is fine. But bigger pages would have been nice. I was expecting a coffee table sized book, but got a board book size. Maybe I just purchased the small edition?

This book is an excellent introduction to observation. I think it's fair to say that most people don't go put their faces up really close to trees (or anything) and just look and observe. But the authors/photographers point out that when you do get up close, an new world of knowledge and discovery is opened up to you. After reading this book, I want to go out and get to know more closely the trees local to me. Trees are like birds; they are all around us but we don't take much time to notice or pay attention to them. But it's fun and - in a small way, empowering - to get to know them.

[Carol Lovejoy]

FASCINATING!!!!
INCREDIBLE photography!!!! i'd recommend EVERYBODY read this book---you will NEVER look at trees the same way!!!!
p.s. Robert Llewellyn who did the book's photography has SEVERAL other marvelous books! this smaller one (Trees Up Close) is small enough to be readable in several settings BUT you're gonna be BLOWN AWAY by the photos!
WOW!

[David Szatkowski]

This is a short, fun, well photographed book. The author shows an obvious love of nature and the beauty of the trees that surround us. The book is less for the botanist than for the casual hiker/looker. The book opens the readers eyes to seeing small things that help identify species, recognize patterns, and understand terms.

[Sharron]

I continue to be astounded by the beauty of Robert Llewelyn’s photography. This book is a small gem. It calls to mind that Chinese proverb - The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.

[Jan]

Absolutely gorgeous photography of the up-close parts of trees. Nice introduction description of each section and excellent photo notations. It is AMAZING how incredible nature is!! Love Those Trees and I will look a little closer from now on.

[Chloe Callender]

I am no plant or photography expert, but I feel this books was brilliantly well done. I learned more about plant life and got to enjoy the intricate capture of each subject.

[Janet]

beautiful

[TJ]

Beautifully photographed - might have to buy.

[Clea]

The photographs are nice, but the first third of the book has text that doesn’t explain the photographs. Which type of stem are you looking at from the three outlined in the text? You guess.

[Clare]

Most people would look at the leaves or bark of trees in order to identify them. This book contains some of those characteristics of trees, but also dwells on others that might not come to mind such as leaf scars and resting buds. With stunning photography and text this book shows us details of the arboreal world that are seldom sought out or noticed by the average person. It is amazing to see the diversity of these attributes of trees and to realize that most tree flowers go unnoticed. This is not only a beautiful book to look through, but one which also teaches something about the natural world.

[Sondra Eklund]

Such a beautiful book! I'll never look at trees the same way again.
http://www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction...

[SmarterLilac]

One of my "Mom" books--books I know my mother would want me to read if she were still alive, containing a lot she would want me to know about the natural world.

[Anna]

Get outta here, tree of heaven!

[Kim]

Gorgeous photos. This little book is packed with information.