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The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from A Secret World (Mysteries of Nature Book 1) Kindle Edition
A NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER • One of the most beloved books of our time: an illuminating account of the forest, and the science that shows us how trees communicate, feel, and live in social networks. After reading this book, a walk in the woods will never be the same again.
“Breaks entirely new ground ... [Peter Wohlleben] has listened to trees and decoded their language. Now he speaks for them.”—The New York Review of Books
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BRAINPICKINGS • HONORABLE MENTION: SEJ Rachel Carson Environment Book Award • Shortlisted: Audible International Book of the Year Award • Books For a Better Life Award • Indie Choice Award—Nonfiction Book of the Year
Are trees social beings? In The Hidden Life of Trees forester and author Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. Wohlleben also shares his deep love of woods and forests, explaining the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration that he has observed in his woodland.
“A declaration of love and an engrossing primer on trees, brimming with facts and an unashamed awe for nature.”—Washington Post
“Heavily dusted with the glitter of wonderment.”—The New Yorker
Includes a Note From a Forest Scientist by Dr.Suzanne Simard
Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherGreystone Books
- Publication dateSeptember 13, 2016
- File size2360 KB
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From the Publisher
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Warmly avuncular, storybook simple, and heavily dusted with the glitter of wonderment.”
—The New Yorker
“The matter-of-fact Mr. Wohlleben has delighted readers and talk-show audiences alike with the news — long known to biologists — that trees in the forest are social beings.”
—Sally McGrane, The New York Times
“This fascinating book will intrigue readers who love a walk through the woods.”
—Publishers Weekly
“If you read this book, I believe that forests will become magical places for you, too.”
—Tim Flannery
“In this spirited exploration, [Wohlleben] guarantees that readers will never look at these life forms in quite the same way again.”
—Library Journal
“A paradigm-smashing chronicle of joyous entanglement that will make you joyously acknowledge your own entanglement in the ancient and ever-new web of being.”
—Charles Foster, author of Being a Beast: Adventures Across the Species Divide
“Soon after we begin to recognize trees for what they are — gigantic beings thriving against incredible odds for hundreds of years — we naturally come to ask, 'How do they do it?' This charming book tells how — not as a lecture, more like a warm conversation with a favorite friend.”
—Hope Jahren, author of Lab Girl
“A powerful reminder to slow down and tune into the language of nature.”
—Rachel Sussman, author of The Oldest Living Things in the World
“Charming, provocative, fascinating. In the tradition of Jean-Henri Fabre and other great naturalist story-tellers, Wohlleben relates imaginative, enthralling tales of ecology.”
—David George Haskell, author of The Forest Unseen, Pulitzer finalist
“Wohlleben’s book is at once romantic and scientific, beautifully articulating his personal relationship with the trees he has dedicated his life to. His view of the forest calls on us all to reevaluate our relationships with the plant world.”
—Daniel Chamovitz, PhD, author of What a Plant Knows
“With colorful and engaging descriptions of little-known phenomena in our natural world, Wohlleben helps readers appreciate the exciting processes at work in the forests around them.”
—Dr. Richard Karban, University of California, Davis, author of Plant Sensing and Communication
“You will never look at a tree the same way after reading Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees, which reveals the mind-boggling properties and behavior of these terrestrial giants. Read this electrifying book, then go out and hug a tree — with admiration and gratitude.”
—David Suzuki
About the Author
Peter Wohlleben spent over twenty years working for the forestry commission in Germany before leaving to put his ideas of ecology into practice. He now runs an environmentally-friendly woodland in Germany, where he is working for the return of primeval forests. He is the author of numerous books about the natural world including The Hidden Life of Trees, The Inner Lives of Animals, and The Secret Wisdom of Nature, which together make up his bestselling The Mysteries of Nature Series. He has also written numerous books for children including Can You Hear the Trees Talking? and Peter and the Tree Children.
Tim Flannery is a scientist, explorer and conservationist. He is a leading writer on climate change and his books include Atmosphere of Hope and The Weather Makers.
