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The Hidden Life of Trees - Peter Wohlleben PT 1 - Ch 1-12
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Owen
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Jan 01, 2020 05:38AM
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Ok so I may have shot through the first few chapters. I read the foreword yesterday and was hooked, I read the intro then thought well I might as well read a chapter or two and before I knew it I was five chapters in lol.So I thought I might as well read to chapter 12 then take a break for a while.
I love trees, I love their shapes, colours, height but I don't actually know a lot about them. I knew vaguely that they communicate but not a lot about it. Even in just the first 12 chapters there's a lot of info about how trees live and communicate.
It's well written I think, it's not written with a lot of highly scientific language but isn't 'dumbed down' either. It's easy to follow and very interesting.
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This is the third book I've read recently that's had a running theme on the connectivity between trees. It's a big part of the Overstory and also a really interesting chapter in Underland. It's great now to read a more scientific version.
I think it's really easy to anthropomorphize trees but in a way that detracts from just how different they are but also kind of misses how we are connected to them as a species too.
One of the things that I've realised, sadly across these three books is that it's not only the loss of species and biodiversity that's happening right now. That is of course desperate and also means we likely miss some amazing medical (for example) opportunities. It's also the loss of being able to realise and understand the connectedness of forests.
That's evolved and plays out over such long time scales that whatever eventually, hopefully replaces what we cut down is going to be different. That's an irreplaceable loss.
There is a lot of talk of tree planting but really it seems we need to re-wild, otherwise we'll just end up with plantations.
On the flip side and more positively it also all points to how resilient and 'clever' trees and forests are at adapting to change. That gives me a lot of hope if we can make the changes we need to make.
Where I live is an FSC certified county (North Somerset). I already do a lot of walking here but I'm glad our woodlands are managed properly. I'm going to try to notice a lot more of what's actually going on now!
Owen wrote: "Wow yes I really charged into this one as well. I like that it's broken into small chapters as otherwise I think I'd glaze over, even though the facts are so fascinating. It's the pace of them I th..."I feel the same in that I hope we can make changes to help the forests and trees.
The section where he's talking about trees screaming because of thirst made me think about what's been happening with the forest fires in Australia which is just horrifying.
I agree about the chapters. There is a lot of info and I think I would have been overloaded too if they had been longer. They're short and sharp.
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Owen wrote: "The other part that I found really interesting was that plants can 'learn'. It makes sense, otherwise logically a tree should just keep attempting to grow through a wall or something. That implies ..."Yeah it is fascinating and the fact that trees look after each other even when one has been cut down they still nourish the stump.
