Bristlecone Book: A Natural History of the World's Oldest Trees

by Ronald M. Lanner

High among the cold, windswept peaks of America's mountain West, strange and beautiful trees grow old but never age. The Bristlecone A Natural History of the World's Oldest Trees brings together for the first time the captivating facts about bristlecone and foxtail pines-trees that thrive in a harsh environment and live thousands of years-with a special focus on Great Basin Bristlecone pine, the oldest tree species on earth.
In this extraordinary journey into the world of bristlecones, author Ronald Lanner exposes the trees' inner workings, taking apart a pine to examine bark, buds, needles, cones, and roots, and wood. He follows a tree's lifespan from seedling to great old age, presenting a new interpretation of stages of growth. He explains the unusual colors and forms that make bristlecones so picturesque, describes how the forces of nature influence the trees' unique shapes, and reveals their secrets of long life. Readers will discover where to go to see these trees and how to identify them. A stunning pageant of color photos shows off bristlecones and their remarkable growth patterns, and a map shows locations of groves.

Genres: Nature, Science, Nonfiction, Ecology, Biology

117 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since I visited the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in California's White Mountains several years ago, I have been fascinated by the Great Basin bristlecone pine. It has been called the oldest living thing, though it is technically succeeded in age by trees that can clone themselves. Still, an age in excess of 4600 years is nothing to sneeze at.

Ronald M. Lanner's The Bristlecone Book : A Natural History of the World's Oldest Trees amazed me at every turn. Apparently, the Great Basin bristlecone pines never show any sign of senescence, though they could be killed by accident. Also, they tend to thrive in high altitude mountain zones where there is little competition from other plants and bark beetles tend not to thrive.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

On a windswept lip of a mountain just a few miles from our Teasdale, UT property, we have discovered an isolated area with a few gnarled, twisted and beautiful bristlecone pines. Reading this book made me aware that they are thousands-years-old Great Basin bristlecone pines, the oldest living trees and oldest living organisms on earth. Some specimens live over 4,000 years. Their needles can live for forty years. We recognized that the bristlecone area that we found was a 'special place' to be protected and treasured. The author, a retired research forester and biology professor, provided many fascinating facts about bristlecones and explained how these majestic trees live to such a long age, We will return to our off-the-beaten-path bristlecone area time and again and only share the exact place with a few close and trusted friends. Learn much more at the author's website: Ronald Lanner's Tree World http://www.ronaldlanner.com/ In his book, he shares many 'public' locations for viewing bristelcones. Also visit the PBS NOVA website: Mehtuselah Tree http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/methuselah/ (lj)

[Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm writing this review with tears in my eyes. Yes, all of nature is sacred, but trees are holy sentinels because they can live for several lifetimes more than other life forms. The bristlecone has an incredible lifespan of thousands of years.

Lanner provides a comprehensive yet accessible overview of the life cycle of bristlecones with a special emphasis on growth rings and how they convey information about rainfall, fires, insect infections, average temperatures, as well as age.

The book has a lot of information, but it also has great illustrations by Marlo Garnsworthy and some pages of very lyric prose as penned by Ronald Lanner.

The book explains the location of these trees, the quality of their wood and resin, their height relative as a seedling to a bird and later relative to a black bear (clever technique), scientists coring techniques for analyzing the rings, their adaptation to changing average temperatures and adaptation to living in high altitudes, etc.

The back matter includes "More About Bristlecone Pine Trees," a glossary of about a dozen words, and acknowledgements. The front inside cover has an annotated illustration of the tree's life cycle; the back inside cover has illustrations of animals that live in the same environment. These creatures appeared within the illustrations, but it's fabulous to have these insects, birds, reptiles, and mammals listed in one place and labeled--including three extinct animals: incredible teratorn, ground sloth, and dire wolf.

I see this book as ideal for young readers ages 8 to 12, but I would read this aloud to younger children and I can see older readers gleaning a lot from reading this book. As I said, I was very moved to be a witness to these trees by reading about them.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty academic so be prepared for dry. It is quite short though and has good information about wonderful trees.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another subject like geology that apparently I don't know enough about to fully appreciate. A cool book. But a bit of a tough read. This is clearly pitched to be read by the general reader, but there is not quite enough here to understand it all. Well at least for me. But interesting enough to try another by the same author. And given my library has 3 other books ...

[Mark Geisthardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up at the Visitor Center at Great Basin National Park where there is a stand of Great Basin Bristlecone Pines, a tree that has fascinated me for years. It is an interesting and informative read but be prepared to learn some new words, new concepts and a whole lot about tree biology.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well done with a tight subject matter. Concise and somewhat scientific but not too dry and full of little stories about some of the people that interact with these oldest trees as well. Excellent use of reading time.

[Zack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably 3.5? Not sure.

Either way… DIAGRAMS! The photography is beautiful, but how about some flipping diagrams! Your word pictures just aren’t enough for some of these things.

Learned a lot of these incredible trees from this short book though.

[Debby · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's only a short book so there's only so much it can go into, but it's pretty interesting as far as it goes. I learned a lot about Bristlecone trees. (owned print copy)

[Soojung Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! 🧡
It's scientific but written in a clear and accessible manner. Reading this book would be a great companion alongside visiting Great Basin National Park.