Jane Billinghurst’s career has been in book publishing in the UK, the US, and Canada, as an editor, publisher, writer, and translator. She is the translator of the New York Times-bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees by German forester Peter Wohlleben.
Product details
- ASIN : B01C9116AK
- Publisher : Greystone Books (September 13, 2016)
- Publication date : September 13, 2016
- Language : English
- File size : 2360 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 289 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 0008218439
- Best Sellers Rank: #56,451 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1 in Botany of Trees
- #2 in Nature Writing
- #3 in Botany (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Peter Wohlleben](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/amzn-author-media-prod/r3pb8mai0fgv8rbhdh6a10465p._SY600_.jpg)
Peter Wohlleben spent over twenty years working for the forestry commission in Germany before leaving to put his ideas of ecology into practice. He now runs an environmentally friendly woodland in Germany, where he is working towards the return of primeval forests, as well as caring for both wild and domestic animals.
Wohlleben has been celebrated for his distinctive approach to writing about nature; he brings to life groundbreaking scientific research through his observations of nature and the animals he lives amongst. He is also the author of international bestsellers including The Hidden Life of Trees and The Inner Life of Animals.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book provides useful information about trees and their life cycle. They praise the writing quality as excellent and accessible. The book is described as an enjoyable, enthralling read that inspires wonder. Readers appreciate the way trees communicate and interact with each other. The book awakens deep respect and empathy for the long-lasting lives of trees.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book informative about trees and nature. They appreciate the presentation of trees as sentient, purposeful beings living in their natural habitats. Readers enjoy reading the observations of the forest community and challenging their knowledge of trees. The information is applicable to deciduous and coniferous trees worldwide, and it helps bring awareness to the importance of biodiversity.
"...It was a concentration camp for tree people. Wohlleben is a smart and sensitive man, and over the course of decades he got to know the..." Read more
"...This book is written for normal people, who are interested in trees and nature and not afraid of learning facts that upset their worldview, and who..." Read more
"...trees in Europe, but the information is generally applicable to deciduous and coniferous trees worldwide...." Read more
"...What you can expect from this book is not only facts and details, but the truth about nature having a sense of community and animation in ways that..." Read more
Customers find the book well-written and accessible. They say it's written for normal people interested in trees and nature. The author's style is familiar and chatty, like a friendly conversation. The research is presented in an easy-to-understand manner.
"...It will be translated into 19 languages. The book is built on a foundation of reputable science, but it reads like grandpa chatting at fireside...." Read more
"...This book is written for normal people, who are interested in trees and nature and not afraid of learning facts that upset their worldview, and who..." Read more
"...The book is beautifully written, and though translated from the original German, the descriptions of trees are truly enchanting...." Read more
"...The author has strong credentials, with more than 20 years in-depth experience in a variety of forest settings...." Read more
Customers find the book enjoyable to read. They describe it as an engrossing and fun read that inspires wonder and joy. The book is described as a gentle, story-like narrative that makes them appreciate the magic of forests.
"...He’s a gentle old storyteller explaining the wondrous magic of beautiful forests to befuddled space aliens from a crazy planet named Consume...." Read more
"...of trees and of the forest as a giant organism, is unbelievably interesting and will, no, must, have far reaching consequences for our thinking..." Read more
"...library, and rapidly discovered that it was a remarkable book and a joy to read...." Read more
"...a chapter on “Friendships,” the author weaves a provocative and joyous tapestry of the intensely critical and personal social life of trees...." Read more
Customers like the book's communication ability. They say trees communicate with each other using olfactory, visual, and electrical signals. The book is conversational yet filled with scientific information about how trees live and their relationship to forests.
"...This relatively recent field, of the interconnectedness of trees and of the forest as a giant organism, is unbelievably interesting and will, no,..." Read more
"...the Lord of the Rings, where the trees can see and hear and communicate with one another, do not seem so far-fetched...." Read more
"...They communicate with each other using olfactory, visual and electrical signals...." Read more
"...out of my body and saw it as a participant in that intelligent, communicative, networked natural world, and felt the Part of my awareness taking..." Read more
Customers find the book touching and heartfelt. It evokes deep respect and empathy for the trees and their long, slow lives. The emotional concepts it offers are humbling and amazing. Readers describe the book as tender and thoughtful, describing it as a spiritual journey through nature.
