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The Heart of the Woods
Our lives are intimately intertwined with those of the trees and woodlands around us. For centuries, trees have shaped us and we have shaped them. They have have determined the tools we use, the boats we build, the stories we tell about the world and about ourselves, the songs we sing, and some of our most important rituals.
In The Heart of The Woods, the companion piece to his Roger Deakin Award winning The Draw of The Sea, Wyl Menmuir travels the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland to meet the stories of the people who plant trees, the ecologists who study them, those who shape beautiful objects and tools from from wood, and those who use it to help others.
In heading deep into the woods, Wyl explores what we get out of spending time around trees, the ways in which our relationship with them has changed over time, and the ways in which our future is interconnected with theirs.
Written in close collaboration with makers, crafters, bodgers, and woodsmen and women in order to understand better the woods they know so well, the joys and frustrations of working with a living material, and the stories of their craft and skills, this is also a book about legacies – those a parent leaves to a child, the legacies left by specific trees in specific places, and those a society leaves to the next generation. The Heart of The Woods will delight anyone who enjoys walking among the trees, and anyone who, when lost, has found themselves in the woods.
Chapters
WOODLAND A woodland in becoming and an ancient yew grove on the border of North Wales and England
RITUAL Willow coffin making in Cornwall
WOODLORE Science among the trees at Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire
HEARTWOOD Among the bodgers in a field outside Cambridge
BOAT A woodland community in the heart of Glasgow’s former docklands
LANDSCAPE Re-wilding the Scottish Highlands and an organised trespass in Devon
WISH The clootie well at Munlochy on The Black Isle, Scottish Highlands, a family tree on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, and the tree at Sycamore Gap, Northumbria
FOREST Swimming at Swallowship Pool, Devil’s Water, and Letah Woods Northumberland
MYTH Walks in the fictional woods at Wenlock Edge, Shropshire
WAY Traditional carpentry in Takayama, Japan
FIRE The stories we find among the flames and embers, Ennistymon, Ireland
SOUND A pub on Ireland’s west coast and a guitar-builder in North Wales
APPLE Wassailing in Cornwall
TREE An ancient yew grove in North Wales
In The Heart of The Woods, the companion piece to his Roger Deakin Award winning The Draw of The Sea, Wyl Menmuir travels the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland to meet the stories of the people who plant trees, the ecologists who study them, those who shape beautiful objects and tools from from wood, and those who use it to help others.
In heading deep into the woods, Wyl explores what we get out of spending time around trees, the ways in which our relationship with them has changed over time, and the ways in which our future is interconnected with theirs.
Written in close collaboration with makers, crafters, bodgers, and woodsmen and women in order to understand better the woods they know so well, the joys and frustrations of working with a living material, and the stories of their craft and skills, this is also a book about legacies – those a parent leaves to a child, the legacies left by specific trees in specific places, and those a society leaves to the next generation. The Heart of The Woods will delight anyone who enjoys walking among the trees, and anyone who, when lost, has found themselves in the woods.
