Book Review
Title: “The Hidden Life of Trees – What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World”
Author: Peter Wohlleben
The title says it all! Remember all that weird business doing the rounds years ago about your vegies growing bigger and healthier if you played the ‘right kind’ of music too them? Well maybe; but this is more.
This is a fascinating read covering concepts such as forest ‘social structures’ in which related trees communicate to protect and care for each other, while at the same time ‘ganging up’ on intruders such as foreign species or external threats such as insect or bird attack.
Wohlleben is both a German ‘Eco’ forester with years of scientific research and on ground observation behind him, and a philosopher opening the reader’s eyes to an array of amazing possibilities. His extensive use of human imagery to evoke an emotional response and get his message across makes it very relatable for the layperson.
While some concepts in this book may be hard to get your head around, as Wohlleben explains, humans operate in a different time dimension to trees and many of the processes are silent and invisible to us. The role of mycorrhizal Fungi for example, working underground and likened to our ‘world wide web’ to assist trees communicate through complex root systems is also explored.
Ultimately, even if you are already up on this information, you will come away from this excellent read with an enhanced appreciation of our rich biodiverse ecosystems. I am already starting to take more time exploring what is going on at ground level in our Landcare patch and taking the time to check out the fungi which I have all too often ignored.
The book is not without its critics. Wohlleben’s extensive use of human imagery to get his message across while making it easy for the layperson to understand the science, has infuriated some members of the scientific community in Europe. If you want more on that check out this online review.
My only criticism is that pretty much all the examples are northern hemisphere. A local version would be handy.
Review: Dave Wood
