The secret life of trees: how they live and why they matter

"From the tallest to the smallest, trees inspire wonder, and in The Secret Life of Trees Colin Tudge travels from his own back garden right round the world, bringing back the stories and facts behind the trees around us: from how they live so long, and how they really work, to how they talk to each other, and why they came to exist in the first place. Full of rich and surprising stories, The Secret Life of Trees will make everyone fall in love with the trees around them."--Jacket 'Everyone interested in the natural world will enjoy The Secret Life of Trees. I found myself reading out whole chunks to friends' The Times, Books of the YearWhat is a tree? As this celebration of the trees shows, they are our countryside; our ancestors descended from them; they gave us air to breathe. Yet while the stories of trees are as plentiful as leaves in a forest, they are rarely told.Here, Colin Tudge travels from his own back garden round the world to explore the beauty, variety and ingenuity of trees everywhere: from how they live so long to how they talk to each other and why they came to exist in the first place. Lyrical and evocative, this book will make everyone fall in love with the trees around them. The age of trees often inspires awe, from the redwoods of California to English oaks. We wonder how they live so long, and how they really work. This work explores the way trees work and what they are, finding out how they communicate, how they tell the time, how they came to exist, and much more.