The Heartbeat of Trees

Embracing Our Ancient Bond with Forests and Nature

by ,

Paperback, 272 pages

en-Latn-US language

Published Jan. 1, 2021 by Black Inc..

ISBN:
978-1-76064-264-8
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3 stars (4 reviews)

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Hidden Life of Trees comes a powerful return to the forest, where trees have heartbeats and roots are like brains that extend underground. Where the color green calms us, and the forest sharpens our senses.

In The Heartbeat of Trees, renowed forester Peter Wohlleben draws on new scientific discoveries to show how humans are deeply connected to the natural world. In an era of moblie phone addiction, climate change, and urban life, many of us fear we’ve lost our connection to nature, but Wohlleben is convinced that age‐old ties linking humans to the forest remain alive and intact.

Drawing on science and cutting‐edge research, The Heartbeat of Trees reveals the profound interactions humans can have with nature, exploring the language of the forest, the consciousness of plants, and the eroding boundary between flora and fauna.

A perfect book to take …

6 editions

reviewed The Heartbeat of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

Goodreads Review of The Heartbeat of Trees: Embracing Our Ancient Bond with Forests and Nature

3 stars

First, the good: I learned a lot of different things about trees and the forest.

The bad: I couldn’t tell what this book was supposed to be about. Was it about some specific aspect of trees and/or the forest? Was it meant to draw readers in, who may want to learn more in the future? Was it an environmentalist text? A memoir? Something else? I simply couldn’t tell.

The writing here on indigenous peoples in Canada felt particularly egregious, although I think Wohlleben simply doesn’t know enough about them. Moreover, he seemed to just have a general naivety about the world in general, which was touching, but it made the book feel a bit wishy-washy.

I like Wohlleben’s writing, and I heard good things about his other books, but this one just didn’t do it for me. Better luck next time.

reviewed Heartbeat of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

Unnecessarily sentimental?

2 stars

I did not enjoy this anywhere near as much as I did The Hidden Life of Trees. In fact, I failed to realise the two were by the same author until just before I started writing this. Now I'm wondering whether I misremembered enjoying The Hidden Life of Trees, or even reading The Hidden Life of Trees in the first place.

I empathise with the author's environmental/ecological position, but I think he asks us to anthropomorphise trees and forests to a degree that I find unreasonable and unnecessary. I don't need to believe that trees have a consciousness to understand their importance, to love them, to cherish our relationship with them. I don't need to believe that trees experience pain to understand and agree that they need to be cared for. If anything, I think it does a disservice to the environmental/ecological cause to insist that things be "like us" …

reviewed Hearbeat of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

Review of 'Hearbeat of Trees' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I did not enjoy this anywhere near as much as I did The Hidden Life of Trees. In fact, I failed to realise the two were by the same author until just before I started writing this. Now I'm wondering whether I misremembered enjoying The Hidden Life of Trees, or even reading The Hidden Life of Trees in the first place.

I empathise with the author's environmental/ecological position, but I think he asks us to anthropomorphise trees and forests to a degree that I find unreasonable and unnecessary. I don't need to believe that trees have a consciousness to understand their importance, to love them, to cherish our relationship with them. I don't need to believe that trees experience pain to understand and agree that they need to be cared for. If anything, I think it does a disservice to the environmental/ecological cause to insist that things be "like us" …

avatar for woile

rated it

3 stars