Chapters
WOODLAND A woodland in becoming and an ancient yew grove on the border of North Wales and England
RITUAL Willow coffin making in Cornwall
WOODLORE Science among the trees at Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire
HEARTWOOD Among the bodgers in a field outside Cambridge
BOAT A woodland community in the heart of Glasgow’s former docklands
LANDSCAPE Re-wilding the Scottish Highlands and an organised trespass in Devon
WISH The clootie well at Munlochy on The Black Isle, Scottish Highlands, a family tree on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, and the tree at Sycamore Gap, Northumbria
FOREST Swimming at Swallowship Pool, Devil’s Water, and Letah Woods Northumberland
MYTH Walks in the fictional woods at Wenlock Edge, Shropshire
WAY Traditional carpentry in Takayama, Japan
FIRE The stories we find among the flames and embers, Ennistymon, Ireland
SOUND A pub on Ireland’s west coast and a guitar-builder in North Wales
APPLE Wassailing in Cornwall
TREE An ancient yew grove in North Wales
336 pages, Hardcover
Published June 6, 2024
22 people are currently reading
567 people want to read
About the author
Wyl Menmuir
11 books67 followersWyl Menmuir is an award-winning author based in Cornwall. His 2016 debut novel, The Many was longlisted for the Man-Booker Award and was an Observer Best Fiction of the year pick. His second novel Fox Fires was published in 2021 and his short fiction has been published by Nightjar Press, Kneehigh Theatre and National Trust Books and appeared in Best British Short Stories. Wyl's first full-length non fiction book, The Draw of the Sea, won the Roger Deakin Award from the Society of Authors and is published in 2022. A former journalist, Wyl has written for Radio 4’s Open Book, The Guardian and The Observer, and the journal Elementum. He is co-creator of the Cornish writing centre, The Writers’ Block and lectures in creative writing at Falmouth University.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 21, 2025
If you are a regular reader of my reviews on my blog or Good Reads, then you’ll know I like spending time in the woodlands. They are cool at the height of summer, stark and still beautiful in the depths of winter, and listening to the susurration of the leaves in the wind in the autumn is as calming for me as hearing the sound of waves of the burbling of a stream.
A wood or coppice can provide in a multitude of ways, food, fuel and timber for structures, poles for barriers for us. But they are a habitat that can support thousands of other creatures, in particular ancient woodlands. They are also home to the entities that inhabit our imaginations and folklore and that liminal space in between.
Menmuir also has a thing about woodlands in the same way that he was attracted to the water as I read about in The Draw Of The Sea. This book does a similar thing to that previous book, he uses it to explore how other people use woodlands in their lives to nourish their souls, provide an income, as a source of materials for the beautiful things they are making and for those that are seeking the otherworldly.
He begins at the trees that his father planted nine years before, in a small village in Wales. He planted them so he could create something that would outlast him, would offer his descendants shade and be his small contribution to address the dramatic loss of biodiversity that we are seeing. Menmuir watches his father and son, who is virtually the same age as the wood, collecting oak galls. He would be finding the gall in pockets and around the house for ages after.
Death is one of the few taboos left in our society, probably because we think if we ignore it, it won’t happen to us and it might go away. Spoiler alert; it won’t… People now have more choice as to what happened to them after death and more are choosing to be interred in a woodland cemetery. The thought of my body benefiting an oak is quite appealing. He goes to visit Ele and Anthony who live in a 27-acre woodland in Cornwall. The day they moved there they buried a lady and another soon followed and before long they were custodians of a natural graveyard. He then heads over to meet Jessie who makes willow caskets and learns of the stories behind their creation and how people make their own and those for their spouses.
He attends a festival of bodgers. These are people who carve wooden spoons and other simple items. He visits a couple of boat builders, one in Cornwall and another in Glasgow. He is lucky enough to visit Japan to see the work of the traditional woodworkers in Takavana and visit a sacred forest.
The spiritual links that people forge with woodlands are well covered in this book. He participates in wassailing, visits the Sycamore Gap before those bastards cut it down, takes a walk through a fictional wood in Shropshire and travels a long way back in time in an ancient yew grove.
Like his previous book about the sea, Menmuir is seeking people whose stories are intertwined with woodlands. He is an engaging writer whose fascination with the things people have to tell him and a desire to learn from others makes this a brilliant book. It is a gentle story too, he writes like he has all the time in the world to discover a new thing about woodlands. I thought it was excellent and can highly recommend it.
A wood or coppice can provide in a multitude of ways, food, fuel and timber for structures, poles for barriers for us. But they are a habitat that can support thousands of other creatures, in particular ancient woodlands. They are also home to the entities that inhabit our imaginations and folklore and that liminal space in between.
Menmuir also has a thing about woodlands in the same way that he was attracted to the water as I read about in The Draw Of The Sea. This book does a similar thing to that previous book, he uses it to explore how other people use woodlands in their lives to nourish their souls, provide an income, as a source of materials for the beautiful things they are making and for those that are seeking the otherworldly.
