Take to the Trees: A Story of Hope, Science, and Self-Discovery in America's Imperiled Forests
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Journalist Marguerite Holloway arrives at the Women's Tree Climbing Workshop as a climbing novice, but with a passion for trees and a deep concern about their future. Run by twin sister tree doctors Bear LeVangie and Melissa LeVangie Ingersoll, the workshop helps people--from everyday tree lovers to women arborists working in a largely male industry--develop impressive technical skills and ascend into the canopy. As Holloway tackles unfamiliar equipment and dizzying heights, she learns about the science of trees and tells the stories of charismatic species, including hemlock, aspen, Atlantic white cedar, oak, and beech. She spotlights experts who are chronicling the great dying that is underway in forests around the world as trees face simultaneous and accelerating threats from drought, heat, floods, disease, and other disruptions.
As she climbs, Holloway also comes to understand the profound significance of trees in her relationship with her late mother and brother. The book's rousing final chapter offers something new: a grander environmental and arboreal optimism, in which the story of trees and their resilience meshes with that of people working to steward the forests of the future, and of community found among fellow tree climbers. A lyrical work of memoir and reportage, Take to the Trees sounds the alarm about rapid arboreal decline while also offering hope about how we might care for our forests and ourselves.
Book Details
- ISBN
- 1324036443
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Authors
- Marguerite Holloway
- Publisher
- W. W. Norton & Company
- Published Date
- May 13, 2025
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 304
- Physical Info
- 0.96 in H x 8.44 in L x 5.88 in W (0.97 lb)
A great book for tree lovers and people concerned about climate change. There's a lot of human interest as well and our deep connection to the trees!
Lots of lovely information about what's happening in the tree canopy all around us, woven into a story of life itself. It will inspire you to spend more time in nature and less time hustling and to pay attention to what the trees can tell us about where we have been and where we are going.
A beautiful homage to the author's mother, an informative book about trees, climate change, and what people are doing to protect different species of trees, and a moving human story of a community of women who work in and with trees.
So beautiful and moving and important
I am in a mind-bending reverie since I finished “Take to the Trees.” It was an expansive, almost prayerful experience to read. I thought I was a hopeless tree lover, but I will never look at a tree, or plant, or forest again the same way again. Holloway has brought her grace as a writer, her empathy and sense of adventure as a human, and her deep knowledge as an environmental science reporter to this monumental subject. My favorite parts are the masterful blending of personal memories of her brother and her mother with the science of forests and climate change. This book is a triumph.
I loved this book. It taught me a lot about hidden worlds, finding the connections right in front of you, and facing fear. I already cared about the natural world, but this gave me a deeper understanding of what trees are up against. The author's personal journey is compelling, and the people involved are really interesting, yet at the end of the day the trees themselves are truly their own cast of characters! Once you've met them, you can only see them anew.
Can a book about nature and science read like poetry? Can a book about climate change also tell truths of the heart? Can a book make you want to climb a tree even if it’s been a few decades since the last time you did? Yes, yes, yes — and yes, you should be sure to buy and read Marguerite Holloway’s brilliant and original “Take to the Trees”!
