About the Book
A wondrous, curious journey through the wilds of nature and the gnarls of history, exploring how trees - from the mightiest sequoia to the tiniest bonsai - can teach us to grow wise.
In Trees is a wondrous, curious journey through the wilds of nature and the gnarls of history, exploring how trees - from the mightiest sequoia to the tiniest bonsai - can teach us to grow wise.
One day, on a whim, Robert Moor set out to climb a tree near his home, unwittingly embarking on what would become a decade-long, globe-spanning adventure in trees. From Darwin to Attenborough, Brecht to Wordsworth, cutting-edge scientists and Zen monks and Bonsai artists, In Trees explores the fundamental and meaningful role of trees in the natural world.
From Ethiopia and Papua to the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Lake District, bestselling author Robert Moor uncovers the hidden art of 'tree-thinking', a powerful tool for approaching humanity's oldest questions- What is the secret to growing old well? How do we set down deeper roots in an increasingly chaotic world? And most importantly, how should we - as individuals, as communities, as stewards of the Earth - live?
Weaving together history, ecology, philosophy, neuroscience, mythology, literature, and the abstract qualities of identity, belonging and memory, In Trees shares extraordinary stories of how trees have become embedded in our culture, lifestyle and imagination for centuries, becoming the key to almost everything on our planet.
What began as an ode to the miracle of trees blossoms into a joyous, daring, fiercely hopeful endeavour that reveals . . . To truly grasp the wisdom of a tree, you need to begin thinking like one.
About the Author :
Robert Moor is an award-winning writer and New York Times bestselling author. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, the Guardian, Harper's, the Atlantic and Granta, among others. Moor's first book, On Trails, won the National Outdoor Book Award, the William Saroyan Prize and the Pacific Northwest Book Award. It was named one of Waterstones' Best Travel Writing of 2016, the Telegraph's Best Travel Books of 2016 and the Guardian Bookshop's Best Nature Writing of 2016. He lives in British Columbia.
Review :
Robert Moor's brilliant In Trees is –– like its subject –– powerfully, fascinatingly arborescent: it branches and roots, gnarls and delves. Moving from sky to earth, Robert Moor unfurls in fine-grained prose the ancient, urgent story of how trees transform us. Reading it, I felt my senses of time, life and process shift in ways I hadn't experienced before. It left me arboresced."
Widely branched and deeply rooted, In Trees is a deeply thoughtful exploration of how we unrooted humans value- and devalue- our arboreal relations. With adventurous journeys, lively storytelling and provocative reflection, Moor invites us along to know charismatic forests through the eyes of other worldviews, encouraging our own Green Revelation to guide us through these urgent times.”
Robert Moor is one of the few I'd trust to bring a fresh perspective to trees and he does not disappoint. By turns earthy and philosophical, what a captivating and exhilarating book!
In In Trees, Robert Moor leads us on a luminous journey into the living forests who gather and sustain us. With deep compassion, empathy and clarity, he reveals a captivating world of intricate connection and intelligence that reshapes how we see trees - and roots our place among them. Wise, profound, and quietly transformative; this is a book I will press into the hands of loved ones
Robert Moor is a rare and luminous talent, and In Trees is his best work to date...To read this book is to feel oneself anchored more firmly to the earth and, simultaneously, to become more open to life‘s many branching, wild possibilities.
In Trees is dazzlingly erudite, playful, profound, adventurous and, above all, eloquently, fiercely alive. Full of brilliant, mind-bending insights and wonderful surprises, this is the most life-affirming book I’ve read in a long time
Robert Moor is a writer of extraordinary sensitivity and insight and he has discovered such riches here. In Trees is a wise, moving and ever-branching book that reaches from root to leaf to heartwood, and asks what we might learn from our arboreal neighbours about living well.
In Trees is an abundant forest of poetry, philosophy, prose, passion and piercing dendrology. Travelling a book with Robert Moor is like paddling a river of tremendous elegance and inspiration. While devouring this genre defying book I frequently went out to climb to the crowns of the giant mother trees in the Celtic rainforest around my home and recapture the spirit of playfulness, youth and connectedness that Robert drenches his work in
In Trees is profound and deepening, written with flair and originality. Everyone should read it – even people who aren’t much into trees
Those who loved On Trails are rewarded for their patience with this new book, another in that rare category of 'classic upon publication.' I've lived out my life in places with far more trees than people, and this volume helps me understand why.
