Nature Literature discussion

Please add your comments about The Songs of Trees here.

I started reading this several months ago and have picked it back up. The first chapter includes a fabulous story of a South American tree central to the indigenous cultures.

The first chapter - in my rereading of it - brought to mind a recurring line in The Poisonwood Bible (Kingsolver), "The forest eats itself and lives forever." Haskell speaks eloquently of the sonic properties of the rain forest the spiritual connection of indigenous people to the Ceibo tree.

His comments on Chickadees and Fungi in the second chapter reveal a lot about communication at the community level for trees and memory within the flock for chickadees. Can't wait to get to the second half of that chapter.

A great thank you to the person who suggested we read this book. Am just in the early pages, and the voice of the author already feels like a song of homecoming in my heart.

Just finished the second chapter,. Section on gunflint chert and fossils is interesting. Nice section on the relationship between tree roots and fungi as well.

I started talking abou tthis book about the same time that people in my community were talking about Peter Wohlleben's boo The Secret Life of Trees and the two have somehow become conflated in some peoples minds.

The comments o Chickadees echo those in his previous book, The Forest Unseen. The comments on palpable cold echo comments by Lopez in arctic Dreams.

Interesting contrast of the four trees in the first section. Each is unique, but I was particularly impressed with the resilience of the Sabal Palm.
The interlude at the Japanese shrine to the Shinto goddess of paper making put an obvious break between the living trees of section one and the fossil trees in section two.
Still ruminating on the Hazel in chapter 6.

I found the section on fossil trees slower going, but really enjoyed the two interludes. I must confess that I then cheated and read the last chapter. I'm not sure this matters since the chapters are not sequential, but work as stand alone units. I am going back to read the three remaining chapters. Whatever you do, do not miss that final chapter. Fabulous.

Your comments are very interesting. I wasn’t initially interested in the book, but you’ve peaked (spelling?) my interest.

The third section focuses on trees in urban environments. He talks about outdoor recreation and access for people of different economic classes and ethnic groups. He mentions J. Drew Lanham whose book we read a while ago, and Lanham's article in Orion Magazine, "Rules for the Black Birdwatcher." He talks a bit about homeless people in Denver bedding down among the Willows on the banks of the Platte River.
I just started the section on Callery Pear, which grows along Broadway in Manhattan. He discusses the lack of diversity among commensal fungi on its leaves and other difficulties of urban trees. Here in Chattanooga the city government employs an urban forester. I would like to get his opinion on this book.

My review appears here.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...