Tree: A Life Story

Front Cover
Greystone Books Ltd, Jul 1, 2009 - Nature - 200 pages
“Only God can make a tree,” wrote Joyce Kilmer in one of the most celebrated of poems. In Tree: A Life Story, authors David Suzuki and Wayne Grady extend that celebration in a “biography” of this extraordinary — and extraordinarily important — organism. A story that spans a millennium and includes a cast of millions but focuses on a single tree, a Douglas fir, Tree describes in poetic detail the organism’s modest origins that begin with a dramatic burst of millions of microscopic grains of pollen. The authors recount the amazing characteristics of the species, how they reproduce and how they receive from and offer nourishment to generations of other plants and animals. The tree’s pivotal role in making life possible for the creatures around it — including human beings — is lovingly explored. The richly detailed text and Robert Bateman’s original art pay tribute to this ubiquitous organism that is too often taken for granted.
 

Contents

Acknowledgments
1
one Birth
9
two Taking Root
43
three Growth
77
four M
109
Copyright

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About the author (2009)

David Suzuki is an acclaimed geneticist and environmentalist and the host of "The Nature of Things". He has written numerous books, including Good News for a Change, From Naked Ape to Superspecies (both co-authored with Holly Dressel), and The Sacred Balance (co-authored with Amanda McConnell), and he is the founder and chair of the David Suzuki Foundation. He is the recipient of the Kalinga Prize for Science, the United Nations Environmental Medal, and the Global 500 award. He holds twelve honorary degrees. Suzuki lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Wayne Grady has written eight books of nonfiction, including the critically acclaimed The Bone Museum, The Quiet Limit of the World, Toronto the Wild, and The Nature of Coyotes. He has also translated seven novels and edited six anthologies of short stories, travel, and natural history. In addition, he has written feature articles for most of Canada’s major magazines, including Saturday Night, Toronto Life, Canadian Geographic, Equinox, and Harrowsmith. Grady has received the John Glassco Prize (for translation), several National Magazine Awards, the Brascan Award, and three Science Writers of Canada Awards. He is married to the writer Merilyn Simonds and lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Robert Bateman is an internationally renowned wildlife artist. His work has appeared most recently in Birds of Heaven by Peter Matthiessen. He is also the author of Thinking Like a Mountain. He lives on Saltspring Island in British Columbia.

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