The Wood for the Trees

by Richard Fortey, Mike Grady (Reading)

From one of our greatest science writers, this biography of a beech-and-bluebell wood through diverse moods and changing seasons combines stunning natural history with the ancient history of the countryside to tell the full story of the British landscape. 'The woods are the great beauty of this country... A fine forest-like beech wood far more beautiful than anything else which we have seen in its vicinity' is how John Stuart Mill described a small patch of beech-and bluebell woodland, buried deeply in the Chiltern Hills and now owned by Richard Fortey. Drawing upon a lifetime of scientific expertise and abiding love of nature, Fortey uses his small wood to tell a wider story of the ever-changing British landscape, human influence on the countryside over many centuries and the vital interactions between flora, fauna and fungi. The trees provide a majestic stage for woodland animals and plants to reveal their own stories. Fortey presents his wood as an interwoven collection of different habitats rich in species. His attention ranges from the beech and cherry trees that dominate the wood to the flints underfoot; the red kites and woodpeckers that soar overhead; the lichens, mosses and liverworts decorating the branches as well as the myriad species of spiders, moths, beetles and crane-flies. The 300 species of fungi identified in the wood capture his attention as much as familiar deer, shrews and dormice. Fortey is a naturalist who believes that all organisms are as interesting as human beings - and certainly more important than the observer. So this book is a close examination of nature and human history. He proves that poetic writing is compatible with scientific precision. The book is filled with details of living animals and plants, charting the passage of the seasons, visits by fellow enthusiasts; the play of light between branches; the influence of geology; and how woodland influences history, architecture and industry. On every page he shows how an intimate study of one small wood can reveal so much about the natural world and demonstrates his relish for the incomparable pleasures of discovery.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Science, Natural History, History, Audiobook, Memoir

Audiobook

First published May 5, 2016

About the author

Richard Alan Fortey was a British palaeontologist, natural historian, writer and television presenter, who served as president of the Geological Society of London for its bicentennial year of 2007.

Reviews

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out interesting, and I've liked a number of his previous books (he's a fellow-geologist). This one's about his retirement home in a rural, wooded of England, and his efforts to get to know it. It would probably be more interesting to me if I lived in that general area. As I don't, I've stalled & may or may not continue.

Returned unfinished. 2.5 stars for me, but UK readers shouldn't be put off -- he's a fine writer.

[Darrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I grow up I want to be like Richard Fortey.

I noted early on that when I first started reading this book I thought I would grow bored of reading about the natural history of a forest in the UK. Boy was I wrong.

I loved this book because, if you know me, or at least are friends with me on FB, you know how much I like taking photos of the flora and fauna that inhabit our back yard. If I had my druthers, I would stay home and catalog it, learn to draw it, and explore the inner workings of how it all creates an ecology behind our garage and under the 100 year old oak tree with it's beautiful canopy.

My intention fresh out of high school as a newly minted freshman at the University of Michigan was to major in the biological sciences or failing that, paleontology. Well, that never happened and now I sit here with a Russian Language and Literature degree that has no relevance to what I currently do, event planning for a 5 star hotel here in my hometown. All the same, nature and natural history still hold a fascination for me and Richard Fortey, the now retired British paleontologist, formerly of Oxford University has written a book that encompasses the natural history and human history of Grim's Dyke Wood, a small forest that he and his wife, Jackie, purchased in 2011.

He is a captivating writer with a dry wit and seemingly natural aptitude for describing his explorations in minute detail. The story, or rather history, is told in vignettes, roughly starting with the earliest history of the area to modern times. Each chapter is a month, starting with April and proceeding through the year. The vignettes weave the story of the seasonal flora and fauna, human habitation and exploitation of Grim's Dyke Wood and the area that surrounds the wood and the impact it has and has had over time. At the end of it all the story he tells is a continuous and seamless whole.

Books like this one lead me to explore other interests and to find other books, which I already have. I am also inspired to take more photos, take more notes and find out more about the little patch of wilderness in my own backyard.

