Lives of the Trees: An Uncommon History
- ISBN13: 9781565124912
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Diana Wells, author of 100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names now turns her attention to something bigger—our deep-rooted relationship with trees. As she investigates the names and meanings of trees, telling their legends and lore, she reminds us of just how innately bound we are to these protectors of our planet. Since the human race began, we have depended on them for food, shade, shelter and fuel, not to mention furniture, musical instruments, medicine utensils and more.
Wells has a remarkable ability to dig up the curious and the captivating: At one time, a worm found in a hazelnut prognosticated ill fortune. Rowan trees were planted in churchyards to prevent the dead from rising from their graves. Greek arrows were soaked in deadly yew, and Shakespeare’s witches in Macbeth used “Gall of goat and slips of Yew” to make their lethal brew. One bristlecone pine, at about 4,700 years old, is thought to be the oldest living plant on earth. … More >>
Lives of the Trees: An Uncommon History
Diana Wells gives readers historical and endearing facts about trees, not just the scientific details. There is a bit of that, but not enough to call it a field guide for identification. This is for the literary enjoyment of those in tune with trees and wishing more facts about the character of individual trees. Their personality.
“LIVES OF THE TREES” includes much about name origins, folklore, alternate names, and past uses of the trees or their parts. 100 different tree chapters describe specie roots nearly lost or unknown facts about the different types. For example honey bees were brought to North America to pollinate apple trees. The bees became known as “White Man’s Flies” by the Native American Indians. And their is a connection to the American Red Bud tree from the Judas Tree. There are antidotes of relationships with different trees to Biblical scriptures, Shakespeare writings, Greek & Roman culture, and so much more.
This is by far the most interesting non-fiction tree book I have ever read. Of course my reading went instantly to recognizable tree names of the USA Midwest, where I live. Found were fascinating facts never heard or read elsewhere. Then, returning to page one, a trip through pages of trees seen in other areas, finding delightful reading so much more interesting than the typical educational or scientific dry stuff provided for those seriously growing trees.
Book also includes Heather Lovett drawings of leaves and fruit/nut/seed pod for each variety. A wonderful 1/2 page illustration on every 2nd or 3rd page. There is a bibliography for the more serious tree specialist and an index for finding those bits of interest you’ll be telling your friends about, or reading to them. Better yet, if you have a nature friend, buy them a copy. You’ll be endeared to them forever.
Highly recommended nature/tree book for readers. I recommend sitting on the roots of a tree, with the trunk for a backrest, while enjoying Wells’ “Uncommon History” of bark, limbs, and leaves.
Now after reading about 100 trees, I must take a look at Diana Wells’ books: “100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names” and “100 Birds and How They Got Their Names”. I suspect they are as fun a read as “LIVES OF THE TREES”.
Diana Wells has a gift for uncovering facts about trees, many of them new to me despite a life long interest in the natural world. The trees run the gamut from acacia to yew, and with lots of interesting information in between.
For example, the Welwitschia, a tree that grows only in the Namib desert within Namibia and Angola. Welwitschia grows from a short, thick, woody trunk, with only two leaves that continuously grow from their base, and a long, thick taproot. It is named for its discoverer, an Austrian named Friedrich Martin Josef Welwitsch, who won a measure of fame in 1859 when he announced its existence.
William Wordsworth remembered that “[w]hen I was a child at Cockermouth, no funeral took place without a basin filled with sprigs of boxwood being placed upon a table covered with a white cloth in front of the house.”
“Fresh sprigs of green box-wood, not six months before,
Filled the funeral basin at Timothy’s door;
A coffin through Timothy’s threshold had past;
One Child did it bear, and that Child was his last.”
This is not a formal guide to trees nor written for scientists; as Wells writes: “This book is not for botanists or dendrologists or taxonomists or even for those who want to identify individual trees. It is a book for non-experts like me.”
Wells believes that “it would help us if we were more familiar with the trees because in the past people were very familiar with trees. Nowadays, you can get somebody living on a street named after a tree and they’ve never really seen the tree. It’s just a street name. And I think if we did that, it would cement the bond, which has got a little loose, between us, and it would help all of us.”
She rises to the poetical at times: “”Because they are larger and older than we can ever hope to be, because they give shade, wood, food, and shelter, and because they stretch from earth to heaven, trees have been our gods since before recorded time.”
It was great fun to learn a great deal more about these wonderful plants, and Wells delivers the information in a very lively and interesting way.
Robert C. Ross 2010
It is not unusual to feel sorrow over the loss of a tree. Conversely, a certain kind of altruism is associated with planting a tree. We have a connection with trees–they provide shade, wood, medicine, and perches for swings. Diana Wells captures the wonder of these stately sentinels of nature in //Lives of the Trees//, her follow-up to //100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names// and //100 Birds and How They Got Their Names//.
Organized alphabetically, //Lives of the Trees// is a gem of a book featuring short descriptions of one hundred trees from around the world, from common trees such as elm, maple, and oak to more unusual trees such as the handkerchief tree, rowan, and the delightfully named monkey-puzzle. Each description contains a snappy combination of science, etymology, and trivia, providing a snapshot of each tree’s history, along with a charming pencil illustration of the tree’s leaf structure.
Wells explains in her introduction that //Lives of the Trees// is for non-experts, although arborists, botanists, and gardeners may well find something of interest here. Even those who never knew how interested they were in trees–or how interesting trees really are–will find something to like in this clever book.
Reviewed by Kelli Christiansen
One does not need to be a botanist or even a tree-hugger to love this book. This is a concise history of a number of trees, how they got their names, myths and facts, occurrences in literature and many other fascinating bits of information on common and not so common trees. I loved it and bought several copies as gifts.
It’s a fantastic book. I’m a professional furniture maker and I work in all types of different woods. Each wood has it’s own distinct charecteristics, smell, color, texture, density, etc. This was a good book for me, as I like to have little bits of information and stories to pass along to my clients regarding their order.
Anyone wanting to know bits of trivia or snippets of history regarding trees will love this. It’s a great handbook, and a fun and relaxing read weather you’ve got 2 minutes or 2 hours.
Many thanks to the author and publisher for assembling such a useful book outside the realm of a manual or botanical text.