He begins at the trees that his father planted nine years before, in a small village in Wales. He planted them so he could create something that would outlast him, would offer his descendants shade and be his small contribution to address the dramatic loss of biodiversity that we are seeing. Menmuir watches his father and son, who is virtually the same age as the wood, collecting oak galls. He would be finding the gall in pockets and around the house for ages after.
Death is one of the few taboos left in our society, probably because we think if we ignore it, it won’t happen to us and it might go away. Spoiler alert; it won’t… People now have more choice as to what happened to them after death and more are choosing to be interred in a woodland cemetery. The thought of my body benefiting an oak is quite appealing. He goes to visit Ele and Anthony who live in a 27-acre woodland in Cornwall. The day they moved there they buried a lady and another soon followed and before long they were custodians of a natural graveyard. He then heads over to meet Jessie who makes willow caskets and learns of the stories behind their creation and how people make their own and those for their spouses.
He attends a festival of bodgers. These are people who carve wooden spoons and other simple items. He visits a couple of boat builders, one in Cornwall and another in Glasgow. He is lucky enough to visit Japan to see the work of the traditional woodworkers in Takavana and visit a sacred forest.
The spiritual links that people forge with woodlands are well covered in this book. He participates in wassailing, visits the Sycamore Gap before those bastards cut it down, takes a walk through a fictional wood in Shropshire and travels a long way back in time in an ancient yew grove.
Like his previous book about the sea, Menmuir is seeking people whose stories are intertwined with woodlands. He is an engaging writer whose fascination with the things people have to tell him and a desire to learn from others makes this a brilliant book. It is a gentle story too, he writes like he has all the time in the world to discover a new thing about woodlands. I thought it was excellent and can highly recommend it.
June 26, 2025
A fabulous book on all things woods related.
Wyl Menmuir has put together a great treatise on everything related to woodlands; tree conservation and management, rewilding, woodworking from carving spoons to making willow coffins, forest bathing Japanese style and master craftsmen of ancient style roof tiles, to boat building and collecting seeds of ancient rainforest species.
This book has something for everyone and Wyl's easygoing writing style is a joy to read.
As someone who likes working with their hands and creating craft projects, I particularly appreciated the chapters on "making".
A real treasure of a book that gets right down to the basics of why the woods appeal to us so much.
5 very green stars 💚💚💚💚💚
Wyl Menmuir has put together a great treatise on everything related to woodlands; tree conservation and management, rewilding, woodworking from carving spoons to making willow coffins, forest bathing Japanese style and master craftsmen of ancient style roof tiles, to boat building and collecting seeds of ancient rainforest species.
This book has something for everyone and Wyl's easygoing writing style is a joy to read.
As someone who likes working with their hands and creating craft projects, I particularly appreciated the chapters on "making".
A real treasure of a book that gets right down to the basics of why the woods appeal to us so much.
5 very green stars 💚💚💚💚💚
August 5, 2024
This is a wonderful book and if you are a fan of the great outdoors, trees, nature and the natural world then this book is a fabulous one to settle down with.
The author is Cornish and references several Cornish places, but he also includes places from afield. I live in Cornwall so I am aware of many things he mentions and my garden is full of trees and other interesting plants and flowers.
The author takes the reader on a journey of discovery, relating tales; crafts, folklore, myth and forgotten pieces of knowledge. The book is a hardback one and does come with a context, various maps, photos and a glossary as well as notes and an index.
This book is so well laid out and such a wonderful book to read. I found myself initially flicking through it to look at pictures and then soon found myself reading various pieces that caught my eye. I then decided to read it from cover to cover.
This author and book will encourage you to go outside and lean against a tree or at least go and sit near one as you read it. Being close to nature and discovering more about it helps people in many ways. This book adds to that and provides a better understanding of the importance of them. Fascinating, calming and a gorgeous book that I would definitely recommend.
