The Hidden Life of Trees: The Illustrated Edition

by Peter Wohlleben, Jane Billinghurst (Translator)

A visually stunning journey into the diversity and wonders of forests.

In his international bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben opened readers’ eyes to the amazing processes at work in forests every day. Now this new, breathtakingly illustrated edition brings those wonders to life like never before.

With compelling selections from the original book and stunning, large-format photographs of trees from around the world, this gorgeous volume distills the essence of Wohlleben’s message to show trees in all their glory and diversity. Through rich language highlighting the interconnectedness of forest ecosystems, the book offers fascinating insights about the fungal communication highway known as the “wood wide web,” the difficult life lessons learned in tree school, the hard-working natural cleanup crews that recycle dying trees, and much more. Beautiful images provide the perfect complement to Wohlleben’s words, with striking close-ups of bark and seeds, panoramas of vast expanses of green, and a unique look at what is believed to be the oldest tree on the planet.

Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Science, Environment, Photography, Read For School, Art and Photography

176 pages, Hardcover

Published August 28, 2018

About the author

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

Reviews

[JZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most beautiful books I've ever had the pleasure of holding in my hands and looking at with awe.

I live in the woods, so I'm biased, but, really, the photography is exquisite. I was a photographer for about 40 years before eye problems forced me to other pursuits.

But, it's more than that. The choice of the paper, the size, and the arrangement is not American, and I mean that as a compliment. What books have become in this country is truly disappointing. Shiny paper is not optimal, but it's cheaper, I guess, than the quality of this book.

What I read of the text made me want more. When I found out that this is an abriged version of the printed version, I decided to go for the full monty. I'm on hold for the audiobook. Review to follow, if they let me review two versions, oh mighty GR gods.

[Barbara K · Rating 5 out of 5]

An early Christmas present - a coffee table book version of Wohleben's observations on trees and forests. Gorgeous!

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Equally gorgeous and informative, this book combines selections from Wohlleben's classic The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World with stunning photos and top-of-the-line production to make this a "must have" for every amateur naturalist or woodland hiker out there.

THE TEXT: I'm sure the full-length original was even more fascinating, but this condensed version contained more than enough info to blow my mind on nearly every page. Without going into what would likely be endless detail or examples, the book summarizes the many ways in which trees form a true arboreal (and surprisingly human-like) society. They communicate with and defend/support each other; they think, strategize and have memories; they even have distinct personalities and emotions. Indeed, I couldn't help being constantly reminded of Sue Burke's excellent sci-fi novel Semiosis about sentient alien plants on a distant planet...because the "aliens" are already right here among us, and have been for millennia! This should almost be called "The Hidden Life of Forests," because this is really more about the endless interactions between trees themselves and the various networks of microbes, fungi, animals, that tie it all together — the "wood wide web." (That all said, I can't personally vouch for any of the science here; the one fact I was able to check [and seemingly prove wrong] was Wohlleben's claim that the human body sheds 10 billion skin cells each day...which certainly sounded high, and indeed the internet corrected this to somewhere between 50-500 million — which granted, is still a helluva lot — so there may be other factual errors here as well.)

THE PHOTOS: Just stunning, every one — but not the work of any particular photographer; just an outstanding collection of shots from various sources and stock photo shops. But still, just...wow.

Like pretty much all such nature books from the past 20-30 years, there is a depressing undertone here when discussing the future — the escalating cycle of deforestation and climate change; the replacement of old growth forest with cheap "shit wood;" etc. I personally live in one of those Northern Virginia housing developments built on what was previously unbroken forest, obviously all gone now but for the one (non-native) cherry and (non-native) maple stuck in the front yard, and which I now can't think of as anything but "orphans" living in lonely isolation, cut off from any sense of community and with their roots quietly crying out into the silent and disconnected underground void... 😥

Flowers may be the flamboyant prima donnas of the plant world, but give me a good forest over a garden any day!

[Laura Hoffman Brauman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am somewhat obsessed by trees. This beautiful edition of Wohlleben’s work on the ways that trees are connected and work together for the good of the collective group has been calling to me. It’s been a busy fall and we’ve not been able to spend the time hiking that we normally would. Spending a few hours with this fascinating work, full of gorgeous photography helped ease the longing I had for time spent wandering in the woods. This is a perfect combination of science and art . . . And would be an ideal gift for someone who looks at the cover and reflexively finds themselves taking a deep breath.