[Mackay · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting, gentle, fabulous book. It reads like a memoir, but it's a mélange of many things, include a few recipes and how-to ideas mixed in, about a little wood and all its denizens in the Chiltern Hills of England. Some history, some easily digested science, some poetic descriptions... In a time of extreme stress and unhappiness that the end of 2016 is, this book brought peace and contemplation as nothing else has. I just hope the Grim's Dyke Wood survives what the next years bring.

[Irene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know what whoever wrote the description for this book was thinking, but this was not what I was promised.

This book felt... crusty, for lack of a better word. There were remarkably few sections about the woods, and even though I found them really interesting, they were unfortunately bookended by completely irrelevant musings about whether some aristocratic figure or celebrity-adjacent person had at some point walked around there, sections about the British monarchy, a mini bio of a random slave owner that Fortey described as "self-made", and other unrelated historical passages. When the description said that this book "combines stunning natural history with the ancient history of the countryside to tell the full story of the British landscape", I thought it meant he would be talking about the history of the woods, not any and all history factoids Fortey felt like telling me about, regardless of where in the country they were taking place. He'd be telling me about mushrooms and suddenly we were talking about Elizabeth I.

This was, above all, about Fortey's ownership of the land and managing the woods. And by "managing" I mean it in the traditional British way of using it as a resource and not ever leaving it alone. I've never heard another naturalist call anything a "noxious weed" either.

Lastly, if you're going to make an audiobook version and there's a section discussing bat calls, not including them in audio form seems like a missed opportunity, especially since I can't see the graphic from the printed version. A huge disappointment.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Able to draw you from one intense and vivid description of beauty to the next.


The Wood for the Trees is a title with two meanings. It refers to a saying, "Can't see the wood for the trees" which is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as, "to be unable to understand a situation clearly because you are too involved in it". The first meaning possibly could involve the Darwinian history of the area, as described to the reader by the author. The other meaning, more closely embracing this beautiful book, is a reference to the specific land that the author and his wife purchased, Grimm's Dyke Wood, and what he decides to do with it.

Richard Fortey is a highly regarded paleontologist who has written a number of well received books. The Wood for the Trees is a chronicle, month by month, of how he views the four acres named Grimm's Dyke Wood which he and his wife Jackie have bought, are beginning to learn about, and are falling in love with. The subtitle, "One Man's Long View of Nature" is an example of how the author will combine the present with the past using his extraordinary talents as an observer, along with those of some of his friends, to create a distilled perception of this place he now calls home. Formerly, this "classic English beechland" has been inhabited, changed, altered and lived on for thousands of years.
Early on in this book, he speaks of a cabinet of curiosities, such as English gentlemen had in the 1800s. He commissions one from a local artisan, using a felled cherry wood tree from his acreage.

It is impossible to describe how exciting, fascinating, thoughtful and informative this book is. It spans thousands of years. It also reflects on microscopically proportioned living creatures in Grimm's Dyke Wood, and how they affect life for the author, his wife and his friends.

The intention of the book is to understand what has happened to this parcel of land and what will happen to it, now that Great Britain's economy doesn't rise and fall with rivers, water, and, most specifically, woodlands.


If you love nature you will be hanging on every single word Richard Fortey writes. You will picture every single leaf he describes, the color of the light through the trees, the shapes of their trunks and, for example, the masses of English bluebells. They are described in crowds are so magnificent you can see what he sees, and your breath is taken away.
The author explains that as he began to know his own property better, he realizes that the romantic view of the forest is only one part of what he wishes to convey. His other intention is to convey (not surprisingly, given his background) a scientific, forensic view. If you are fascinated by birdsong, cherry blossoms, genetic mutations in the woods (a lone white bluebell) and even a recipe for Ground Elder Soup, the chapter "April" will have you entranced and off you go into this amazing book.