"...Wohlleben is a smart and sensitive man, and over the course of decades he got to know the tree people very well...." Read more
"...emotional descriptions in this book offer are that they give us readers emotional concepts, which we can then use when we visit a forest, so we can..." Read more
"...” is carefully and well presented with humor, with gentleness, with compassion, with joy, even with love...." Read more
"...gorgeous, otherworldly height, even their scent, and the symbols of life and love. I do value trees, but I am afraid this book fell flat...." Read more
Customers enjoy learning about the life cycle of trees and how they survive in their environments. They appreciate how the strong help the weak or dying live longer, how they fight off disease and insects, and how the framework in which a system survives. The book provides an insight into the sustainability and climate impacts of trees.
"...trees, in a forest, provide nurturing of the young, and provide protections for one another...." Read more
"...of growth of trees, how mother trees provide little light and protect the small trees (her babies!)..." Read more
"...It certainly changed my view of trees, forests, sustainability, trees' impacts on climate change, and a whole bunch of other misconceptions that I..." Read more
"...their beauty, but for how they live and thrive and provide for each other even after death. A community that we, as humans, could learn from...." Read more
Customers have different views on the book's pacing. Some find it informative and well-explained, with logical points and insights into nature. Others feel the book lacks details and is didactic at times, repetitive, and overly wordy.
"If you're a botanist, this book is probably going to simplify things in irritating ways...." Read more
"...I like the essence of a wild tree is deliberate, paced slowly, determined, and communal...." Read more
"...The style of the book is readable, but not elegant, and occasionally repetitive...." Read more
"...The Hidden Life of Trees” is carefully and well presented with humor, with gentleness, with compassion, with joy, even with love...." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the author's knowledge. Some find it an excellent mix of first-hand knowledge and scientific data, grounded in science and the author's personal experience. They say it's fun to read and a great learning experience. Others feel it's not a scientific read, lighter than expected, and difficult to believe the author's thesis. The book is written not by a scientist but by a forest ranger who seems to have some scientific background.
"...essential to the world in general, they more importantly, are essential to each other...." Read more
"...The entire book is misleading. The large number of criticisms from the scientific community are all valid." Read more
"...Wohlleben clearly knows the subject and has first hand experience. His love of trees influences the complete book...." Read more
"The narrative was a little light on the science. What science there was was good, just needed more meat on the nines. Still I learned a lot...." Read more
Reviews with images
![I love trees, but this book was not for me.](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/transparent-pixel._V192234675_.gif)
I love trees, but this book was not for me.
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2016As a young lad in Germany, Peter Wohlleben loved nature. He went to forestry school, and became a wood ranger. At this job, he was expected to produce as many high quality saw logs as possible, with maximum efficiency, by any means necessary. His tool kit included heavy machinery and pesticides. This was forest mining, an enterprise that ravaged the forest ecosystem and had no long-term future. He oversaw a plantation of trees lined up in straight rows, evenly spaced. It was a concentration camp for tree people.
Wohlleben is a smart and sensitive man, and over the course of decades he got to know the tree people very well. Eventually, his job became unbearable. Luckily, he made friends in the community of Hümmel, and was given permission to manage their forest in a less destructive manner. There is no more clear-cutting, and logs are removed by horse teams, not machines. In one portion of the forest, old trees are leased as living gravestones, where families can bury the ashes of kin. In this way, the forest generates income without murdering trees.
Wohlleben wrote The Hidden Life of Trees, a smash hit in Germany. It will be translated into 19 languages. The book is built on a foundation of reputable science, but it reads like grandpa chatting at fireside. He’s a gentle old storyteller explaining the wondrous magic of beautiful forests to befuddled space aliens from a crazy planet named Consume. He teaches readers about the family of life, a subject typically neglected in schools.