The author is Cornish and references several Cornish places, but he also includes places from afield. I live in Cornwall so I am aware of many things he mentions and my garden is full of trees and other interesting plants and flowers.
The author takes the reader on a journey of discovery, relating tales; crafts, folklore, myth and forgotten pieces of knowledge. The book is a hardback one and does come with a context, various maps, photos and a glossary as well as notes and an index.
This book is so well laid out and such a wonderful book to read. I found myself initially flicking through it to look at pictures and then soon found myself reading various pieces that caught my eye. I then decided to read it from cover to cover.
This author and book will encourage you to go outside and lean against a tree or at least go and sit near one as you read it. Being close to nature and discovering more about it helps people in many ways. This book adds to that and provides a better understanding of the importance of them. Fascinating, calming and a gorgeous book that I would definitely recommend.
September 25, 2024
Our ancestors first mistake was leaving the ocean and our second was leaving the trees. But no we just had to go out to the savanna. And for what. Cause now look at us. Paying taxes and having to make phone calls. Let me devolve.
No but for real. I absolutely fell in love The Draw Of The Sea and the same happened here. Beautiful writing, the sobering reality that our forests are not what they used to be and heart-warming stories of people trying to save them.
No but for real. I absolutely fell in love The Draw Of The Sea and the same happened here. Beautiful writing, the sobering reality that our forests are not what they used to be and heart-warming stories of people trying to save them.
August 22, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ebook ARC of this beautiful book. I ended up purchasing a copy for myself and for a friend once it was released, because of how lovely it is! This will be a book that I will use for help planning programs for work! I have been recommending it to folks left and right, and will continue to do so.
June 21, 2025
Anyone who loves nature will enjoy The Heart of the Woods. In this book Wyl Menmuir explores our relationship with woodlands, trees and wood, from simply enjoying being in a forest or an orchard, to the beautiful items people craft from the wood itself.
It's not just about nature though. Traveling from Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands and even further afield to Japan, he meets an array of fascinating people: boat builders, willow weavers, forest bathers and wassailers, and tells us their stories.
He starts at his parents' home in Wales where his father has planted a small woodland. What a joyous privilege to have the capacity to create such a legacy. And the trees were planted just a few months after Wyl's son was born, so they will grow up together. This unique perspective is the root from which the following chapters grow.
From there, he visits a woodland burial site back home in Cornwall, attends the Bodgers' Ball, scares himself stupid at night in a supposedly haunted woodland in Shropshire, meets traditional woodworkers in Japan and goes seed collecting in County Clare.
The Heart of the Woods is an engaging and entertaining read that encourages us to look closer at the trees we take for granted every day.
August 5, 2024
The skill of the very best writers is to project the image before you, showing what they wish for you to see through their lens. Wyl does this in beautiful, poetical abundance. It is impossible not to enjoy his writing — cum-storytelling — especially with such a heartfelt and introspective ode such as this.
The Heart of the Woods lays low on the scientific approach, preferring to find the heart of the people whose lives are immersed in the woods or profoundly affected by them, and its trees and life within. As with all nature writing now, sadly, it is a cautionary tale: in the same way that our seas were so abundant with creatures that they spent their days bumping heads, the same is true of the woodlands, whereby each generation, through millenia, experience its majesty less and less. Yet, still woodlands and forests can conjure that same fear or wonder they did when we were children, and as children always have and will; the magical paradise that has inspired writers and artists, explorers and scientists since life on Earth was first recorded.
This is a journey through cultures, emotions and hope; where the heart of that which is sacred hasn’t truly changed for millennia. It will inspire its reader how best to preserve one of the planet’s greatest natural assets, but also how they can play, marvel and heal, sometimes all at the same time, simply by being present among the trees. Nothing has been more important to the evolution of mankind and life on Earth than trees; and they will never be anything less.
The Heart of the Woods is a wonderful tribute to life; inspirational, thought provoking, and celebratory.
