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The Genius of Trees by Harriet Rix (Hardback)
£25.00
Available
Product Ref. (e.g. ISBN, SKU)
9781847927828
Published:
07 Aug 2025
Format:
Hardback
Number of pages:
288 pages
Dimensions:
240x156x28mm
Weight:
0.500kgs
Author:
'An exceptional book' ROBIN LANE FOX
'This wondrous book gives us trees as we've never seen them before ... Beautifully explained, brilliantly written and perception-changing' ISABELLA TREE
The Genius of Trees tells a mind-expanding global story revealing the inventive and astonishing ways trees learned to shape our natural world.
Over hundreds of millions of years, from prehistoric forests to the trees around us today, we see trees using fire as a reproductive tool, harnessing large mammals to spread their seeds (but poisoning smaller, less useful mammals), and splitting rock to create fertile ground in barren landscapes.
Because trees, we discover, manipulate fundamental elements, plants, animals, bacteria, fungi, and even humankind to achieve their ends. From the laurel cloud-forests of the Canary Islands to the magnificent sex-shifting oaks of Iraq, from the giant sequoias of California to the carbon-spinning junipers of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border - trees sculpt their environments.
At once transporting and expert, this profoundly original exploration of the science of trees is a startlingly new way of understanding these glories of our natural world.
The Genius of Trees gives us hope for the future. It enables us to see trees, for the first time, not as victims but as agents of change in a grand ecological narrative - and as leading actors in the great drama of life on earth.
'Full of wonder and revelation ... Highly recommended' SUE STUART-SMITH
'If I was dazzled by nature and in awe of trees before, I now know how much we are indebted to them for the way they have shepherded life on earth for millions on years' KIRSTY WARK
About the Author: Harriet Rix is a tree science consultant and writer. She was formerly based at the Tree Council where she supported Defra in researching tree diseases and urban tree strategies. Before joining the tree sector, she worked in landmine clearance in the Middle East. She acted as scientific advisor on Adrian Grenier's climate documentary, was secretary of Hedgelink and is trustee of the Iraqi environmental charity Hasar.Rix holds a biochemistry degree from the University of Oxford and an MPhil in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge. She was a London Library Emerging Writer, and her writing and photography has been published in the Financial Times, London Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement and more. The Genius of Trees is her first book.
| Number of pages | 288 |
|---|
We will despatch your order as quickly as we can. If, for whatever reason, a product is out of stock we will contact you to discuss the likely delivery time or an alternative product.
| First Item | 2 Items & Over | |
|---|---|---|
| UK | £3.75 | £5.00 |
| EU | £15.00 | £30.00 |
| USA & Canada | £30.00 | £50.00 |
| Rest of the World | £45.00 | £60.00 |
| Collect in Store | free | free |
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