[Charlie N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t usually read non-fiction, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Wohlleben uses very simplistic and fun language, making it so easy to read while gaining a lot of information. Def recommend, you’ll never look at trees the same😉

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. Wohlleben explains the latest scientific findings about trees and their forest community in a clearly understandable (and often mind blowing) way. This edition couples the science with stellar beautiful photos of forests and trees. Would highly recommend.

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a beautiful book. I absolutely loved it. The science of trees - how they communicate, depend on each other, and survive - is just unbelievably cool. And the photographs in this illustrated edition really add to the beauty of the book. I would like to read the full version one day!

“The [Swiss] constitution reads, in part, that "account [is] to be taken of the dignity of creation when handling animals, plants and other organisms."

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illuminating and enriching.

[Mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing and beautiful.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book exceeded my expectations and will easily fit onto my “2026 Top Ten Best Reads of the Year”, I am sure.
First, I have a confession to make. I clicked on the “illustrated” edition of this book by accident. As I was updating my progress, I finally realized that there WAS an illustrated edition of this book! To be true, although I had been thoroughly enjoying the 2015 hardbound edition, I ordered the “abridged” illustrated edition from my local library, to see what wonderful illustrations that I had been missing.
Now, here my review gets strange.
For the first time that I can remember, I found the illustrated edition to be lacking. It was somehow weaker than the plain text hardbound copy. The pictures were nice, but they were foreign, taken at various locations around the world, whereas the text of the book, the stories shared, were mainly confined to the German and Austrian forests that the author was so familiar with, and had been describing all through the book.. It seemed that the pictures actually distracted from his fascinating stories and observations. Again, the illustrated edition is an abridged edition so that some of the valuable text is missing, edited out.
After examining the pictures, I returned to the comfort of my complete, unedited edition.
The author Peter Wohllben has been managing forests in the Hummel, Germany forest for over 40 years. He is engaged in the same type of work as the Canadian Professor of Forest Ecology, DR. Suzanne Simard.
So how do trees communicate and support each other in the forest, and how can we be sure? Read this book and find out.
I believe that my favorite chapter in this book is “Street Kids”, how trees planted in urban settings have to fight extra hard to survive.

[Kee Onn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrated version of the book is also an abridged, condensed version of the original translation. That being said, the combination of Peter's narrative and visually compelling photos of trees and other flora drives home the message - that the "hidden life" of trees is that they are not solitary sentinels but a community that thrives on interaction and interdependence. Communication between trees are recently found to exist in the form of scents, transmitting warning signs or coordinating signals to bloom flowers simultaneously in the spring. A tree is also only as good as the forest it lives in, with quality increasing with age as the decay from older trees nourishes the young trees and also the communities of fungi and animals that shares the ecosystem. The structures of trees is also discussed, and how trees who lives in close proximity can sometimes support one another in weathering a storm or a bad drought. The next time a reader walks through the woods, they will be observing the trees and their surroundings in a whole new light.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading The Overstory I immediately wanted to read much more on the tree science behind that novel, for which Hidden Life of Trees has been given mush of the credit. I thought I had ordered the text version of this book, but what I got was a very nice to look at coffee table book with gorgeous photos but very diluted content.

An undeniably beautiful book, but the text, which is what I wanted, was very skant on facts or details and mostly a fluffy celebration on why trees are great. Which is fine, but somewhat less than what I was expecting. There was a bit too much "this could possibly result in", "this might effect" etc etc. Clearly a very passionate book about trees and a basic primer for the original version. I'm waiting eagerly for the text version to arrive as even the slightest detail from this illustrated version has made me view my own patch of native forest in a very different way.

[Michael Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strong coffee table book that's actually worth picking up and reading as well as looking at, even if all the pictures seem to be random stock images from iStock.com. It's a breezy read, Wohlleben dumbs things down in a way I find incredibly helpful. I actually did not realize that the illustrated edition is an abridged version of a full text, which was a bit of a bummer—I was reading this because I was interested in trees, not because I wanted cool pictures. I imagine if you're genuinely interested in learning more information about trees, the unabridged version is what you're really looking for. But I don't regret picking this up at all.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for the illustrated hard cover edition. In the Afterword, the author noted that this publication is an abridged edition of the original book he wrote with the same title. Not sure if it is worthwhile to read the unabridged version. I enjoyed the photographs but I noticed in the credits that most are stock photos and not particularly related to the particular types of trees or environments he is describing in the book.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review coming soon on https://booksnooks.wordpress.com/ , but I loved this book with my whole soul!