The Heart of the Woods lays low on the scientific approach, preferring to find the heart of the people whose lives are immersed in the woods or profoundly affected by them, and its trees and life within. As with all nature writing now, sadly, it is a cautionary tale: in the same way that our seas were so abundant with creatures that they spent their days bumping heads, the same is true of the woodlands, whereby each generation, through millenia, experience its majesty less and less. Yet, still woodlands and forests can conjure that same fear or wonder they did when we were children, and as children always have and will; the magical paradise that has inspired writers and artists, explorers and scientists since life on Earth was first recorded.
This is a journey through cultures, emotions and hope; where the heart of that which is sacred hasn’t truly changed for millennia. It will inspire its reader how best to preserve one of the planet’s greatest natural assets, but also how they can play, marvel and heal, sometimes all at the same time, simply by being present among the trees. Nothing has been more important to the evolution of mankind and life on Earth than trees; and they will never be anything less.
The Heart of the Woods is a wonderful tribute to life; inspirational, thought provoking, and celebratory.
May 26, 2024
Received this ARC from Coundon Library Book Club Coventry
Very different from my usual reading so wasn’t sure what to expect. I already have a fondness for woodland areas and am lucky enough to have one on my doorstep. Reading through this book highlighted my lack of knowledge of the vast subjects covered by Wyl.
I have always wandered through a canopy of trees listening rather than looking, tending to be absorbed by sounds of birds singing and rustling leaves. The book has opened my mind to textures of bark, fungi and moss.
I found the chapter on willow weaving interesting. I enjoyed the sharing of thoughts around preparing for death, exploring the weaving of your own coffin.
There were so many different subjects relating to the woodland it would be hard to single out a favourite. I would love to try creating a spoon and taking a swim in a forest pool someday
I feel inspired to identify the trees I can see, other than oak I’m not sure what we have growing nearby
An inspired read.
Very different from my usual reading so wasn’t sure what to expect. I already have a fondness for woodland areas and am lucky enough to have one on my doorstep. Reading through this book highlighted my lack of knowledge of the vast subjects covered by Wyl.
I have always wandered through a canopy of trees listening rather than looking, tending to be absorbed by sounds of birds singing and rustling leaves. The book has opened my mind to textures of bark, fungi and moss.
I found the chapter on willow weaving interesting. I enjoyed the sharing of thoughts around preparing for death, exploring the weaving of your own coffin.
There were so many different subjects relating to the woodland it would be hard to single out a favourite. I would love to try creating a spoon and taking a swim in a forest pool someday
I feel inspired to identify the trees I can see, other than oak I’m not sure what we have growing nearby
An inspired read.
May 16, 2024
I received a free ARC of this book through Coundon Library book club.
I was initially both intrigued and cautious when picking this up. I really enjoy nature based books like those from Raynor Winn. The cover art is lovely. But a book just about trees? I was not sure what to expect.
Well, let me just say, both the writing and the photography completely won me over. I felt that sense of having known something all your life but never having really seen it - after all, trees are just part of the landscape. This book made me realise just how much our life ties with trees and made me reconsider my neighbour's oak with new eyes. I felt awed and small in comparison, with such a new appreciation.
I've finished the book this weekend and my intentions next weekend are to try forest bathing, which I'd have laughed at before. Highly recommend if you want to get back to your "roots" and fall in love with the world outside your door. Thank you for this opportunity!
I was initially both intrigued and cautious when picking this up. I really enjoy nature based books like those from Raynor Winn. The cover art is lovely. But a book just about trees? I was not sure what to expect.
Well, let me just say, both the writing and the photography completely won me over. I felt that sense of having known something all your life but never having really seen it - after all, trees are just part of the landscape. This book made me realise just how much our life ties with trees and made me reconsider my neighbour's oak with new eyes. I felt awed and small in comparison, with such a new appreciation.
I've finished the book this weekend and my intentions next weekend are to try forest bathing, which I'd have laughed at before. Highly recommend if you want to get back to your "roots" and fall in love with the world outside your door. Thank you for this opportunity!
