Overview

A mesmerising, mind-expanding global story which shows how trees have learned to use the soil, air, water, plants, fungi, fire, animals and people around them to shape our world - possessing agency beyond anything we might have imagined. The Genius of Trees tells a mind-expanding global story revealing the inventive and astonishing ways trees learned to shape our natural world. Over hundreds of millions of years, from prehistoric forests to the trees around us today, we see trees using fire as a reproductive tool, harnessing large mammals to spread their seeds (but poisoning smaller, less useful mammals), and splitting rock to create fertile ground in barren landscapes. Because trees, we discover, manipulate fundamental elements, plants, animals, bacteria, fungi, and even humankind to achieve their ends. From the laurel cloud-forests of the Canary Islands to the magnificent sex-shifting oaks of Iraq, from the giant sequoias of California to the carbon-spinning junipers of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border - trees sculpt their environments. At once transporting and expert, this profoundly original exploration of the science of trees is a startlingly new way of understanding these glories of our natural world. The Genius of Trees gives us hope for the future. It enables us to see trees, for the first time, not as victims but as agents of change in a grand ecological narrative - and as leading actors in the great drama of life on earth.

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9781847927828

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Reviews

A wondrous spreading canopy of a book that gives us trees as we’ve never seen them before: as dynamic forces, founders of our world, and agents of their own destiny - as well as ours. This is science writing at its best - beautifully explained, brilliantly written and perception-changing -- Isabella Tree, author of Wilding An exceptional book. Up to date scientifically, beautifully clear for all of us, it changes our entire view of trees while carrying us to other worlds and times. Enchantingly written, it has personal touches which unite science, travel and fine literature and lead us by the hand through woods we never understood before -- Robin Lane Fox, historian and gardening correspondent for the Financial Times A compelling journey of a book, full of wonder and revelation. Highly recommended -- Sue Stuart-Smith, author of the Sunday Times bestselling The Well Gardened Mind If I was dazzled by nature and in awe of trees before I read this book, I now know how much we are indebted to them for the way they have shepherded life on earth for millions of years -- Kirsty Wark, television presenter and journalist Fascinating and evocative, an intimate ride into the magical world of trees. This book contains everything you ever wanted to know - and so much you never knew you wanted to know - about these incredible organisms -- Chris Fitch, author of Wild Cities You will forever love trees after you read this wonderful book. Not only is the text brilliant, but the author is genius. Harriet Rix's stories range from why sloths are shaped by trees to be greenish in colour, to the chemical secrets of chocolate trees, to how one fragile moth pollinates the Joshua trees. You will want to read this book again and again -- Meg Lowman, aka Canopy Meg, author of The Arbornaut A magisterial tour de force. Rix packs in several lifetimes of science into this sweeping story of the amazing genius of trees. I learned so much. Surely destined to become a classic -- Ben Rawlence, author of The Treeline Trees are not passive passengers in Earth’s story; they are the engineers of life itself. The Genius of Trees is a rare blend of science and wonder, reminding us just how much we still have to learn from these ancient organisms. Harriet Rix captures their wonder with clarity and awe -- Thomas Crowther, Ecologist and Climate Scientist

A wondrous spreading canopy of a book that gives us trees as we’ve never seen them before: as dynamic forces, founders of our world, and agents of their own destiny - as well as ours. This is science writing at its best - beautifully explained, brilliantly written and perception-changing -- Isabella Tree, author of Wilding An exceptional book. Up to date scientifically, beautifully clear for all of us, it changes our entire view of trees while carrying us to other worlds and times. Enchantingly written, it has personal touches which unite science, travel and fine literature and lead us by the hand through woods we never understood before -- Robin Lane Fox, historian and gardening correspondent for the Financial Times A compelling journey of a book, full of wonder and revelation. Highly recommended -- Sue Stuart-Smith, author of the Sunday Times bestselling The Well Gardened Mind If I was dazzled by nature and in awe of trees before I read this book, I now know how much we are indebted to them for the way they have shepherded life on earth for millions of years -- Kirsty Wark, television presenter and journalist Fascinating and evocative, an intimate ride into the magical world of trees. This book contains everything you ever wanted to know - and so much you never knew you wanted to know - about these incredible organisms -- Chris Fitch, author of Wild Cities You will forever love trees after you read this wonderful book. Not only is the text brilliant, but the author is genius. Harriet Rix's stories range from why sloths are shaped by trees to be greenish in colour, to the chemical secrets of chocolate trees, to how one fragile moth pollinates the Joshua trees. You will want to read this book again and again -- Meg Lowman, aka Canopy Meg, author of The Arbornaut A magisterial tour de force. Rix packs in several lifetimes of science into this sweeping story of the amazing genius of trees. I learned so much. Surely destined to become a classic -- Ben Rawlence, author of The Treeline Trees are not passive passengers in Earth’s story; they are the engineers of life itself. The Genius of Trees is a rare blend of science and wonder, reminding us just how much we still have to learn from these ancient organisms. Harriet Rix captures their wonder with clarity and awe -- Thomas Crowther, Ecologist and Climate Scientist In her wonderful book, Harriet Rix has given us a unique vantage point on the inalienable agency of trees. The Genius of Trees is both shocking and poetic, full of detail and even then dotted with fascinating footnotes. I left the book feeling invigorated and inspired -- Lyndsie Bourgon, author of Tree Thieves

A compelling journey of a book, full of wonder and revelation. Highly recommended -- Sue Stuart-Smith, author of the Sunday Times bestselling The Well Gardened Mind If I was dazzled by nature and in awe of trees before I read this book, I now know how much we are indebted to them for the way they have shepherded life on earth for millions on years -- Kirsty Wark, television presenter and journalist You will forever love trees after you read this wonderful book. Not only is the text brilliant, but the author is genius. Harriet Rix's stories range from why sloths are shaped by trees to be greenish in colour, to the chemical secrets of chocolate trees, to how one fragile moth pollinates the Joshua trees. You will want to read this book again and again -- Meg Lowman, aka Canopy Meg, author of The Arbornaut

Author Information

Harriet Rix is a tree science consultant and writer. She was formerly based at the Tree Council where she supported Defra in researching tree diseases and urban tree strategies. Before joining the tree sector, she worked in landmine clearance in the Middle East. She acted as scientific advisor on Adrian Grenier's climate documentary, was secretary of Hedgelink and is trustee of the Iraqi environmental charity Hasar. Rix holds a biochemistry degree from the University of Oxford and an MPhil in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge. She was a London Library Emerging Writer, and her writing and photography has been published in the Financial Times, London Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement and more. The Genius of Trees is her first book.

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