Trees have been a particularly popular subject among new natural history books this past year. It’s a trend I’m very glad to see. For when it comes to forms of life that allow us to learn more about our planets ecosystems, the long life cycles of trees are particularly helpful in bearing witness to changes.
It’s this very ability to bear witness that Lynda V. Mapes takes up as the central theme of her forthcoming book Witness Tree; Seasons of Change with a Century-Old Oak. Chronicling a year in the life of a single mature oak tree in Harvard Forest, Mapes promises to guide her readers through not only the four seasons experienced by the tree in a single year but also to show them how this tree embodies just how rapidly the world – particularly the environment – has changed over the span of its entire life. It’s a journey on which I’m very much looking forward to following her.