In "June" it is time for a bit of mothing. This is something the author's friends do, with traps.The generator they bring along with their trap attract a number of beautiful moths. The author and his friends outside of the light and identify the moths. The purpose of this will simply be to photograph and then let the moths go. It is a beautifully described intriguing foray into night time in the woods. It was written in such a vibrant manner, I might as well have been there



"October" brings beechnuts showering down from the trees, as well as a masterful discussion of mushrooms of all sorts. Do not miss it if you are a fungi freak!

In December the author writes that the wood is very still and sharply cold."Every twig is decked with ice" he notes. His descriptions of this time, as Christmas is drawing near, is beautiful. He writes about collecting holly and ivy seeds to propagate with a wonderful absorption.

In March, the vernal equinox draws near and he finds a dormouse's nest for his cabinet!



Richard Fortey weaves his story of these four acres. He has shown how his property has always played its part for thousands of years. It has survived until now. He questions the future. The future of woods. Will it be useful? Formerly, it provided game, fuel, charcoal, chair-legs and more. What does the future hold for wood now?


His cabinet complete, he is able to place his collection of treasures within it, and also the notebook he kept, month by month.
"Curiosity is satisfied, For a while".

A very thought worthy and satisfying book by a truly wonderful author, Richard Fortey.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting listen. I enjoyed learning about the bugs and plants in the small woodland and about the beach forest and how it had been “managed” in the past. At least I knew where it was, having read Three Men in a Boat a long time ago.
I enjoyed the narration by Michael Page.

[Jgrace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wood for the Trees: One Man’s Long View of Nature - Fortey
4 stars

Richard Fortney is a British paleontologist and author. This book is an ongoing journal of a yearlong study of several acres of beech and bluebell wood that he bought after retiring from his position at the British Museum. Each chapter is devoted to a month of the year. Fortey discusses his observations of the botany, biology, and geology of the woodland. He researches the human history of the surrounding area and discusses the ecological issues facing the woodland in the future.

I thought this book was very engaging and readable, in small doses. Each ‘month’ was divided into a variety of sub-topics of two or three pages in length. Such a wide variety of topics; ‘Nettle Fertilizer’, ‘Chanterelle Potatoes’, ‘Saved by the Chair’, ‘Rot and Renewal’. A plethora of trivia: for example, necessary culling and cutting of the Lambeth beeches was made marginally profitable by the demand for Potterish toy broomsticks. Or, did you know that collected deer droppings can be incubated to sprout a variety of microscopic fungi ? Fortey makes it all interesting and occasionally funny with extremely bad, but irresistible puns. This book reminded me of what I used read on lunch breaks, magazine articles from Smithsonian and Natural History magazines. Not a good book to get lost in for hours at a time, but great for a coffee break.

I had the audiobook which is read beautifully by Michael Page, but it is much better to have the text for maps, photography, and other illustrations.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nope.

What a marketing scam. This is not a "biography of a beech-and-bluebell wood". It is Fortey's diary and ego made large. I couldn't even make it through the first chapter.

It's a shame too, because, skimming the text, the bits where Fortey doesn't jump in front of the spotlight are actually well-written and extremely interesting. But I can't tolerate an author who impedes his own work by demanding to be seen and validated.

In the meantime I'll stick to Robert Macfarlane, who knows how take a step back and let the landscape shine.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

So very charming and so very British. I just love the enthusiasm and all the historical and biological facts jammed into this. Richard Fortey buys a woods (go figure) and then learns about beech trees, furniture and walking stick-making, mushrooms, bugs, birds, deer, moss (from the "moss man"!) and all sorts of things. It's all dingley dell, parambulations through the woods and cottages all ticketyboo. The text is charming and enthusiastic, the narrator is charming and veddy veddy British and I just loved it.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Some contemporary nature writing is rich in the details of the author sympathizing in some fuzzy way with the totality of nature and the interconnectedness of things, but engagement with the nitty-gritty details of living animals and plants is not on the literary agenda. I prefer the eloquence of detail. I believe that all organisms are as interesting as human beings, and certainly no less important than the observer" (280).