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I’m even MORE amazed by trees

[m i c h e l l e · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christmas gift from Tyler. Never has a book stirred so much awe and wonder in me. I am thrilled Wohlleben has several more books to feast on.

[Brian Kerr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buy the book for its magnificent photography and enjoy the descriptive life of trees, you will be enlightened.

[Danie Beaulieu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the true purpose of nature is to teach us.

Every living thing—a tree, an insect, an animal, a river, a rock, the ocean, even the silence of the forest—seems to carry wisdom waiting to be noticed.

Whenever I find myself alone in nature, I often look closely at one small thing near me and ask myself: If this were meant to teach me something, what would it be?

And somehow, there is always an answer.

That is what made The Hidden Life of Trees such a treasure chest for me.

Beyond the fascinating scientific discoveries, this book quietly reminds us that so much in life is communicated without words. Trees support one another, protect one another, adapt, communicate, survive, and coexist in ways that mirror lessons we humans are still struggling to learn.

This book deepened not only my admiration for nature, but also my sense that we are constantly surrounded by silent teachers—if only we slow down enough to listen.

[Daniel Pearse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting information with beautiful photos of trees. This really makes me rethink my relationship with the trees on my property.

[Tianna Hewitson · Rating 4 out of 5]

definitely changed my perspective on trees a bit anthropomorphic but maybe thats what needed for a mindset shift

[Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

An abridged version of The Hidden Life of Trees, with beautiful color photographs from around the world.

[Lexis More · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm buying copies for my friends.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

stunning and grounding

[Kayla Zabcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

"If every tree were looking out only for itself, then quite a few of them would never reach old age. Regular fatalities would result in many large gaps in the tree canopy, which would make it easier for storms to get inside the forest and uproot more trees. The heat of the summer would reach the forest floor and dry it out. Every tree would suffer. Every tree, therefore, is valuable to the community and worth keeping around for as long as possible."

A gorgeous book, on par with Robin Wall Kimmerer's "Gathering Moss" and "Braiding Sweetgrass"; it's not just information and facts about nature, but a love-letter to life itself. I've always felt connected to trees - as I imagine most anyone who has spent any amount of time around an old tree or two does - and of course, I've always intellectually known their importance and value, but this book reminds us that trees are important for simply being living creatures in and of themselves. This book will change the way you look at and interact with trees for the rest of your life.

"You find twice the amount of life-giving nitrogen and phosphorus in plants that cooperate with fungal partners than in plants that tap the soil with their roots alone."

"What if you cut a tree down? Is it then dead? What about the centuries-old stump I introduced you to at the beginning of this book that is still alive today, thanks to its comrades? Is that a tree? And, if it isn't, then what is it?"

"Right now, the majority of plant researchers are skeptical about whether such behavior points to a repository for intelligence, the faculty of memory, and emotions. Among other things, they get worked up about carrying over findings in similar situations with animals and, at the end of the day, abut how this threatens to blur the boundary between plants and animals. And so what? What would be so awful about that?"

"Slow growth when the tree is young is a prerequisite if a tree is to live to a ripe old age [...] thanks to slow growth, their inner woody cells are tiny and contain almost no air. That makes the trees flexible and resistant to breaking in storms. Even more important is their heightened resistance to fungi, which have difficultly spreading through the tough little trunks."

"The more living and dead wood there is in the forest the thicker the layer of humus on the ground and the more water is stored in the total forest mass. Evaporation leads to cooling, which, in turn, leads to less evaporation. To put it another way, in summer an intact forest sweats for the same reason people do and with same result."

"Minute soil organisms, the first link in the forest food chain, are like terrestrial plankton."

"Large quantities of moss on the branches and in the branch dorks of trees [...] capture nitrogen from the air and process it into a dorm the trees can use. Rain then washed this natural fertilizer down the trunks and into the soil, making it available to the roots. Thus, old trees fertilize the forest and help their offspring get a better start in life."

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the book, even while I had some criticisms of it. It’s exactly the kind of science writing I love reading.
 
I don’t know enough to vet the science itself, but the ideas are enchanting. (I would love to hear feedback from plant scientists and botanists and foresters, though my impression is that they are still working through this issue and the science isn’t settled yet.) I think, whether the facts are all the way true (or true in the way he claims) aren’t as important as the shift in thinking and philosophy it represents.
 
