{"id":38442,"date":"2021-02-04T23:37:19","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T03:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38442"},"modified":"2021-02-04T23:40:15","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T03:40:15","slug":"review-of-the-hidden-life-of-trees-by-peter-wohlleben","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=38442","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Hidden Life of Trees, by Peter Wohlleben"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Hidden Life of Trees<\/p>\n

What They Feel, How They Communicate<\/p>\n

Discoveries from a Secret World<\/em><\/p>\n

by Peter Wohlleben<\/p>\n

HarperCollins, 2016. 7 hours, 30 minutes.
\nReview written September 25, 2020, from a library eaudiobook
\nStarred Review
\n2020 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>:
\n#6 General Nonfiction<\/p>\n

I finally read this book by listening to it on an eaudiobook. I had read the Young Readers\u2019 Edition, Can You Hear the Trees Talking?<\/a><\/em>, which includes the general ideas presented here, along with glorious full-color photographs.<\/p>\n

On audiobook, the narrator\u2019s pleasant voice and British accent makes for a nice listening experience, though I don\u2019t absorb facts as well by listening as I do by seeing. Still, this was just as fascinating as the children\u2019s version, with many more interesting details.<\/p>\n

I learned more information about how the forest is connected through fungi in the soil. Trees can even feed other trees that are in distress through the fungi. I learned about how trees communicate through scent \u2013 by producing chemicals \u2013 and through the fungi. I learned that trees can learn and how \u201cmother\u201d trees train their children to grow slowly at first, and how that helps them to live longer lives. I learned how the forest is interconnected and it\u2019s actually a disservice to trees to clear out old rotting stumps. I also learned that they have discovered stumps cut down centuries before that are still alive because their neighbors feed them. And many other fascinating details like that.<\/p>\n

This did make me look at forests with new eyes. Trees are living things and although their ways of communicating and learning and adapting are completely different from ours, scientists are learning that they do these things. And Peter Wohlleben is particularly skilled at passing on that knowledge. <\/p>\n

He also has some theories about how walking in the forest makes us feel good. It turns out that\u2019s more true in a healthy forest. It made me want to run out and walk in a forest right away.<\/p>\n

Now that I\u2019ve started, I\u2019m going to read more of his books.<\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Nonfiction\/hidden_life_of_trees.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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