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From the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller On Trails comes a wondrous new journey through the wilds of nature and the gnarls of history, exploring how trees-from the mightiest sequoia to the tiniest bonsai-can teach us to grow wise.
One day, on a whim, Robert Moor set out to climb a tree near his home-unwittingly embarking on what would become a decade-long adventure of intellectual and spiritual transformation.
Pursuing the hidden wisdom of trees, he digs through forgotten archives, scales to the top of a giant sequoia with Sir David Attenborough, trudges through swamps in Papua to reach a treehouse-dwelling tribe of hunter-gatherers, and travels to a remote research camp in Tanzania, where he spends one very uncomfortable night sleeping in a chimpanzee nest. Galvanized by a radical new outlook on both our gnarled past and our ever-branching future, he ultimately falls in with a ragtag clan of climate activists risking everything to halt construction of an oil pipeline and save an old-growth forest.
Along the way, Moor learns the art of "treethinking," which, he discovers, has the power to break open some of humanity's oldest questions: What is the secret to truly growing old? How do we set down roots in an increasingly chaotic world? Can we ever learn to pursue our future in the farsighted, deeply entangled manner of an ancient forest?
A witty, relentlessly curious excursion through philosophy, history, and science, what begins as an ode to the miracle of trees blossoms into a joyous, daring, and fiercely hopeful effort to "arborize humanity." Hailed by The Wall Street Journal as a "philosopher on foot," Robert Moor is the bestselling author of On Trails and In Trees. Translated into more than a dozen languages, On Trails garnered the National Outdoor Book Award, the Pacific Northwest Book Award, and the William Saroyan International Prize. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper's, New York magazine, Outside, Emergence, and n+1, among other publications. He lives in Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia. "In Trees is dazzlingly erudite, playful, profound, adventurous and, above all, eloquently, fiercely alive. Full of brilliant, mind-bending insights and wonderful surprises, this is the most life-affirming book I've read in a long time."
-John Vaillant, National Book Award finalist for Fire Weather "Robert Moor's brilliant In Trees is-like its subject-powerfully, fascinatingly arborescent. Moving from sky to earth, Moor unfurls in fine-grained prose the ancient, urgent story of how trees transform us. Reading it, I felt my senses of time, life, and process shift in ways I hadn't experienced before."
-Robert Macfarlane, New York Times bestselling author of Is a River Alive? "Daring, inspired, and wide-ranging, this is much more than a book about trees. To read this book is to feel oneself anchored more firmly to the earth and, simultaneously, to become more open to life's many branching, wild possibilities."
-Ferris Jabr, New York Times bestselling author of Becoming Earth "With adventurous journeys, lively storytelling, and provocative reflection, Moor invites us to know charismatic forests through the eyes of other worldviews in order to guide us through these urgent times."
-Robin Wall Kimmerer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Serviceberry "A new book in that rare category of 'classic upon publication.'"
-Bill McKibben, New York Times bestselling author of Here Comes the Sun "A profound and loving, shrewd and funny pilgrimage in which trees are living things but also verbs and ways of life. Moor finds so much beauty, and so much historical rubbish to clear away, in this bold, wild search to understand how he should live."
-Larissa MacFarquhar, award-winning author of Strangers Drowning "Robert Moor is an erudite and delightfully meandering writer (see his On Tr
One day, on a whim, Robert Moor set out to climb a tree near his home-unwittingly embarking on what would become a decade-long adventure of intellectual and spiritual transformation.
Pursuing the hidden wisdom of trees, he digs through forgotten archives, scales to the top of a giant sequoia with Sir David Attenborough, trudges through swamps in Papua to reach a treehouse-dwelling tribe of hunter-gatherers, and travels to a remote research camp in Tanzania, where he spends one very uncomfortable night sleeping in a chimpanzee nest. Galvanized by a radical new outlook on both our gnarled past and our ever-branching future, he ultimately falls in with a ragtag clan of climate activists risking everything to halt construction of an oil pipeline and save an old-growth forest.
Along the way, Moor learns the art of "treethinking," which, he discovers, has the power to break open some of humanity's oldest questions: What is the secret to truly growing old? How do we set down roots in an increasingly chaotic world? Can we ever learn to pursue our future in the farsighted, deeply entangled manner of an ancient forest?
A witty, relentlessly curious excursion through philosophy, history, and science, what begins as an ode to the miracle of trees blossoms into a joyous, daring, and fiercely hopeful effort to "arborize humanity." Hailed by The Wall Street Journal as a "philosopher on foot," Robert Moor is the bestselling author of On Trails and In Trees. Translated into more than a dozen languages, On Trails garnered the National Outdoor Book Award, the Pacific Northwest Book Award, and the William Saroyan International Prize. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper's, New York magazine, Outside, Emergence, and n+1, among other publications. He lives in Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia. "In Trees is dazzlingly erudite, playful, profound, adventurous and, above all, eloquently, fiercely alive. Full of brilliant, mind-bending insights and wonderful surprises, this is the most life-affirming book I've read in a long time."
-John Vaillant, National Book Award finalist for Fire Weather "Robert Moor's brilliant In Trees is-like its subject-powerfully, fascinatingly arborescent. Moving from sky to earth, Moor unfurls in fine-grained prose the ancient, urgent story of how trees transform us. Reading it, I felt my senses of time, life, and process shift in ways I hadn't experienced before."
-Robert Macfarlane, New York Times bestselling author of Is a River Alive? "Daring, inspired, and wide-ranging, this is much more than a book about trees. To read this book is to feel oneself anchored more firmly to the earth and, simultaneously, to become more open to life's many branching, wild possibilities."
-Ferris Jabr, New York Times bestselling author of Becoming Earth "With adventurous journeys, lively storytelling, and provocative reflection, Moor invites us to know charismatic forests through the eyes of other worldviews in order to guide us through these urgent times."
-Robin Wall Kimmerer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Serviceberry "A new book in that rare category of 'classic upon publication.'"
-Bill McKibben, New York Times bestselling author of Here Comes the Sun "A profound and loving, shrewd and funny pilgrimage in which trees are living things but also verbs and ways of life. Moor finds so much beauty, and so much historical rubbish to clear away, in this bold, wild search to understand how he should live."
-Larissa MacFarquhar, award-winning author of Strangers Drowning "Robert Moor is an erudite and delightfully meandering writer (see his On Tr
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Reviews
"As he did in On Trails (2016), author and narrator Moor serves as companion, guide, and information source for a novel excursion into a familiar aspect of nature-in this case, trees. Moor begins by describing a tree he climbed as a boy. As an adult, he returns to climbing trees, making note of features of the human body ideal for tree-climbing and even engaging a climbing coach. The focus of subsequent chapters ranges from bonsai to sequoias, but a significant portion of the narrative takes place within the canopy of trees. Moor isn't a trained narrator, but he connects well, and his natural style is a key part of his appeal.
This sure-footed author is the perfect companion for a walk in the woods."
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