We have for the last couple of centuries tended to view science as compartmentalized. This is a species. This is a gender. This is what this organism does.
 
This book reflects, and is part of, a shift in thinking to seeing that things (organisms, species, ecosystems, groups) are far more interconnected and interdependent than we previously imagined.
 
You absolutely cannot study one thing in isolation – the context is just as important as the thing. We were literally looking at the forest and seeing only the trees when that’s an absurd view. That’s not how trees view themselves. That’s not how forests work. I love the feeling that we are only beginning to understand how amazing, intricate, and interwoven the natural world actually is.

Some of my friends and relatives who read the book didn't like it for its over-the-top language and anthropomorphism. I could absolutely see that. Some of it (the learning bit) was over-the-top for me, too. However, Wohlleben's style of writing comes off as very true to a forest ecologist. This is exactly how many of them talk. He sounded familiar, but I could see that tone and some word choices being off-putting to other science-y folks.

Not for me though. I tend to view the world through a very, not anthropomorphic, because not human centered but maybe sapienpomorphic? A quantum scientist once told me that either everything is conscious or nothing is, and I’ve sort of adopted that as my worldview.

I also think a lot of it may come down to a proximate versus an ultimate explanation for the actions. We can know about chemical diffusion and electrical impulses, and ecological and evolutionary explanations. But those could actually coexist with a higher order explanation without invalidating the chemistry and physics of it all. I am not saying that trees are people.

But I am saying that I am not ready to rule it out

[Ashley Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

informative and easy to read with awesome pictures!

[David R. Barratt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this felt like being gently unspooled into a forest that had been watching me the whole time; patient, breathing, ancient. The Hidden Life of Trees doesn’t just teach you about botany; it whispers secrets passed between roots and reminds you that the woods were never silent, only waiting for you to listen.

Peter Wohlleben writes like a druid with a PhD; equal parts science and soul. He doesn’t just describe how trees communicate, nurture, and defend each other; he re-enchants the entire idea of the forest. Suddenly, moss is a nurse, fungi are telegram wires, and that quiet beech you pass on your morning walk might be grieving its fallen kin or warning others of drought.

It’s brilliant, not just in its insight, but in its ability to rewire your senses. After reading, you can’t help but move through trees like a guest in someone’s living cathedral. It gives weight to leaves, intention to stillness, and an almost mythic nobility to decay. Every trunk becomes a tale. Every root system, a conspiracy of care.

There’s no melodrama here; just quiet awe and unshakable respect. Wohlleben brings the magic without ever sacrificing the facts. It’s the kind of book that reshapes how you walk, look, breathe.

5/5 would recommend if you’ve ever stood in a forest and felt, for a moment, that something older than memory was watching and maybe, just maybe, it knew your name.

[Squirrel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Choose to comment without a 'rating' because the text is fascinating and engrossing, insightful, thought-provoking, the images ranging from excellent to quite nice. However the two often do not go together, and the photos are almost all stock images readily available on the web. It seem to me as if a publisher decided to create this edition without bothering to send a photographer to consult with the author? As the photos generally did not illuminate the text or add to my understanding or appreciation of it, I prefer the text-only version of this book. For the photos I really liked, I simply looked at the credits at the back, did a basic web search, and saved the images digitally, noting the page number on which each appeared.

A picture is worth 1,000 words - especially if that image shows us what the author is seeing or imagining. That does not seem to be the case with this version. Were a publisher to have a photographer actually work with the author, I expect that would be a version I would value.

I did, however, find some fab photographers online while researching the stock photos used.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

With a background in forestry, ecology and education, Peter Wohlleben knows a thing or two about trees, and he's passionate about sharing his knowledge with the aim of improving the health of forests worldwide. I read the illustrated version of this book, which I didn't realize at first was abridged. While it left me wondering how much I was missing, for now at least I think I'm OK with just the highlights. What drew me to this edition was the gorgeous, gorgeous photography — truly breathtaking! The text left me with novel insights and many new ideas to chew on with respect to forestry, ecology and environmentalism. What it taught me about trees was frequently mind-blowing, and I continually found myself thinking, regarding each fascinating new morsel, "Are forestry departments in my country aware of this?" (Now I know why my local oak trees produce a combined explosion of acorns in only certain years!) I feel grateful to live at a time when the possibility of acquiring this depth of knowledge about non-animal beings even exists.