The Hidden Life of Trees

I guess I've grown cynical and dubious in my older age. I really wanted to enjoy Peter Wohlleben's tale of trees that communicate, feel, think, adapt, and more... but he tends to use really flowery language without providing any kind of scientific citations, and for lofty claims such as these, I feel a need for more citations.

This book is so flipping charming! It is suffused throughout with the obvious admiration and affection Wohlleben feels for the trees (and all other living creatures) in the German woodland he manages. My husband is an arborist, and I still learned a great deal from the book, from what we don't know (e.g., we don't actually have any idea how large trees manage to move the huge quantities of water they do every day) to the remarkable stuff we do (e.g., trees can communicate to each other via scent). Wohlleben's “agenda” is clear, but it's such a good one that it's hard to fault him for it: he thinks we should all be more in awe of trees than we are, and more willing to find ways to serve trees and the ecosystems they create, versus expecting them to serve us. My one complaint is translation-related; it felt a little uneven. At times, passages were beautifully and fluidly written; at others, word choices distracted me from the content. A small quibble.

Wohlleben does an amazing job of making me genuinely care about the microscopic happening in the dirt of forest floors. One of my favorite books is Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire, so I felt likely to enjoy this when a friend gifted it to me. The author’s revelations about the communication capabilities of trees is at once amazing and revelatory and also, “Oh yeah, that’s makes a lot of sense.” Of course thru communicate. How could they not? But the author also fully presents their obvious limitations. For all their abilities, they remain helpless against our own intrusions. I highly recommend this and can’t wait to discuss it with the friend who gave it to me. If only they would go ahead and finish it too.

Enjoyed reading this book because of the new information and tree research explained, but it lacked a cohesive structure to follow. More like a collection of magazine articles instead of a narrative line of exploration and explanation. I would have appreciated more of the author's presence in the work, showing how he does his research and anecdotes of what it is like to manage a forest, etc. I'm glad I read the book but felt less than satisfied when I was finished.