[Leslie Fitzwater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quaintly, lovingly written memoir. Since I listened to the audiobook, I don't know if there were illustrations to go with his descriptions of the flora and fauna in his beloved woods. I admit to skipping much of the descriptions of fungi, due mostly to my inability to visualize them, and not the author's lack of adequate description. I particularly enjoyed the historical information.

[John Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wood for the Trees, by Richard Fortney; Alfred A. Knopf: New York; $28.95 hardback

We each have physical places we love; we each love something different about our chosen place. Perhaps the history, the natural beauty, some great personal event or revelation, or yet again the flora and fauna draws us especially to a given locale. Richard Fortney, retired paleontologist of the London Natural History Museum, author, and university professor moved to a tiny four acre plot, Grim's Dyke Wood, near Oxford, England. There began his wonderful study which became this book. He writes of 'One Man's Long View Of Nature', and we are all the better for it.

Near the Chiltern Scarp Hills and the ancient Lambridge Wood, Fortney bought his retirement home. From almost the first day he began a diary of what he learned about it. He discovered it was part of a once mighty slice of sandstone some 235 million years old, rumbled down from the Midlands of England. In great, well crafted detail he establishes how this is so, but never to boredom. Indeed, we discover how ancient Britons fought invasions by Vikings, who then became settled, then Romanized, then Christianized. And we do so by accounting for various discoveries near Fortney's property of ruins, tell tale man-made devices, and even coins. Maps guide us further, showing the location of now abandoned roads, cottages, and walls.

Yet this is but a hint of Fortney's remarkable book of curiosities. Using the device of making each chapter correspond to a calendar month of growth and decay, we follow what he found as he explored his land. At the end of this book, you will stand in marvel at what he did through his discoveries, and indeed registry, of his collected flora, fauna, and animal findings.

Fortney is encyclopedic in his interests. We study everything from 'the corpse plant' to Iron Age redoubts. He collects moths which come, interestingly, most often during wet months on his land. Did you know there are more species of crane flies than species of birds? Enough to keep you puzzled about nature's intent, no doubt. Fortney rented a cherry picker to examine the upper reaches of his trees (ash, beech, oak, and a host of different, and explained, others!). Of course, he does so the better to understand the canopy which occurs in the later months of summer and autumn. You'll be interested to know the oldest British yew tree is in Wales, and rivals three thousand year old Turkish yew trees. Why this is important to know will astonish you. And did you know that although some of his fungus species grow in dead beech trees, they live despite there being no nitrogen to keep them alive? This is because microscopic worms inhabit these dead trees too. They have plenty of nitrogen, so the seeping tendrils of the fungus find them, feed on their tiny bodies, and survive.

A host of such fascinating facts inhabit Fortney's little cottage woodland. He discovers microscopic remnants of stone which augur why nettles and berries now inhabit his land. The list could go on, and indeed on, but every fact is utterly fascinating. We are all indebted to him because he will literally make you rethink everything, every tiny thing, you see on your own property. What a wonderful world we inhabit, and we've been made even more aware of it through the patient, clever, and insightful efforts of a caring teacher, Professor Fortney.

[Satid · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is nature writing mixed with natural + cultural + social histories about people and what happened that were located in surrounding area of the woodland owned by the author, not far to the west of London. It is somewhat disappointing for my expectation as I find that the author writes too much about cultural and social histories of places and people, mostly noblemen and luminaries who owned various estates and played cultural and social roles in the area in which the author now lives. I have these books The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature and The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature's Great Connectors by David George Haskel in my mind when I read this book but Mr. Fortey's writing is so different in that he focuses in several more topics other than nature and natural history.

The part about nature is satisfying to me as I learned about a few more plants and fungi and insects I never or know little about. He also touches quite a bit on geography and geology of his area which is somewhat nice to know about. On the part of people and place, I like stories about lay people of the past and their living and livelihood of the past days but find boring the part on luminaries and notable estates and high culture. I have an impression that the author wants to be more inclusive of as many topics he thinks of as relevant but somehow the non-nature part is less fulfilling to me.

