A New Tree Biology Dictionary: Terms, Topics, and Treatments for Trees and Their Problems and Proper Care

Rating:
Summary: Tree philosophy & plenty of practical advice from a master.
Review: Quite simply, this is the best book ever written on the subject of trees. Although aimed for an audience of aborists, this work is filled with personal experiences, observations, and keen insight into mankind's association with trees. I commend this text to all with even the slightest interest in trees, or for Nature in general.

Rating:
Summary: Jumble of ideas and facts
Review: This "Bible on Tree Biology" raises mixed emotions.

First impression (positive): a neat hardback with very many pictures on glossy paper, accompanied by a separate xi + 132pp Dictionary (paperback).

Second impression (negative): the pictures are b&w photographs and many are small (ok, there is one drawing). The items to be noted are marked by arrows. There are up to four different kinds of arrows in a single (often small) picture and sometimes it is hard to find even the arrows, let alone what they are pointing to. The text is sometimes hard to understand (dr Shigo does not have a gift for a well-turned phrase).

Third impression (positive): all the pictures are from authentic material and represent the results of almost thirty years work. Obviously Alex Shigo cares passionately about trees and has applied himself. The text moves from dr Shigo's own field into neighbouring fields and all in all quite a lot of ground is covered to bring tree biology to life for the reader.

Fourth impression (negative): whenever dr Shigo moves to another field he is not very careful to use correct terms. He does not shy away from misapplying terms and causing confusion. [To put it popularly: as dr Shigo moves from playing field to playing field he keeps his eye on the ball, but does not pay attention to the rules of the game and commits many fouls.] He invents terms of his own, where this does not appear necessary. There are some weird generalisations here. The Dictionary often is more a restatement of the content of the book than an explanatory aid.

Summing up: this is a great book for looking at trees and tree troubles from an unexpected angle, but it falls well short of the standards of a textbook. A good editor could have done invaluable work here.