The Genius of Trees by Harriet Rix (BR)

[Melanie, the neutral party]

The Genius of Trees: How They Mastered the Elements and Shaped the World by Harriet Rix
It's not SF or F, but it is the winner of our 3rd annual non-fools' poll. We're planning to buddy read starting June 12th.

Roll Call: Who's in?

[Cynda Reads]

I'm in! Everand has both the ebook and the audio. I only get 5 selections a month, so starting with ebook as I may need to see words and to ask for definitions and extra information.


Gorgeous.

[Cynda Reads]

Just making a start into Chapter 2, I find there are things I am very so slightly familiar with due to biology courses and Discovery shows and more recently, reading Darwin. I don't know if I could understand another book by Darwin--I recent read Origins-- as I think he writing is so archaic, yet I may want to someday buddy read the book cited Chapter 2: The Power of Movement in Plants.

[Bethan]

I'll try to join in. I'm stretched rather thin on my group reads this month. The book sounds good though.

[Melanie, the neutral party]

I started a few days ago. It's both more biographical and poetic than I was expecting.

[Cynda Reads]

It seems to me that some much information is glossed over. One chapter is devoted to important thing that trees help shape. I had not considered trees in this way. I had never considered that trees used fore to control populations of other trees--part of that chemical warfare I have heard that trees engage in.

Apparently this book is meant to appeal to general science readers. Which is good for me. But too glossy and sometimes too poetic for me.

[Cynda Reads]

Reading
Chapter 5: Trees Shaping Fungi.

I was first made aware of the tree-fungi connection in The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben. Learned so mich about trees, yet the tree-fungi connection was some that wood wide web that does not stand up to scrunity, an idea that anthromorphizes tree experience.

This is what Professor Merlin Sheldrake in his book Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures warns against for the same that Harriet Rix makes, that anthromorphizing trees takes away the wonder of how a plant grows wood to protect its life.

If fungi is something that interests you, I suggest reading Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures and looking at extra information he shares on youtube or other video services.

[Cynda Reads]

Finished.
As I progressed through the book, the ideas became less poetic and more relatable, worth having done some light work to read through to the end. There are books were everything is so familiar or cerebral that I do not/much need to search for images or maps or any other visual aids. This book required it if me. This makes the book more informative, less poetic.

There is an element--a strong element--of poetry. Read until the end and find out why: Trees are worthy of philosophical consideration. Rix does not say; I am reminded of the question: What is a tree?

[Bethan]

I haven't managed to start this one yet, but I find the subject very interesting and have it on my reader ready to go.

I'll try to get a start this week.