For reader who prefer nature and natural history with minimum of other "relevant" topics, I recommend the two books above by professor Haskel. This book The Cabaret of Plants: Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination by Richard Mabey is also in the same vein and should be an admirable read for those who cherish nature writing.

[Ginni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a keen reader of natural history books, so I was pleased to be recommended this author, new to me. I wasn’t disappointed. Richard Fortey was the senior palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum, London. On retiring, he and his wife bought four acres of beech woodland in the Chiltern hills, near Henley-on-Thames, where they live.
This is an in-depth study of the wood and its surrounding area, cleverly written as the diary of a year, beginning with spring in April. Not only does the author cover the natural history of the wood in detail, he also describes the history of the area, social, economic, geological. There is great detail on trees, fungi, insects, plants, lichens, mosses....but Fortey can write beautifully, so this is not a dry scientific study. Of course, because of his career, he was able to call on experts from the NHM to help him survey the wood, adding to the interest of his exploration.
The economic role of woodland in this area plays a key part in the survival of the wood - from fuel for London, to charcoal, furniture making, brush backs, to tent pegs and rifle butts during WW1.
I am slightly biased, as I lived for nearly 20 years in nearby Reading, so I know the area he describes well. It brought back some lovely memories.
I’ll conclude with a quote from the last chapter, ‘March’, which I think sums up my feelings about the book and the writer:-
‘Some contemporary nature writing is rich in the details of the author sympathising in some fuzzy way with the totality of nature and the inter connectedness of things, but engagement with the nitty-gritty details of living animals and plants is not on the literary agenda. I prefer the éloquence of detail. I believe that all organisms are as interesting as human beings, and certainly no less important than the observer.’

[Robert Walkley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eons ago, I read Richard Fortey’s: Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth and enjoyed it (though retaining little of scientific information he presented. Science is not my forte). Recently, I decided to check out what he’d been up to. Enter The Wood for the Trees: One Man’s Long View of Nature. This book, which is divided into twelve chapters, one for each month, is a memoir that tells the story of a plot of land, four acres, that Fortey and his wife bought and moved to in the Chiltern Hills of Oxfordshire, England. Fortey, a retired scientist, seems to know about almost everything he encounters: rocks, trees, insects, birds, and mammals, flowers, and human history from well before Hadrian’s Wall up to George Harrison (another tenant of the Hills.) And when he doesn’t know something, there’s usually an expert around to harvest the necessary info from. Fortey is like a walking encyclopedia (I date myself). Better to say he probably know more about a lot things than even Google or Wikipedia do. But he is a much more personable and genial guide than a computer. He has a wry and often self-deprecating sense of humor. He feels very at home in the world and in his own skin. His book almost disproves Melville’s assertion that “Science lights but cannot warm.” Fortey is a great traveller even though he doesn’t go too far from home. Literally. The book’s main drawback is that Fortey can go on and on for pages about any subject. Great. But what if you’re not interested in that subject? Like flies, for example. Or wasps. . .If you read the book, you’ll learn a lot about Fortey and Chiltern Hills. And when you step outside your front door, you’ll wonder more about the natural world you live in.

[Juliet Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Fortey is a scientist best known for his work in paleontology (you can read my brief reviews of other books of his here). The Wood for the Trees however is a wonderfully thorough exploration of a small patch of woodland that Fortey owns in the Chiltern Hills.

He takes us through the history of the woods through the centuries, including how thewoods have been affected by changing land use patterns and changing fashions in using wood as a material for furniture and fuel. He details the seasonal changes in the plant and animal life of the woods. Fortey isn't the kind of nature writer to wax lyrical about nature in general, he waxes lyrical about the details of things that many people would overlook and he notices everything - he has found well over 300 species of fungi in his wood! He is adept too at making the connections, finding cherry pits that have been nibbled by wood mice and then finding where the mice are living.He is also very aware of his own limitations and has consulted experts in the fields where he isn't able to identify species himself, weaving their input into the complete story of his woods.

