From the author of Earth: An Intimate History, an exuberant "biography" of four acres of woodland, evoking a cosmos of living and inanimate things and imagining its millennia of existence A few years ago, award-winning scientist Richard Fortey purchased four acres of woodland in the Chiltern Hills of Oxfordshire, England. The Wood for the Trees is the joyful, lyrical portrait of what he found there. With one chapter for each month, we move through the seasons: tree felling in January, moth hunting in June, finding golden mushrooms in September. Fortey, along with the occasional expert friend, investigates the forest top to bottom, discovering a new species and explaining the myriad connections that tie us to nature and nature to itself. His textured, evocative prose and gentle humor illuminate the epic story of a small forest. But he doesn't stop at mere observation. The Wood for the Trees uses the forest as a springboard back through time, full of rich and unexpected tales of the people, plants, and animals that once called the land home. With Fortey's help, we come to see a universe in miniature.

Forests—and the trees within them—have always been a central resource for the development of technology, culture, and the expansion of humans as a species. Examining and challenging our historical and modern attitudes toward wooded environments, this engaging book explores how our understanding of forests has transformed in recent years and how it fits in our continuing anxiety about our impact on the natural world. Drawing on the most recent work of historians, ecologist geographers, botanists, and forestry professionals, Charles Watkins reveals how established ideas about trees—such as the spread of continuous dense forests across the whole of Europe after the Ice Age—have been questioned and even overturned by archaeological and historical research. He shows how concern over woodland loss in Europe is not well founded—especially while tropical forests elsewhere continue to be cleared—and he unpicks the variety of values and meanings different societies have ascribed to the arboreal. Altogether, he provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary overview of humankind’s interaction with this abused but valuable resource.

The trend in forestry is toward shorter rotations and more complete utiliza tion of trees. The reasons are: (1) financial pressures to obtain rapid returns on the forestry investment made possible by an earlier harvest; (2) enforced harvest of young plantations to maintain a continuing supply of cellulose for mills where wood shortages are experienced; (3) thinning young plantations, both because they were planted too densely initially and because thinning is done where long rotation quality trees are the forestry goal; (4) more intensive utilization is being done using tops and small diameter trees; and (5) there is interest in using young (juvenile) wood for special products because of its unique characteristics and the development of new technologies. The largest present-day source of conifer juvenile wood is from thinnings of plantations where millions of hectares of pine were planted too densely. Because of the better growth rate resulting from improved silviculture and good genetic stock, plantations will need to be thinned heavily. As a result of this trend, young wood makes up an increasingly larger proportion of the total conifer wood supply each year. Large amounts of juvenile wood from hard woods are also currently available, especially in the tropics and subtropics, because of the fast growth rate of the species used, which results in shorter rotations and ess~ntially all juvenile wood.

Wealth of information on fifty trees, including their attributes, lore, powers, and seasonal correspondences. Book jacket.

WINNER OF THE AAAS/SUBARU PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE IN SCIENCE BOOKS BASED ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES This interactive and illustrated book for kids aged 8-10 introduces the wonderful science of the forest through outdoor activities, quizzes, fun facts, photographs, and more! Discover the secret life of trees with this nature and science book for kids: Can You Hear the Trees Talking? shares the mysteries and magic of the forest with young readers, revealing what trees feel, how they communicate, and the ways trees take care of their families. The author of The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben, tells kids about the forest internet, aphids who keep ants as pets, nature’s water filters, and more fascinating things that happen under the canopy. Featuring simple activities kids can try on their own, along with quizzes, photographs, and more, Can You Hear the Trees Talking? covers a range of amazing topics including: How trees talk to each other (hint: through the wood wide web!) Why trees are important in the city How trees make us healthy and strong How trees get sick, and how we can help them get better This engaging and visually stunning book encourages learning and fun as kids discover the wonder of the natural world outside their windows. "Lush full-color photos and pictures create an immersive experience and the layout facilitates engaged, delighted learning. ...this book may prompt frequent family visits to, and a new appreciation for, neighborhood trees and local forests.” —Washington Parent

The science of dendrochronology has grown significantly in the past 20 years. In the 1950s and 1960s, interest in the subject was limited to only a handful of scientists who perceived in dendrochronology a "l'art pour l'art". Today, however, specialists from many different fields recognize and are pursuing the problems of dendrochronology. Tree-ring research has acquired a permanent role in the various sciences of archeology, history, geology, ecology, and climatology. The founders of dendrochronology themselves were of varied scientific backgrounds and interests. For example, A. E. Douglass in the United States was an astronomer, B. Huber in Germany a forest-biologist, and F. N. Shvedov in Russia a climatologist. Today the spectrum is even broader. Many den drochronologists are authorities in mathematics, archeology, history, forestry, botany, wood technology, ecology geography, geology, etc. It is, therefore, understandable that it has become almost impossible for one individual to encompass the entire field. Bitvinskas (1974), Fritts (1976), Schweingruber (1983), and Mitsutani (1990) have attempted, each guided by his own interests, to provide at least an overview of the field. Recently, individual aspects have been presented by groups of authors in books edited by Fletscher (1978), Hughes et al. (1982), Jacoby and Hornbeck (1987) and Bradley and Jones (1992). It is very likely that in the future summaries covering each branch of dendrochronology will be published.