The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter

Honestly I vascillated between 4 and 5 stars for this book, settling on 5 starts because it is so thorough. However, there are places where it reads like a text and would be difficult for the average reader to follow. However, with that said, I first can tell you that I doubt any loves trees as much as Colin Tudge. The breadth and depth of his knowledge is impeccable and his writing is almost like a love letter to nature. Except for those scientific places I mentioned earlier this is one of those books you'll want to read carefully...and don't be afraid of going back to re-read something. Appreciating just what a tree is and what it does is incredible, especially when we generally take them for granted.

...but only an environment can make a tree. The necessary adaptation of plants to their environment, which makes some of them shape themselves as trees, is one of Colin Tudge's central points in this immense study of the evolutionary history of trees, of their fantastically complicated taxonomy, of their "life styles" as stationary but highly active organisms, and of their place in a world increasingly managed by a species of primate whose origins were arboreal. As other reviewers have noted, The Tree has three distinct trunks. The first 86 pages - What Is a Tree? - answers its own question by stating that "a tree is a big plant with a pole in the middle". Later the author continues: "...there are many lineages of trees--quite separate evolutionary lines that have nothing to do with each other except that they are all plants...'Tree' is not a distinct category like 'dog' or 'horse,' It's just a way of being a plant." Thus it seems, the concept of 'tree' is more of a Platonic form than a solid scientific classification. Tudge continues to discuss the convergent evolution of trees in terms of their competitive adaptation to specific environments. I believe he would agree with me that the 'specific' is most often the root of the 'species.' The second section of the book - All the Trees in the World, 160 pages - is an exhaustive and exhausting catalog of the families, genera, and species of trees world-wide. Unless you are the kind of reader who finds taxomony more entertaining than table tennis, this plethora of info may blur in your mind and you may abandon the book before the final section. That would be a shame, since the final section is by far the most interesting. The good news is that you can vault over the trees without losing your way in the forest. In other words, I recommend reading the first and last portions of the book, and saving the middle third for occasions when you want information about certain species. The third portion of the book - two sections, The Life of Trees & Trees and Us - is the most exciting and could effectively stand alone. No longer focusing on "what" a tree is, Prof. Tudge examines "how" a tree is - that is, how various species of trees sprout, grow, interact, and reproduce. What a wealth of observations he presents! This reader, for instance, has walked under kerchillions of tree without ever noting that conifers buttress their heavy limbs by adding wood from under the bough, while flowering trees buttress by adding wood above the fork. I rushed to the nearest mixed forest after reading that, and by Odin, it's true! The final chapter discusses the importance of trees to human societies, past, present, and future. Prof. Tudge correctly assumes that trees can and must play a major role in the approaching crisis of anthropogenic global warming. Not only are trees very effective sequesterers of carbon while living, and not only does the destruction of forest release huge volumes of carbon into the atmosphere, b

Tudge is to nature writing what the late, Nobel Laureate, Jorge Luis Borges, was to literature; he examines every aspect of a topic, turning it over until his examination is complete, and leaving no stone, or in this case leaf, unturned. And doing so with wit and style in a way no one else could. This is the longest book length tome on natural history I've seen just devoted to trees, and it contains a huge amount of information, enough to put off the casual reader. For example, don't listen to the two negative reviews, they should have started with a beginning book on trees as Tudge's book is just too advanced. Tudge knows his audience well, which is that of already learned and literate natural history buffs, and trying this book before laying the groundwork is like trying to learn calculus without first learning algebra and trigonometry. But I don't need to defend Tudge as his accomplishments speak for themselves. Overall, this is probably the most detailed piece of expository writing on trees ever done, outside of formal dendrology texts, which aren't nearly as readable (I know, I've read them). If you love trees and want to learn more about their biology, classification, and ecology, there is no more enjoyable way to do it than with this book, and it is probably destined to become a masterpiece and classic of the nature genre.

One of the most beloved and memorable of all popular poems is Joyce Kilmer's 'Trees' " I think that I shall never see/ a poem as lovely as a tree'/ A tree whose hungry mouth is prest/ against the earth's sweet flowing breast/. The sheer wonder, delight, and inspiration 'Trees' give to our poetic nature is only one side of what they are. In this learned and detailed study of Trees,Colin Tudge tells us more about them than we might ever have wanted to know. He describes the different species, provides a survival guide to the way Trees manage in often challenging environments, considers the special qualities of different kinds of trees, helps us understand how Trees are a benefit not only to the 'natural world' but to human civilization and society. He does this as he also points out the new dangers facing various species from global- warming. And he has specific recommendations on how we can better create an environment more beneficial to the natural world as a whole. The book is disappointingly poor in one element most of its readers will certainly want to have, good illustrations of Trees. But it nonetheless is an overall encyclopediac treasure for those for whom one of the natural world's great stars are an ongoing source of interest and attraction.

"I never met a Tudge I didn't like" is a fitting adage for this wide-ranging author. Having written an "unauthorised biography" of life, the impact of agriculture on human development and other works, Tudge has created a masterpiece of science writing. No longer can we claim that we can't "see the woods for the trees" since he has detailed the mechanics of both in exquisite detail. At) least so far as we know now. If nothing else is clear from this book, what we don't know about the mechanisms of trees far exceeds what we've learned. Trees, so ubiquitous in their presence and so meaningful in our lives, remain a great mystery to be solved. In three almost independent segments, he spells out what is known and what needs to be revealed. He opens with one of the most understated definitions in science writing: "a tree is a big plant with a stick up the middle". From this simplistic opening, he then develops an image of how complex that "stick" and "plant" combination is in the final product. This complexity didn't appear from nowhere - the author explains how evolution built it from simple beginnings. Most readers will be familiar with the fact that 46 chromosome are needed to make a human. Trees, through various mechanisms, may develop hundreds of chromosomes depending on conditions. The structure of a single tree almost pales against the variety of trees growing around our planet. Tall trees, spreading ones, trees that we often call "shrubs" - which are merely superbly adapted to their local environment - all reflect the immense diversity trees have developed over the ages. Although generally divided into but two forms, conifers and "flowering" trees, they comprise thousands of species, many probably still unknown. Tudge dedicates the second part of his book to descriptions of those variations. It is a catalogue of wonders as he depicts the oaks, beeches and other "common" types along with palms, celery pines and fruit trees. He begins with the ancient conifers, trees with a lineage stretching back nearly three hundred million years. That heritage shows in the varieties the conifers incorporate. From stately pines to humble ground-huggers, the conifers even include a parasitic member among their ranks. Angiosperms, the "flowering" trees, have surpassed the conifers in species number. The author lists each Order, with a list of the families and species. He explains why the numbers of species are in flux as new information about relationships comes to light. Tree habitats are also described with indications of where to find typical specimens. In last third of the book: "How Trees Live", Tudge demonstrates why he's one of today's leading science writers. He has accumlated a vast repetoire of information, and presents it with almost passionate style. Seemingly static from our viewpoint, trees have much to do in the course of their lives. They must keep the sun in view, and many forests are competitive arenas to lift leaves into the light. There are