Product Description

‘Everyone interested in the natural world will enjoy The Secret Life of Trees. I found myself reading out whole chunks to friends’ The Times, Books of the Year What is a tree? As this celebration of the trees shows, they are our countryside; our ancestors descended from them; they gave us air to breathe. Yet while the stories of trees are as plentiful as leaves in a forest, they are rarely told. Here, Colin Tudge travels from his own back garden round the world to explore the beauty, variety and ingenuity of trees everywhere: from how they live so long to how they talk to each other and why they came to exist in the first place. Lyrical and evocative, this book will make everyone fall in love with the trees around them.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3940 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 452 pages

Sunday Telegraph
One of those books you want everyone to have already read.

Daily Mail
Wonderful, invaluable and timely. Tudge is as illuminating a guide as one could wish for.

The Oldie
Magnificent. Tudge wanders trailing astonishing facts and lore behind him.

Customer Reviews

Arboreal trilogy
"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 seasons to keep track of, predators to discourage and to entice and employ helpers in the process of reproduction. Lacking brains, or other "intelligent" means, trees cannot manufacture devices for these needs. All must be accomplished with chemistry. Much of "the secret life of trees" is hidden here. With but five hormones and a handful of pigments to achieve their tasks, they have built up forms and methods to accomplish it all with an astounding degree of success.

Tudge's adulation of trees goes beyond being simply informative. In his conclusion, he both endorses our need to increase our knowledge of trees and warns of the effects of our failure to do so. We may view trees as aesthetically pleasing or as a source of lumber or paper. Either way, we must deal with them properly. Hewing down vast forests does far more than leave a barren landscape. Trees are the source of the oxygen we breathe. They take up the carbon dioxide our society produces in such imposing quantities. Their capacity for that role has likely been exceeded at this point. Trees matter, he argues, and we need to know why and how. This book is an excellent starting point to find the answers to that learning quest. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Pure Delight
I have said before that I am a fan of Colin Tudge's writing and my enthusiasm is increased by this lovely book.

It is always a pleasure to read a book by someone who loves what they are writing about, and Tudge's admiration for trees comes through so clearly in this work. He manages to cover pretty much everything, ranging effortlessly across the botany of trees, covering (surprisingly thorughly) all the major families, noting their particular features, the curious nature of some reproductive techniques (and some really are curious!) and touching on the economic and historical importance of some species.

Finally he looks at the ecological role of trees and how they fit into the jigsaw of life in a wider sense.

I cannot see how this book could be improved - the writing is fluid and entertaining and the science clearly explained. A wonderful gift to anyone interested in the natural world. Certainly I now look much more closely at the hedgerows and woods that I pass while walking the dog!

Highly recommended.

A very refreshing read
This is one of those amazing books that has so much depth and richness to it that it makes it impossible to praise it enough. The book is quirky, full of interesting insights and facts, it's a historical/scientific document that serves to open our eyes to the wonders of nature. It covers all you could wish to learn about the subject and cannot fail to impress the reader with it's inventiveness and sheer creativity on the subject.