'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 Taking us on an awe-inspiring journey through deep history and across the globe The
Genius of Trees restores trees to their rightful position not as victims of our negligence but
as ingenious stunningly inventive agents in a grand ecological narrative. Some have been
using fire as a reproductive tool since prehistoric times. Others have gone to extraordinary
lengths to make sure their fruits reach large primates who can spread their seeds over vast
distances while poisoning smaller and less useful mammals. Some can split solid rock and
create fertile ground in barren landscapes effectively building entire ecosystems from
scratch. For the first time we witness the inventive and astonishing ways trees sculpt and
even master their environment and understand the science of how they achieve these feats. From
oaks growing in Devon and Amedi in Iraq to the laurel rainforests of the Canary Islands
metasequoias in California and fossil forests preserved from hundreds of millions of years ago
we see how trees not only farm the landscape in which they grow but also manipulate the
fundamental elements other species and even humankind to achieve their ends. At once
transporting and expert this eye-opening mind-expanding journey into the inner lives of
nature's most powerful plant is a profoundly new and original way of understanding both the
miracles trees perform and the glories of our natural world. 'Full of wonder and revelation
... Highly recommended' SUE STUART-SMITH 'If I was dazzled by nature and in awe of trees
before I read this book 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
