In the Circle of Ancient Trees: Our Oldest Trees and the Stories They Tell

by Valerie Trouet

Beautifully packaged to make the perfect gift, this captivating book about dendrochronology—the study of tree rings—uncovers the stories of 10 species of ancient trees, their unique environments and climates, and what they have to tell us about the history of our world.

Ingrained and encrypted in the growth rings of every tree are stories of its environment and the events to which it bore witness. In the Circle of Ancient Trees presents the stories of ten ancient tree varieties in engrossing chapters written by ecologists with specialist knowledge. From the Bosnian pine to the giant sequoia, from the United States, to Europe, to South America, these essays explore how human and environmental history share common roots, while drilling down into the ecology, persistence, and resilience of trees.

Beautifully designed, and illustrated with wood-engravings and graphics that visualize each tree’s chronology and geography, In the Circle of Ancient Trees considers what lessons for our future might be discovered in our planet’s past.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Science, History

224 pages, Hardcover

Published October 14, 2025

About the author

Prof. dr. Valerie Trouet bestudeert al meer dan twintig jaar de klimaatverandering aan de hand van jaarringen van bomen. Wereldwijd wordt ze erkend als een van de topexperts op het vlak van dendrochronologie. Ze is verbonden aan het Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research van de University of Arizona (VS) en publiceerde eerder onder meer in Nature en Science.

Reviews

[Dirk Vereecke]

Het is fascinerend om te lezen welke kennis we uit bomen kunnen halen. Vooral het verhaal over de zomereik boeit.

Ik ga nu nooit meer zomaar voorbij een boom lopen, ook al zijn er zo’n 3.000 miljard bomen op aarde.

[Bernard]

Thoughtfully written, beautifully illustrated. This book tells the stories of some of Earth’s oldest trees in a way that manages to be both deeply personal and impressively informative. It made me wish I could be a dendrochronologist so that I could be privy to even more secrets of the trees

[Lucas Adriaenssens]

Om twee redenen had ik dit boek ter hand genomen: 1) de titel is een leuke woordspeling en 2) ik ben wel een bomenliefhebber; vrij milde redenen om één bepaald boek uit te kiezen.

Wat trof ik aan? Ik las een boek dat ruist van de passie voor een exacte wetenschap, de dendrachronologie, die zo aanstekelijk is dat zelfs ik met enorm plezier door het boek kon bladeren!
De verschillende bijdragen vertakken de inhoud over de hele wereld, geen boomdragend hoekje van de wereld blijft onvermeld, én ook dat maakt het zo enorm fascinerend: bomen bevatten klimatologische archieven met een verbluffende accuratesse die verder terugreiken dan enige menselijke kennisbron. Klimaatveranderingen en meteorologische fenomenen vallen "simpelweg" af te lezen in de jaarringen van een boom. Ver-bluf-fend!

Zoals vele bijdragen in dit boek dan ook aanstippen, is de dendrachronologie een onontbeerlijke wetenschap om bv. aan datering van archeologische sites en objecten of aan duurzaam bosbeheer te kunnen doen. Je kan aflezen welke bomen waar en onder welke omstandigheden goed groeien; herbebossingsprogramma's blijken vooral gericht op het planten van vele bomen, maar als de aangeplante soorten op die specifieke locatie niet goed staan, zullen ze geen lang leven leiden.

Een geweldig boek met tal van verrijkende inzichten op een toegankelijk niveau! De liefde van de auteurs werkt aanstekelijk. Ik weet dat ik nu zeker – hoewel ik weinig oude bomen in mijn omgeving vermoed – met heel andere ogen naar onze bladerdragende vrienden zal kijken!

[Juliëtte van Overbeek]

Na een lezing van Valerie Trouet heb ik dit boek gekocht. Dit boek leest een beetje als short story’s waarin telkens een andere dendrochronoloog je meeneemt in zijn of haar persoonlijke reis, gekoppeld aan één boomsoort. Ze nemen je mee in de puzzel van de jaarringen en laten zien hoe bomen verhalen vertellen over klimaat, natuur en menselijke geschiedenis. Plus, dit boek bevat prachtige tekeningen!

[Myles]

This book is physically very beautiful and feels so nice to hold. The textures in the covers are amazing and the pages feel stiff and high-quality. The contents of the book are beautiful as well; 10 dendrochronologists highlight their favorite trees, their incredible research, and advocate for the protection of those ancient beings. A new favorite highlight in my collection.

