A dazzling scientific detective story from the ecologist who first discovered the hidden language of trees
No one has done more to transform our understanding of trees than the world-renowned scientist Suzanne Simard. Now she shares the secrets of a lifetime spent uncovering startling truths about trees: their cooperation,healing capacity,memory,wisdom and sentience.
Raised in the forests of British Columbia,where her family has lived for generations,Professor Simard did not set out to be a scientist. She was working in the forest service when she first discovered how trees communicate underground through an immense web of fungi,at the centre of which lie the Mother Trees: the mysterious,powerful entities that nurture their kin and sustain the forest.
Though her ground-breaking findings were initially dismissed and even ridiculed,they are now firmly supported by the data. As her remarkable journey shows us,science is not a realm apart from ordinary life,but deeply connected with our humanity.
In Finding the Mother Tree, she reveals how the complex cycle of forest life - on which we rely for our existence - offers profound lessons about resilience and kinship,and must be preserved before it's too late.
Publisher: Penguin Books LtdISBN: 9780141990286Number of pages: 368Weight: 293 gDimensions: 198 x 129 x 21 mm
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'A scientific memoir as gripping as any HBO drama series... Just as she disinters earthy mushrooms and the finest of filaments,so she lays bare the human heart with moving simplicity... It is her gallant mission in the book and in her life - and one essential to combating the climate crisis - to make science more humanly engaged'- Kate Kellaway,The Observer
'Finding the Mother Tree is the kind of story we need to be telling,a new way of communicating that the world desperately needs to hear... A reminder to listen to our wilder selves,and to remember,with humility,how little we know of the complexities of the natural world'- The Guardian
'Extraordinary'- BBC Wildlife Magazine
'The moving and remarkable story of one of the greatest ecological discoveries of our time. Writing with humility and passion,Suzanne Simard's unravelling of the secret life of trees is changing the scientific mindset. Finding the Mother Tree is a crucial step towards healing our planet'- Isabella Tree,author of Wilding and The Living Goddess
'Few scientists make much impact with their PhD thesis,but,in 1997,Suzanne Simard did just that...What was then a challenge to orthodox ideas is today widely accepted'- New Scientist
'Suzanne Simard has a completely beguiling way of writing. I love how she combines brilliant scientific explanation with emotion and feeling'- Patrick Barkham,author of Wild Child and The Butterfly Isles
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