July 24, 2024
A contemplative journey into the woods of craft, science and myth
We are in a golden age for books on trees and woods, on woodlands and forest, and here is another to add to the canon. Menmuir takes a very personal journey into woodlands, through science and history. ecology and woodworking, sailing and death: every page is infused with love for trees, Menmuir's love, yes, but also that of his many subjects, people from every field. Trees are foundational, even for urban dwellers, and there is more that we don't know about trees that might prove our salvation in the future, such as medicines, new construction materials, their role in mitigating the climate crisis.
Four and a half stars
We are in a golden age for books on trees and woods, on woodlands and forest, and here is another to add to the canon. Menmuir takes a very personal journey into woodlands, through science and history. ecology and woodworking, sailing and death: every page is infused with love for trees, Menmuir's love, yes, but also that of his many subjects, people from every field. Trees are foundational, even for urban dwellers, and there is more that we don't know about trees that might prove our salvation in the future, such as medicines, new construction materials, their role in mitigating the climate crisis.
Four and a half stars
September 1, 2024
Memoir and love letter to the woods.
My naturalist heart adored this book. The author's simplicity of writing, cozy photos, and joy of forests and trees makes this book a perfect cozy read for fall. (I reread Walden every autumn, so this book feels like a long-lost companion.)
"At the end of autumn, I had walked in the woods at Tomnafinnoge in County Wicklow, Ireland, with Cathelijne de Wit-Peijs, who leads forest bathing walks there. 'We tend to walk at a certain speed, as though we've got an end in mind,' ... she slowed down purposefully to emphasize her point and it took me a moment to adjust my speed to match hers. ... Why rush, she asked. After all, the walk we were taking through the ancient woods was a circular one. We would end up at exactly the same point at which we started."
My naturalist heart adored this book. The author's simplicity of writing, cozy photos, and joy of forests and trees makes this book a perfect cozy read for fall. (I reread Walden every autumn, so this book feels like a long-lost companion.)
"At the end of autumn, I had walked in the woods at Tomnafinnoge in County Wicklow, Ireland, with Cathelijne de Wit-Peijs, who leads forest bathing walks there. 'We tend to walk at a certain speed, as though we've got an end in mind,' ... she slowed down purposefully to emphasize her point and it took me a moment to adjust my speed to match hers. ... Why rush, she asked. After all, the walk we were taking through the ancient woods was a circular one. We would end up at exactly the same point at which we started."
August 6, 2024
I really enjoy a nonfiction that reads like fiction, and this one read as if someone was telling you a buch of small interesting stories about tress and the various different uses or characters of them.
January 25, 2025
This book, while filled with a lot of whimsy and knowledge, is in dire need of proper editing. The book begins to read as incoroherent rambling halfway through. Topics and sections jump around from one to the next with put any grace or connection. Run on sentences and rambling explanations are abound. Use foot notes or a glossary instead of sometimes several injunctions mid sentence to add more detail to your topics and thoughts.
It's a damn shame. I quite liked the beginning of the book, but it became so lost and wavering halfway through. There is also an unmistakable old empire British approach to the writing. In a way that every topic comes across as half meaningful. Everything is speculative and held at arms length that the appreciation for the woods in many of these tales doesn't seem genuine. It's more like an observer of a postcard of the woods that goes, "Oh well, isn't that nice," and then gets lost in rambling thoughts for an hour.
It's a damn shame. I quite liked the beginning of the book, but it became so lost and wavering halfway through. There is also an unmistakable old empire British approach to the writing. In a way that every topic comes across as half meaningful. Everything is speculative and held at arms length that the appreciation for the woods in many of these tales doesn't seem genuine. It's more like an observer of a postcard of the woods that goes, "Oh well, isn't that nice," and then gets lost in rambling thoughts for an hour.
