Tree: A Life Story

Rating:
Summary: A Book that Salutes Life
Review: +++++

This easy-to-read book, by zoologist, geneticist, environmentalist, TV host, & author David Suzuki and author & translator Wayne Grady is advertised to be a biography of one tree, a Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziessi). This story connects us to other times in history and to all parts of the world. However, this story can be thought of as the story of all trees as well as all life throughout Earth.

This book explores the many mechanisms by which the tree is able to thrive for centuries while remaining rooted in one spot. It also looks at the tree's complex relationships with other organisms in its community, from such things as lichens, ferns, mosses, and fungi to other trees to such things as woodpeckers, squirrels, owls, cougars, bears, termites, ants, salamanders, and salmon. In addition, this book shows how a tree connects us to the atmosphere, the soil, and the world's oceans, as well as linking us all the way back to the universe's origins.

Examples of other topics covered include the history of botany, insect, bird, and mammal portraits, genetics, anatomy, nomenclature and taxonomy, climate, chemistry, biochemistry, and environmental issues. The amazing thing about this book is that these topics and others are combined in such a way as to make the main narrative extremely interesting and never dull. The authors say this more eloquently: "In this book, we have tried to restore a layperson's sense of wonder and questioning and added the kind of information acquired by scientists."

I was surprised to learn that "after [a] millennia of study, there is still much about a tree we do not know." This book definitely tells the reader what is known not only about a tree but about life as well.

Finally, there are over a dozen black and white illustrations in this book. They were created by internationally known wildlife artist Robert Bateman. These illustrations add another dimension to this book.

In conclusion, this is a book that has richly detailed text that's augmented by evocative original art. The final result "is a revelation, a salute to life itself."

(first published 2004; acknowledgements; introduction; 5 chapters; main narrative 180 pages; references; index)

+++++


Rating:
Summary: Issues of strip-logging, conservation, and natural history
Review: David Suzuki and Wayne Grady join forces in Tree: A Life Story to chronicle the life of a giant Douglas fir tree in the Pacific Northwest, from its birth in the year Edward I became king of England through its fall in 1929 and its rebirth as a nurse log. At the heart of Tree: A Life Story are issues of strip-logging, conservation, and natural history, making for more than a singular discussion of tree environments and conservation.


Rating:
Summary: Tree: A critique
Review: This book is a biography of a Douglas Fir on the west coast of British Columbia

It has a great deal of information about the coastal forest and in particular about the Douglas Fir and the life that surrounds it. Although I know something of trees there was much that was new to me, and much that frankly surprised me.

It is beautifully illustrated by Robert Bateman and altogether would make a wonderful gift for anyone despite its small size.

The text does need severely editing, being obscure in places, and incorrect in others. For instance I was mildly annoyed to find that the conversions from hectares to acres were the wrong way round sometimes.

Overall, though, the book is well worth the money, and doubtless will be improved in the writing of the next edition.

Rating:
Summary: A View of Just One Tree, the Doug Fir
Review: Who could possibly have thought that a book about a tree could be so fascinating? The authors say they could have used any tree, an oak in England, a Banyon in India, but they picked a local tree, the Douglas Fir. I was attracted to this because my hundred year old house is made of Douglas Fir. And on a recent visit to Mt. St. Helens I was exposed to the absolute devestation caused by the eruption - 25,000 acres flattened, literally millions of trees blown down.

At one of the visitor centers on the road up to Mt. St. Helens there is a museum operated by one of the big logging companies. To no surprise they are talking about how much better their forests are under their careful management practices. And at a first glance, this makes sense. The trees are bigger, straighter. But where is the ecological balance, the bio-diversity - it's gone.

Like anything else, there are two sides to a story. We want wood for the next house we build. And it has to come from somewhere. But after reading this book, you'll never think of a tree in the same light.