There are redwoods in California that were ancient by the time
Columbus first landed, and pines still alive that germinated around
the time humans invented writing. There are Douglas firs as tall as
skyscrapers, and a banyan tree in Calcutta as big as a football
field.
From the tallest to the smallest, trees inspire wonder in all of
us, and in "The Tree, " Colin Tudge travels around the
world--throughout the United States, the Costa Rican rain forest,
Panama and Brazil, India, New Zealand, China, and most of
Europe--bringing to life stories and facts about the trees around
us: how they grow old, how they eat and reproduce, how they talk to
one another (and they do), and why they came to exist in the first
place. He considers the pitfalls of being tall; the things that
trees produce, from nuts and rubber to wood; and even the
complicated debt that we as humans owe them.
Tudge takes us to the Amazon in flood, when the water is deep
enough to submerge the forest entirely and fish feed on fruit while
river dolphins race through the canopy. He explains the "memory" of
a tree: how those that have been shaken by wind grow thicker and
sturdier, while those attacked by pests grow smaller leaves the
following year; and reveals how it is that the same trees found in
the United States are also native to China (but not Europe).
From tiny saplings to centuries-old redwoods and desert palms, from
the backyards of the American heartland to the rain forests of the
Amazon and the bamboo forests, Colin Tudge takes the reader on a
journey through history and illuminates our ever-present but often
ignored companions. A blend of history, science, philosophy, and
environmentalism, "The Tree" is an engaging and elegant look at the
life of the tree and what modern research tells us about their
future.
"From the Hardcover edition."
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