“ a tree can be only as strong as the forest that surrounds it” and“ their well-being depends on their community”.
What we can learn from trees
Book: The Hidden Life of Trees – What they feel, how they communicate: Discoveries from a secret world Author: Peter Wohlleben Review by: Elvira Wood
Trees talking to another? Disciplining their young and even socialising?
When you look at a tree in your garden or anywhere else, that might be the last thing you would ever expect. As much as a tree is a living thing, most of us simply recognise it as a huge“ plant” with a trunk, branches, leaves and roots.
However, when you read Peter Wohlleben’ s The Hidden Life of Trees, you are instantly transported to a magical world. It is almost as if one travelled to Fangorn Forest where the Ents lived in JRR Tolkien’ s Lord of the Rings. Ents are, as most of you might know, tree-like creatures – tall, slender and very strong – similar to the beech trees Wohlleben looks after.
Make no mistake, The Hidden Life of Trees is not a fantasy novel but Wohlleben’ s understanding as a forester for the municipality of Hümmel in the Eifel mountains in Germany, of trees – how they grow and live.
“ a tree can be only as strong as the forest that surrounds it” and“ their well-being depends on their community”.
But why review a book on trees in a magazine aimed at graduate professionals?
Considering that the theme for this edition is growth, the choice of a book on trees starts to make more sense.
If there is ever an example of growth, then it would be a tree.
Although Wohlleben’ s book is not exclusively about growth, when one writes about trees, one cannot not write about growth. And, as much as the author never intended for this book to serve as a parable for any other forms of growth – be it personal or career
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