Fortey would be a brilliant companion for a walk through any British woodland and reading this book inspires me to pay even more attention when I'm next in the woods.

This is a totally fascinating and satisfying read for anyone who is interested in natural history. A book to enjoy and learn from and read over and over again.

[Sara Van Dyck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful, rich, and disturbing book. In his “piece of classic English beech woodland” Fortey explores a small universe of fungi, small creatures, and plants, along with the human history of the site. He calls on experts to identify organisms, collects moss, a nest, and a flint, for his collection, has a woodworker craft a display “cabinet of curiosities,” and reflects especially on what woods, beech or oak, have meant over the centuries. It’s scientific, charming, and loving.

But I also find it a bit sad to realize that for most of us even to visit such a place is beyond possibility. To have it relatively preserved over the centuries is also amazing. If I have the opportunity to visit a nature preserve, the closest thing to what Fortey owns, I won’t have anything like his intimate experiences over time. I am a transient visitor. Toward the end Fortey reflects on the fact that the wood has survived so far only because it offered economic returns in some periods –and now the local woods are valued not because of their harvest, but because wealthy landowners can afford to keep such woods as hunting preserves. They are luxury items. Or because conservation charities can purchase and manage them, so they become showpieces, islands, valued by local communities but no longer functioning as part of the wider world.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wood For The Trees – One Man’s Long View of Nature by Richard Fortey
A Review by Becky Holland
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN-10: 1101875755
ISBN-13: 978-1101875759
Ratings: 4 stars

‘The Wood for Trees – One Man’s Long View of Nature’ appears at first glance to be another attempt at copying Thoreau by a writer. Then, reading the description of the book, you realize it is not – in fact – it is its’ own story.
Richard Fortey, author and scientist, is a landowner as well. This is where the book’s story comes from – when he purchased around four acres of woodland in the Chiltern Hills of Oxfordshire, England. Fortey pens a tale of exactly what he and his family came across with the land.

With each chapter focusing on the different seasons that Fortey experienced each month – from finding mushrooms in the Fall to tree felling in January and so forth, and so forth. Fortey took to learning and observing and taking notes about each plot, each tree and each plant. His depictions are seasoned with some humor and realism making the tale of the ‘forest.’

In the 300 plus pages, Fortey’s pen envelopes the text similar to an artist’s brush does to a palette and a canvas.
Read it.

[Julie Stielstra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to regularly walk and bird a certain path, through a prairie back to a wide, shallow wetland. After a few years, I had landmarks in my head: that's the Olive-Sided Flycatcher tree; that's the pond where the loon was once; the Black-Crowned Night Herons like to sit over there; this is the Chickadee Woods, and if I'm lucky, the Ospreys might be on their nest. It was like the bar in Cheers: "where everybody knows your name." Or, well, I knew theirs and liked to think maybe some of them recognized me and my dog. So I've always loved the idea of knowing a place so intimately that you know what all the trees are, when the pussy-willows bloom, and where the Red-Headed Woodpeckers swoop. Richard Fortey, after a lifetime of scrutinizing the stony remains of creatures that no longe exist as chief paleontologist of the magisterial Natural History Museum in London, decided it was time to get outside into the living world. He and his wife bought four acres of beech woods, and he settled into learning everything and everyone who lived there. He begins with the spring, figuring out what all those fetal greenlings are that start to poke up out of the leaf litter, and takes us through the year - and through the millennia as well. He counts the trees - and has an elegant cabinet hand-made from a fallen wild cherry tree. He captures moths at night and identifies them by the shape of the fringe on their antennae. He turns over logs and tells us that the tiny orange speckles are a sort of fungus. A bug he doesn't know? He pops it in a jar, gets on the train to London and has his friend the entomologist have a peek and give it its name. It's charming, fascinating - his own curiosity and erudition make it irresistible to look over his shoulder as he stoops down and says, "Oh, look at this!" Fortey credits his wife for the sections on the human history: the landowners, knights, charcoal-burners, and eccentric spinsters who have owned or crossed his wood through the centuries, and the history of his village is intriguing. While I myself am hooked by the history of the 100-year-old house I live in, it may not be as interesting to others, so I found some of this aspect a bit too long. Fortey's friendly ramble will appeal to those who like to turn over rocks and wonder what that many-legged critter is that scurries out, or who find joy in patting the smooth gray bark of a beech tree. He is the companion you would like to have on those outings.