[Rozemarijn]

Ik hou van bomen! Very lovely, erg interessant

[Clayton Ellis]

The cover and title are beautiful. I like the concept of dendrochronology. But I was hoping to have something more… that I would fall in love with and just pick up and wrap myself around a book about trees. It wasn’t quite like that unfortunately.

[Rex Wu]

A beautiful book, but the content is sparse. There is too much information overlap between the chapters. I would love to learn more about the common theme connecting all the trees.

[Laney]

“Our Oldest Trees and the Stories They Tell”

This book was a delight to read, offering a fascinating glimpse into a diverse range of ancient trees through the eyes of various dendrochronologists. You can feel their passion for the subject on every page. Learning about these specific trees from people who truly appreciate their majesty and significance felt like the perfect way to be introduced to them.

There were so many thoughtful elements throughout. I especially loved the visuals, particularly the trees presented as timelines, which really helped put everything into perspective. Reading about these remarkable trees, it is nearly impossible not to feel awed by their longevity and presence. A beautiful and deeply informative book.

Thank you to Greystone Books, Valerie Trouet, Blaze Cyan, and all the incredible contributors for the opportunity to read this book and provide my honest review!

[Sarah L]

This was a wonderful book that blended science with a more human and spiritual dimension. I enjoyed reading the diverse perspectives of researchers from different backgrounds each studying the same concept but with a different focal species. While some of the overlap in stories felt repetitive at times, overall I greatly enjoyed this book. Those not coming from a scientific background may need to be willing to look up a few things that aren’t well-explained, but hopefully this is an enjoyable learning experience to dive deeper into a fascinating, cross-disciplinary topic.

[Daniel Stewart]

A beautiful and informative exploration of dendrochronology and ancient trees around the world. Each of the ten chapters is written by a research scientist about their focal species, and with that comes a variety of writing quality and style. Overall I’d say it is pretty technical, and unfortunately not super friendly to the average reader. Still it is a worthwhile and fairly quick read, and was a perfect match for me while on a trip to the old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest.

[Margo]

Several years ago, I learned about dendrochronology and was fascinated by it, but really didn’t look into learning more about it. This book gave me a deep dive into some of the oldest living tree species in the world and what scientists are learning from their rings. The trees tell us about human history and ecological history.


Favorite quote:
“All these trees, …., bear witness of the changes around them and connect us with the past, the present, and the future.“

[Mackenzie Calhoun]

I judged this book by its cover (it’s gorgeous) and was not disappointed. I learned so much about dendochronology and I liked to learn about each of the tree species, only a few of which I was already familiar with. It helps that I am in Earth Science and this is a keen interest of mine. It came up a bunch in my life too-excited for my next read, 2025 slump was real!

[Dani]

I love trees and therefore love stories about trees! I learned a lot about dendrochronology and found the described climate patterns from the ancient past to be very interesting and informative with much less drama than current media portrays. One of the best things about the book was its text printed in the colour green.

[Peter Corens]

ben meer fan van het eerste boek van Trouet, maar dit is een lezenswaardige herhaling voor wie ook graag wat persoonlijke verhalen van de verschillende onderzoekers leest.
ik vond het zelf een beetje te self-centered, maar het biedt wel een nieuw perspectief.

[Braekeveldt]

If better prepared amongst the different writers about what each one would focus upon it would have improved the quality of the book.
Nothing better than the book written by Valerie Trout herself....that is an interesting jewel

[Rachel Castille]

Everything you never thought you needed to know about tree rings. The passion of the author is evident:
“The first time I held a cross-section of such a bog oak I felt transported 7000 years back in time.”

[Jolan Wouters]

Prachtige compilatie van verhalen die elke boomliefhebber zullen ontroeren. Ook een buitengewoon aangename en aantrekkelijke lay-out en cover. Dit werk zal zeker meer mensen de waarde van Bomen doen inzien.

[Shazza Maddog]

This is a beautiful book and the art is stunning but the language was a bit over my head. I DNF at the second chapter.

[Katie]

It was a slow read but fascinating.

[Kevin]

Interesting to read about the breadth of types of old tree. Some of the writing is uneven, but the subject matter is interesting and the book looks beautiful.

[Shelby Beavers]

Accessible and interesting even for the non scientist reader. Beautiful individual stories that mix history, science, and humanity.

[Tom Hermans]

Voor biologen en oprecht in de natuur geïnteresseerden: topboek.
Voor leken misschien iets te vaktechnisch. Maar toch aangenaam leesvoer.