Tree Hugger? A compliment as far as I’m concerned. Some of
my best friends are trees. Always been that way, as far as I can remember. So
when new books about trees come into the store, I pay attention. Here are three
that seem to me to grow taller and straighter than average:
The Man Who Planted Trees: Lost Groves,
Champion Trees, and an Urgent Plan to Save the Planet by Jim Robbins.
This is the story of a man who is going around the world
taking cuttings of “champion” trees--especially large, strong, tall, old, resilient
specimens—in order to plant protected groves of these champion trees. The idea
is that someday humanity might need “seed stock” to replant our forests, and
the best stock would come from the best trees. A straightforward enough idea.
Each chapter of the book is about a different species of tree, and as the story
of finding the “champion” is told, we learn some about the trees.
But parts of this book are, marvelously, not so
straightforward. The man who has undertaken this quest to clone champion trees
is not a scientist, but rather a “redneck Northern Michigan
farmer” named David Milarch. Formerly a hard drinker, Milrach’s liver pretty
much shut down about twenty years ago, and he almost died. On regaining consciousness,
he announced that beings “on the other side” had sent him back to earth with a
mission—to create a kind of Noah’s ark of tree genetics. This book is his story
as well as the story of the trees and his tree panting project.
A little bit out there, perhaps? Oh yes, but Milrach’s
quest, his persistence (and success), and the amazing trees themselves make for
quite a story.
American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation by
Eric Rutkow.
The impact of our trees and forests on the history of our
country--from economics to literature to our whole concept of ourselves as a
nation. What we have done to our forests, and what that has done to and for us.
A fascinating new lens through which the author looks afresh at American
history. Who do you think was the first U.S.
president to take action to preserve some of our forests? Why Abraham Lincoln,
of course, with the “Yosemite and Big Tree Grant” of
1864.
Seeing Trees: Discover the Ordinary Secrets of Everyday Trees,
by Nancy Ross Hugo.
The photographs here by Robert Llewellyn are just
extraordinary. Many of them look like paintings. Do yourself a favor and look
through this book next time you are in the bookshop. And if you don’t learn a
whole lot you didn’t already know about trees from the text, you are a much
more accomplished tree hugger than I am.
Tom Campbell
Tom Campbell
and appreciation for independent bookstores. These tributes are always
good to hear, but the fact remains that independent bookstores face long
odds in the battles being played out in today's bookselling world. Less
than 10% of the books sold in this country are sold through independent
bookstores, and that percentage has certainly not been expanding.