[Waverly Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh bliss! A book that is beautifully written by a British naturalist about a particular place, a small woods, and that place happens to be about 10 miles from the place I am writing about in my historical novel set during the English Civil War. So I get to enjoy not only the wonderful details about bluebells in the beech woods, and the sounds the birds make, and the history of the nearby estates and towns, and the animals that inhabit the wood, but I can count this as research. Like many books about place, it revolves around the seasons, as the author explores different aspects of this patch of woodland he has purchased. I skipped ahead because I had to return the book to the library to read sections most relevant to my research but then went back and read in order through to about June, finding great satisfaction in learning about how the grey squirrels drove out the red squirrels, and what kind of wood is best to burn, and how to make beech leaf noyeau. I will buy a copy as soon as it's available in paperback in November. It's both a reference book and lyric nature writing at its best, and the British seem to be the best at nature writing.

[Frans Robyns · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable and relaxing read, but by no means Fortey's finest work. I actually rather enjoyed the aimless ramblings of a retired palaeontologist as he ponders through what he finds remarkable and a seemingly unremarkable patch of forest. I actually learnt things along the way that I found both interesting and useful, from truffle hunting techniques to the various species of moss and lichen.
However, unlike Fortey's other works which I have always found delightful to read, I feel this work slightly lacks the bigger picture view that stood him out as one of the preeminent science writers of our time. From the description of the book, I was rather excited to learn about the grander implications for natural history in general that examining a patch of forest-land would entail. And sometimes, I was not disappointed. For the majority of the book, however, I was. Perhaps I was going into the book with too high hopes and I should have approached it for what it was; a highly enjoyable and relaxed journey through the author's favourite country walk. This is fine in itself and I honestly did enjoy it, I just wish that it had been marketed as such.

[ClareT · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Too much natural history writing these days seems to dwell on the author's feelings of awe and wonder at the natural world and not enough about the natural world itself. This book doesn't do that. Admittedly it is about a year in Richard Fortey's wood in the Chilterns - or loosely it is about that. There are snippets of information about ghost orchids, beetles, fungi, lichens - some natural history for each month. But, most of the chapters are about the role the wood played and its waxing and waning fortunes over the centuries in the local history and that of Henley on Thames.

I know a lot more about Henley than I ever thought necessary. There are also some bits about local crafts - making charcoal, glass, bricks. The author has done a decent job of writing a book that would appeal to a wide audience, and everything he writes about is incredibly interesting. But, my one gripe is that the natural history seems to occupy less of the book than the local history - I would have liked more beetles and less George Harrison please.

[Betawolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

A senior palaeontologist retires, and takes to pottering around a small patch of woodland as a hobby. The resulting book is a gently-crafted assemblage of minutia, as he roams around making observations of the plants and wildlife, occasionally calling in experts from his professional network, who can provide special expertise on the matter of crane flies or lichen.

Intermixed with this, Fortey outlines the results of historical research on the wood, tying its history in with that of the country generally, and demonstrating how the economics and second-order effects of technology have had specific impact on his small patch of forest, over many centuries. Threads are drawn connecting luminaries as disparate as Charles I and John Stuart Mill to the small wooded area.

There's certainly nothing particularly wrong with this book, and if the above description gave rise to some approval in you, then you will most likely be satisfied. Fortey is detailed in his description and in good command of his prose. I simply failed to be gripped by the subject as much as I might have hoped.