Evergreen trees have been around for 170 million years, and trees with leaves are 100 million years old. Until recently, trees lived very well without the assistance of a single professional forest manager. I’m serious! Forests are communities of tree people. Their root systems intermingle, allowing them to send nutrients to their hungry children, and to ailing neighbors. When a Douglas fir is struck by lightning, several of its close neighbors might also die, because of their underground connections. A tribe of tree people can create a beneficial local climate for the community.
Also underground are mycelium, the largest organisms yet discovered. One in Oregon weighs 660 tons, covers 2,000 acres (800 ha), and is 2,400 years old. They are fungi that send threads throughout the forest soil. The threads penetrate and wrap around tree roots. They provide trees with water, nitrogen, and phosphorus, in exchange for sugar and other carbohydrates. They discourage attacks from harmful fungi and bacteria, and they filter out heavy metals.
When a limb breaks off, unwelcome fungal spores arrive minutes later. If the tree can close off the open wound in less than five years, the fungi won’t survive. If the wound is too large, the fungi can cause destructive rot, possibly killing the tree. When a gang of badass beetles invades, the tree secretes toxic compounds, and sends warnings to other trees via scent messages, and underground electrical signals. Woodpeckers and friendly beetles attack the troublemakers.
Forests exist in a state of continuous change, but this is hard for us to see, because trees live much slower than we do. They almost appear to be frozen in time. Humans zoom through life like hamsters frantically galloping on treadmill, and we blink out in just a few decades. In Sweden, scientists studied a spruce that appeared to be about 500 years old. They were surprised to learn that it was growing from a root system that was 9,550 years old.
In Switzerland, construction workers uncovered stumps of trees that didn’t look very old. Scientists examined them and discovered that they belonged to pines that lived 14,000 years ago. Analyzing the rings of their trunks, they learned that the pines that survived a climate that warmed 42°F, and then cooled about the same amount — in a period of just 30 years! This is the equivalent of our worst-case projections today.
Dinosaurs still exist in the form of birds, winged creatures that can quickly escape from hostile conditions. Trees can’t fly, but they can migrate, slowly. When the climate cools, they move south. When it warms, they go north, like they are today — because of global warming, and because they continue to adapt to the end of the last ice age. A strong wind can carry winged seeds a mile. Birds can carry seeds several miles. A beech tree tribe can advance about a quarter mile per year (0.4 km).
Compared to trees, the human genome has little variation. We are like seven-point-something billion Barbie and Ken dolls. Tree genomes are extremely diverse, and this is key for their survival. Some trees are more drought tolerant, others are better with cold or moisture. So change that kills some is less likely to kill all. Wohlleben suspects that his beech forest will survive, as long as forest miners don’t wreck its soil or microclimate. (Far more questionable is the future of corn, wheat, and rice, whose genetic diversity has been sharply reduced by the seed sellers of industrial agriculture.)
Trees have amazing adaptations to avoid inbreeding. Winds and bees deliver pollen from distant trees. The ovaries of bird cherry trees reject pollen from male blossoms on the same tree. Willows have separate male trees and female trees. Spruces have male and female blossoms, but they open several days apart.
Boars and deer love to devour acorns and beechnuts. Feasting on nuts allows them to put on fat for the winter. To avoid turning these animals into habitual parasites, nuts are not produced every year. This limits the population of chubby nutters, and ensures that some seeds will survive and germinate. If a beech lives 400 years, it will drop 1.8 million nuts.
On deciduous trees, leaves are solar panels. They unfold in the spring, capture sunlight, and for several months manufacture sugar, cellulose, and other carbohydrates. When the tree can store no more sugar, or when the first hard frost arrives, the solar panels are no longer needed. Their chlorophyll is drained, and will be recycled next spring. Leaves fall to the ground and return to humus. The tree goes into hibernation, spending the winter surviving on stored sugar. Now, with bare branches, the tree is far less vulnerable to damage from strong winds, heavy wet snows, and ice storms.