September 10, 2024
The Heart of the Woods is a momentous account of humanity's connection to trees and the woods they inhabit. The author, Wyl Menmuir, describes the many ways in which people express their love for the woods. Throughout the book, he shares stories of people who make their livelihood with trees, from willow weaving to woodworking and more. One of my favorite aspects that was written about in this book is the deep spiritual connection that many people have with the woods. I loved this book so much that I ended up buying a physical copy as well as the audiobook! I absolutely cannot recommend this enough.
August 25, 2024
A terrific exploration of man's relationship with trees and woodlands. Each chapter tackles a different theme from wood turning to the practice of natural burials, building to planting, climate crisis to conservation. This begins and ends with the author visiting the woodland that his seventy year old father has planted for future generations. Hopeful, beautiful and thought provoking.
November 30, 2024
A wonderful ode to trees and woodlands. An interesting look into our relationship with woodlands - how people used to live with and use woodland and how people continue to do so. Some chapters are more interesting than others, but the last chapter sums up our dependency on trees beautifully.
September 25, 2024
This is a beautiful book. The author paints with words. At some points reading it I almost cried because of the reality of what he stated. We are losing the trees
June 25, 2025
Loved this book. An intimate portrait of the connection between people, their woodland and their stories. Tenderly written and left me feeling inspired to go to Japan and start spoon carving.
August 26, 2024
I have always felt a strong connection to nature, more specifically to trees. To many they are easy to ignore or are meant to be used but there is so much more going on - within the bark, communication amongst other trees, and an entire ecosystem below our feet. And while fascinated, I always struggled to put this fascination into words. Wyl Menmuir's writing in “The Heart of the Woods” is so incredibly beautiful and descriptive. I felt as though I was in the woods myself, joining the author on this journey of discovery.
Along the way, there were stories to share of sacred woodlands, passed down stories of forests with spirits, myths, and legends within the groves. People who plant trees that follow the growth charts of loved ones, and leave legacies in creating small woodlands under the famous banner of "Blessed is he who plants trees under whose shade he will never sit." There are serene and peaceful burials made from willow branches and buried within the roots of nature, a deep exploration into the soothingness of forest bathing, and ancestorial Viking boat building, mixed with historical events surrounding kings, queens, and wars from centuries ago.
Along this journey, the author shares stories of several others who have profoundly deep connections to trees or the woodlands. One of the most interesting for me was what we can not see. The millions of fungal species and networks exist along the forest floor and deep, deep below us. It is as though we were walking along the top of the ocean. The sea life below is an astounding fungal world pushing life up through the surface in the form of plants, and mushrooms, and communicating throughout woodlands.
I highly recommend this book. Nature in this form is almost spiritual as the author explains, "it is the nature of this love for trees, for woodlands and for wood as a material with which our pasts and futures are profoundly enmeshed."
Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the ARC.
#netgalley #theheartofthewoods #wylmenmuir #guartopublishinggroup
Along the way, there were stories to share of sacred woodlands, passed down stories of forests with spirits, myths, and legends within the groves. People who plant trees that follow the growth charts of loved ones, and leave legacies in creating small woodlands under the famous banner of "Blessed is he who plants trees under whose shade he will never sit." There are serene and peaceful burials made from willow branches and buried within the roots of nature, a deep exploration into the soothingness of forest bathing, and ancestorial Viking boat building, mixed with historical events surrounding kings, queens, and wars from centuries ago.
Along this journey, the author shares stories of several others who have profoundly deep connections to trees or the woodlands. One of the most interesting for me was what we can not see. The millions of fungal species and networks exist along the forest floor and deep, deep below us. It is as though we were walking along the top of the ocean. The sea life below is an astounding fungal world pushing life up through the surface in the form of plants, and mushrooms, and communicating throughout woodlands.
I highly recommend this book. Nature in this form is almost spiritual as the author explains, "it is the nature of this love for trees, for woodlands and for wood as a material with which our pasts and futures are profoundly enmeshed."
Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the ARC.
#netgalley #theheartofthewoods #wylmenmuir #guartopublishinggroup
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews