Wisdom From The Hidden Life of Trees

by Peter Wohlleben

A beautifully illustrated collection of insights from the international bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees . A perfect book for anyone who wants to forever remember the wisdom of the forest. This gorgeous compendium distills the essence of the beloved bestseller, The Hidden Life of Trees , and is the perfect pocket-sized gift for holding forester Peter Wohlleben’s words dear, and sharing them with your loved ones. Discover the operations of the forest ecosystem where themes of communication, resilience, beauty, age, family, society and survival tie into our human world. With rich yet easy-to-understand language and evocative artwork from world-renowned master painters, this treasure of a book highlights the fascinating interconnectedness of our world and celebrates trees in all their glory.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Environment

152 pages, Hardcover

Published March 5, 2024

About the author

Peter Wohlleben is a German forester and author who writes on ecological themes in popular language.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gem of a book! It is small to hold but each page has a full color picture of beautiful art of trees. Accompanying the art is a short instruction of many hidden facets of tree life cycles. So many glimpse into to the glories and benefits of trees.lots of info on how and why trees support life in the ocean,air, and land. Take a look and fall into the rapture of nature through these pages and then take a walk through the forest for a lift in spirit.wonderful!

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trees are so freaking cool.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I was a tree

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It's aesthetically pleasing, and I loved learning more about nature.

[Marina Akamatsu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yummy and gorgeous paintings. There was some unscientific writing that was intended to jar the reader into changing their feelings towards trees (assuming that the reader was a little utilitarian about them,) but it fit in as poetry.

[Aleah Larson · Rating 4 out of 5]

4🌟

I stole this off my father in laws bookshelf. The cover sold me. It was a lovely little book and a quick read.

Fave quotes:
Trees keep hidden reserves of energy on hand to fight off pests. These secret reserves can be activated at any time, and depending on the tree species, they contain a selection of defensive compounds produced by the tree. These so-called phytoncides have antibiotic properties. A biologist from Leningrad, Boris Tokin, wrote that if you add a pinch of crushed spruce or pine needles to a drop of water that contains proto-zoa, in less than a second, the protozoa are dead. In the same paper, Tokin reported that the air in young pine forests is almost germfree, thanks to the phy-toncides released by the needles. In essence, then, trees disinfect their surroundings.

The air truly is considerably cleaner under trees, because their leaves and needles hang in a steady breeze, catching large and small particles as they float by. Not only do trees filter materials out of the air, they also release substances into it. They exchange scent-mails and, of course, pump out germ-killing phytoncides.
Korean scientists have been tracking older women as they walk through forests and urban areas. The result? When the women were walking in the for-est, their blood pressure, their lung capacity, and the elasticity of their arteries improved, whereas an excursion into town showed none of these changes.
It's possible that phytoncides have a beneficial effect on our immune systems as well as the trees' health, because they kill germs.

[Bonnie Westmark · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a glorious book! The pictures are exquisite and the passages so true. I’ve always felt a connection to trees. I need the forest as I need air to breathe and find myself surrounded by trees daily as I walk my dog. I find trees to be sacred and healing. This book explains my desire to be surrounded by forest. The health benefits of surrounding oneself in the company of trees are both physical and emotional. I find the forest to not only provide calm and peace of mind, but also to clear my mind and make me present to the gifts of nature surrounding me. A walk in the woods is a walk with God. This book affirms all that I experience in my desire to be amongst the beautiful trees.

[Catarina Machado · Rating 4 out of 5]

The paintings and overall edition are gorgeous!
I have not read “The Hidden life of trees” (only “The Overstory”) but was curious about this “Wisdom”/Summary version when I found it on a bookshelf… It really fulfills its mission of portraying trees as human beings.
Personally, content-wise it was sometimes a bit too “sentimental” for me. I expected it would be more research-based. After all I ended up looking up on state-of-research and further information myself, so it was interesting.

[JV Austen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gorgeous book both pictures and prose. A great page or two a day read as you need space to think about what you just read. This is an excellent book to give as a gift to the more thoughtful hiker/camper in your life (my son-in-law is getting this for his birthday along with an REI gift card)!

[Janet Eshenroder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gift. Small and beautifully done, paintings of trees are combined with fascinating facts about trees and forests, their communication with other trees, their effect on other areas on the ecosystem.

[Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting little book both in word and sight. It is like a coffee table book with each page having an interesting fact and nice picture that allows the reader something to think about for the day.

[Jaden Zanidean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book!

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artwork is soothing. I like the idea of this introductory short to the larger book.

[Canice Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The content is throughfully researched and the author has good observation of details of things. The accompanying pictures add to the pleasure of reading.

[Corey Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just a really nice, calm and serene read

[Matthew Critchley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful choice of pictures with great tree facts.

[Hayrunnisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

have i mentioned that i love trees?

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect earth day book! Learned various mysteries of trees such as they communicate to each other through their roots!

[Sean Moran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book, wholesome. Makes you think twice about trees and our world.

[Brenda Remis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This delightful book is well made, with gorgeous artwork and great information that is easy to digest. Would make a lovely gift, but I'm not parting with mine anytime soon.😉

[Peri Kinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated little book of tree knowledge.

You can expect beech trees, oaks, decay, insects, wisdom, ancient trees, root systems, a sharing of resources and sentient trees.