The Songs of Trees

Stories from Nature's Great Connectors

By: David George Haskell

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, David George Haskell

Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

The author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Forest Unseen visits with nature's most magnificent networkers - trees.

David Haskell's award-winning The Forest Unseen won acclaim for eloquent writing and deep engagement with the natural world. Now, Haskell brings his powers of observation to the biological networks that surround all species, including humans.

Haskell repeatedly visits a dozen trees around the world, exploring the trees' connections with webs of fungi, bacterial communities, cooperative and destructive animals, and other plants. An Amazonian ceibo tree reveals the rich ecological turmoil of the tropical forest, along with threats from expanding oil fields. Thousands of miles away, the roots of a balsam fir in Canada survive in poor soil only with the help of fungal partners. These links are nearly two billion years old: the fir's roots cling to rocks containing fossils of the first networked cells.

By unearthing charcoal left by Ice Age humans and petrified redwoods in the Rocky Mountains, Haskell shows how the Earth's climate has emerged from exchanges among trees, soil communities, and the atmosphere. Now humans have transformed these networks, powering our societies with wood, tending some forests, but destroying others. Haskell also attends to trees in places where humans seem to have subdued "nature" - a pear tree on a Manhattan sidewalk, an olive tree in Jerusalem, a Japanese bonsai - demonstrating that wildness permeates every location.

Every living being is not only sustained by biological connections, but is made from these relationships. Haskell shows that this networked view of life enriches our understanding of biology, human nature, and ethics. When we listen to trees, nature's great connectors, we learn how to inhabit the relationships that give life its source, substance, and beauty.

Read by Cassandra Campbell, with the preface and two interludes read by the author.

©2017 David George Haskell (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"At once lyrical and informative, filled with beauty." (Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction)

wow!

Loved it! Will speak to anyone who has ever relaxed beneath or beside a tree! Wonderful prose. Great narration. Intriguing and clear scientific explanations. And for those not exact but similar environs with which I am familiar, to my ear, accurate descriptions of the sonic networks of nature, including humans.

fantastic!

transportive, informative prose challenge the mind the explore connections between trees, people, evolutionary and historical events.

Poetry and science collide

Haskell's ability to illuminate the connectedness and complexity of nature through beautiful writing is--I think--unparalleled. A great read.

Profoundly moving!

In poetic prose, DGH invites us to see and hear our world and ourselves differently.

One of the most fascinating books I've ever read

This is not a book I would have picked up on my own. But for a book club I'm in I would have missed the exquisite experience of listening to "The Songs of Trees". A blend of biology, history, culture, anthropology, and geography all wrapped in some of the juiciest language I've heard in a long time. I loved having the coordinates for each tree, and to discover how close to some of them I have been. Also really glad I had purchased both the Kindle and the Audible versions so I could listen, but then also use the written word for reference. I have given this book as a gift to three people already. Spectacular!

One of my favorite books of all time. Hands down.

The writing is so beautiful. The subject, scope, is encompassing, encyclopedic, inspiring, nourishing and challenging. A biophiliac’s dream. I will now seek and devour everything by Haskell.

An Interwoven Story

This book is an in depth exploration of The Politics, Poetry, History within the Scientific Examination of Nature. You'll learn a lot from this book. Like trees release cloud starters! Fascinating.

If anyone is triggered by the exploitation of nature, erasure of indigenous power & the lack of autonomy of minorities... this book does touch on these topics a fair amount. I will admit for me this caused feelings of alienation & isolation from nature. So not very restful.
I think the author redeems these topics ultimately by weaving them into the narrative of civilization as a reflection of nature.

Enjoyable aspects:
A second narrator at some chapter ends
The unique profiles of trees (& bacteria) around the world
The use of longitude & latitude (fun!)
& The first person narrative that is very personal & knowledgeable
So many facts

title is misleading

the title is misleading in that the story was not necessarily poetry the focus taken away from trees didn't bring context in a lot of cases. the stories are really nice though not the Poetry that one would expect with such a title

Paradigm Shifting

Dr. Haskell's views on cities is paradigm shifting. We need to view ourselves as an integral part of the world, not as separate. Superb book. A bit long winded in some of the descriptions but the message is too important to let that get in the way.

Wonderful book and performance

A perfect book to listen to at the end of day. Poetically written in prose. Very interesting content that is exceptionally well-written. Enjoyed all the different aspects of life that are discussed and interwoven into various sections that center around some type of tree and/or ecosystem. Great performance - narration is soothing and flows at the right pace. Easy to understand and drift off to sleep with or relax with when you’re in the mood for something more mellow.