Tree Books

 I have been reading these Tree Books. I gave them all to my cousin Bill in West Wood last night.

The first I bought from the Alnwick Book shop on the way to Edinburgh and it is a good authentic book, it feels like one very decent man's failure to curate and own a wood and also a really beautifully written description of two trees. The Ash and The Beech was written by Richard Mabey in the 1990s and is about the failure of his attempt to buy a wood and make it authentic. 

The second book I ordered from the Hebden Bridge Bookshop and it is by a famous person, John Driori, who lives close by and who I am supposed to be meeting in Cerne Abbas in the next few days. It is very beautiful and has lovely illustrations. It is called Around the world in 80 trees. 

The third book I also bought from the Hebden Bridge bookshop on my friend Lois' instructions and I started it, and it made me feel nervous. It is called Feral and it is about how he spears fish and carries home wild deer and feels close to neolithic ancestors. 

I guess these books reveal some key characteristics of Tree Books: i) All are by white men 2) they are about the failure of humanity to recognise trees, or to do something about ecological disaster, or to learn from trees 3) the future is not very certain in any of the books except the last. 

I am also reading How Forests Think. Also Peter Kraftl After Childhood. 

My cousin kept the first book, left the second book in my shed to read later and gave me the final book to finish reading. 


It then occurred to me that all three books came and were made, from Trees. It felt a bit like eating meat but a bit worse and also a bit better. 

Comments

  1. spodsheffAugust 24, 2021 at 12:58 AM

    Its funny because you are drawn to reading and I am thinking about how to get closer to trees in some way. Although I'm not doing very well - it all feels rather abstract for me, like I am one step removed. At a quick glance and running past my memory of the case for support we have.

    A focus on Urban trees
    Foregrounding the ideas of young people from different backgrounds
    Trees and reforestation as potential sites for carbon sequestration.
    Linking up scientific and for want of a better phrase arts and humanities ways of knowing.

    Then there is everything between. I keep wanting to write about the weight of the world on our shoulders - at the moment it feels like everything is crushing down and making it hard to follow a hopeful trace. Perhaps treescapes is about getting lost in the woods so you can't see the edges. We started off writing the proposal with this story but eventually got written out, sliced into ujntil we lost the path. The idea of been lost deep in the forest with no paths rather than seeing everything all at once feels somehow appealing as a metaphor for our times.

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