[Stanley B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2011, the author and his wife bought four acres of woodland, just west of London. Named Grim’s Dyke Wood, Mr. Fortey kept “. . . a diary to record wildlife, and the look and feel of the woodland as it passed through diverse moods and changing seasons.”

Each month, starting in April, the author noted the changes he witnessed while adding in the rich history of the area. As a scientist, he explains, sometimes with intricate details, the trees, animals, insects, flowers, lichen, and other fauna and living creatures inhabiting his piece of Earth.

What I found special about the book was the author’s poetic use of words, his playful humor, and his love of nature. He could make the most mundane science sound exciting and sometimes funny. This is also a meditative book as the author balances what he observes with what effect the past has had and what he hopes Grim’s Dyke Wood will be in the future.

[Julie M · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely read. A British gentleman, scientist, and writer walks us through his four acres of English forest following 12 months of a year. He explores his woods in classic detail, from fungal molecules to the trees' canopy, while romping through the history of nearby villages, human history and influence, geology, and literature, all laced with a sense of humor. Altogether it was a thoughtful, provoking, yet relaxing read. Very well-written and edited.

The first thing I did with this book was turn to the index in search of "mycelium" or "mycorrhizal," as they refer to a fairly new science of the forest that is my personal research topic this winter. I was disappointed not to find them in the index. However, I read the book and was very pleased to find good knowledge and many references to the mycorrhizal relationships between fungus, trees, and other species. Sweet!

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting- a year looking at a single stretch of forest in the south of England. The author is a bit of celebrity scientist (I am so happy this is a category that exists) in the UK, having penned a number of pop-sci books and appearing on television.

He bought the woods, and he spends the year cataloging the plants and animals and birds and bugs he finds in them. He worked as a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London, and he leans on his colleagues to assist him in this task.

He also makes some things from the product of the woods- some spirits, a walking cane, a curiosity cabinet, a set of bowls.

Oddity for an American reader: He really digs into the people history and not just the natural history of the woods. The royals and the gentry that passed through or owned the land.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Fortey, recently retired from a successful career as a senior palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London, bought a small section of Lambridge Wood in the Oxfordshire stretch of the Chilterns with this wife, and together they set about exploring the natural and human histories of their new patch. The book that arose out of their endeavours follows a year in the wood from April to March and is an object lesson in nature writing; a successful marriage of the minute with the global, scientifically rigorous but beautifully written with frequent flashes of humour, with a real understanding of the complex web of life supported by the wood and a transporting delight in the natural world.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was delightfully dull. That may seem contradictory, but it’s not.

Richard Fortey delights in the smallest details of his patch of woods. He writes on nearly every conceivable aspect of the wood over the course of a year and this description is informative, whimsical, and often interminably long-winded. This is in no way an edge-of-your-seat, exciting book; it is a charming, thoughtful paean to the complexity and minute detail of nature, history, and the spirit of a place.

In other words, it is the perfect book to soothe the soul in trying times. I recommend listening to an audiobook read by an older British gentleman.

[Katie-Ellen Hazeldine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This quiet book tells the story of a patch of woodland - largely beech, a tree known as 'the widow-maker'- painting the picture as it is unfolding over the seasons, and as it has been evolving over many previous years and centuries. It manages to be broadly educational, specifically instructive, forensic, artistic and poetic at the same time; both personal and universal in vision, a broad brush here, laser point precision there. This is a work of science and beauty, of intellectual inquiry, simple curiosity and love.
No distinctions necessary, and that's just as it should be.
They would be meaningless.

[Emily Garner · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 51% (164 pages). I was really excited for this book and the premise really excited me, but sadly I found the long passages of floaty prose ill-suited to the almanac format.

I left this book hibernating for 2 months but just could not muster up the effort to continue reading it, which is a shame as some sub-chapters were really fascinating (slugs, fungi) but others were painstakingly dull.

I am glad that Richard Fortey has such passions in life, but sadly I did not enjoy reading about them.