In addition to rotting leaves, a wild forest also transforms fallen branches and trunks into carbon rich humus. Year after year, the topsoil becomes deeper, healthier, and more fertile. Tree plantations, on the other hand, send the trunks to saw mills. So, every year, tons of precious biomass are shipped away, to planet Consume. This depletes soil fertility, and encourages erosion. Plantation trees are more vulnerable to insects and diseases. Because their root systems never develop normally, the trees are more likely to blow down.
From cover to cover, the book presents fascinating observations. By the end, readers are likely to imagine that undisturbed forests are vastly more intelligent than severely disturbed communities of radicalized consumers. More and more, scientists are muttering and snarling, as the imaginary gulf between the plant and animal worlds fades away. Wohlleben is not a vegetarian, because experience has taught him that plants are no less alive, intelligent, and sacred than animals. It’s a wonderful book. I’m serious!
- Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2017Why people have to give a book one star only because it's "above their understanding" is beyond me. That one star should go to the reviewer, not to the book. Then, about five people gave this book rave reviews accompanied by two stars. ????? And then there were reviewers who first cited their multiple PhD's, BS's and Masters degrees, to show they are REAL scientists, and then went on to say that that is why they are all rattled and horrified by the simplicity and anthropomorphism of Wohlleben's approach.
Let's please grow up. A grey and dour, soulless "scientific" approach to a subject will not engage average mortals, and those are the ones who need to know. The wish for such an approach doesn't identify you as a scientist either; it identifies you as a grey and dour, soulless person with no interest in mystery. This book is not written for you.
This book is written for normal people, who are interested in trees and nature and not afraid of learning facts that upset their worldview, and who are willing to accept that there are things we cannot, yet or fully, explain. This relatively recent field, of the interconnectedness of trees and of the forest as a giant organism, is unbelievably interesting and will, no, must, have far reaching consequences for our thinking about the environment, and by extension for our thinking about ourselves. I am not a scientist, and I don't care for a purely scientific approach to life. I am also not afraid of anthropomorphism - it is a valuable tool for us humans (anthropoi) to understand the world around us. Already 2,500 years ago Protagoras revolutionized philosophical thinking by positing that "man is the measure of all things". For most of us, that will remain the norm for a long time to come.
Also, trees are not aliens, they are more like us than we think. There is a lot in the trees' behavior that they share with us. The need to survive powerfully and procreate is common between man and tree.
Wohlleben writes beautifully and lyrically. That is not a sin and doesn't take away from his being a consummate scientist. One can be a scientist and at the same time be in awe of mystery.
In a very recent interview with The Guardian, Wohlleben said "scientists over the last 200 years have taught us that nature works without soul.” This book successfully discredits that approach, which has been ready for the scrap heap for too long.
This is a terrific book that can be fascinating to scientists and non-scientists alike. It has enough footnotes to allow for wider study of the subject for the intellectually adventurous.
The collaboration of Wohlleben and Dr Suzanne Simard of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada has led to a TV documentary on the subject, "Intelligent Trees". The DVD is available on Amazon.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2024I enjoyed this book, and learned quite a bit. It is focused mostly on deciduous trees in Europe, but the information is generally applicable to deciduous and coniferous trees worldwide. It is, at times, overwrought with emotionalism and anthropomorphism…but not to the point of distraction. It’s easy to read and learn a great deal about trees, how they live, communicate, and exist in their own societies. Quite fascinating and insightful. I recommend this book.
Top reviews from other countries
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Hugo CázaresReviewed in Mexico on January 27, 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente libro
Excelente libro, es muy interesante la lectura de este libro
- Kindle CustomerReviewed in Brazil on July 2, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars It's was a grateful reading. I hope to work with trees one day, and it was inspiring read this book.
It's was a grateful reading. I hope to work with trees one day, and it was inspiring read this book.
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in France on January 6, 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Loved it..a very good read
- sylvieReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, informative and new perspective ✨
A novel and accessible anthropomorphic lens on forests and trees.
Truly astounding scientific discoveries laid out in clear chapters. Highly recommended!
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Spain on December 11, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read!
We either accept that nothing is woo woo or everything is. I am in love with the subject of consciousness, we need to recognize the interdependence of everything in this planet and whatever else. You will never ignore a tree ever again, after this book