In Trees

An Exploration

De: Robert Moor

Narrado por: Robert Moor

“This is the most life-affirming book I’ve read in a long time.” —John Vaillant, National Book Award finalist for Fire Weather

Named a Best Book of the Year So Far by: The New Yorker • NPR • The Financial Times

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.”

Reseñas de la Crítica

"This sure-footed author is the perfect companion for a walk in the woods."

“A beautiful book... impossible to put down.... I’ve been recommending it to everyone I know.”
—David Wallace-Wells, on The New York Times' "The Opinions" podcast

"Earnest and passionate."
—NPR

“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

“In the course of his explorations, the author has been transformed. After reading this book, you may be, too.”
—Earth Island Journal

3 or 4 books in 1 with something for a wide swathe of readers; definitely 5 star reading/listening experience

Robert Moor’s “In Trees” is like 3 or 4 books in one, written over a full decade, & covers adventure, introspection, international travel, tree climbing, racial history in the South, politics, resistance, indigenous peoples, personal discovery, identity challenges & how religion & other forces isolated us from the natural world & how that has done much to create the current schisms in our world. Also some implied solutions towards the end of the book, & much, much to think further about. Beautifully written prose & a heartfelt & energetic reading by the author. The many characters he meets in his travels come through as real, individual & likable & they all have something to teach us as Moor brings out those qualities in them as he also plies his readers with just the right cadence of tension & resolution to keep us curious & engaged. I use curious in its etymologically earlier sense reflecting its common roots with care. Definitely a 5 star read that has much to offer to many different species of openminded readers.

Tour De Force

A fascinating philosophical and scientific exploration of far more than trees growing from the ground. "Let your mind grow like a tree . . . How do we go about living our lives with a tree climber’s spirit? With a fearless playfulness welded to a fearsome urgency. How do we keep growing when it’s easier to shrink?" The author answers these questions by traveling the world and taking us with him. His examination of his own family tree will keep you on the edge of your seat. Mr. Moor’s mind and heart are as broad and diverse as the world he examines. In Trees should be a nominee for the National Book Award in non-fiction. Audible listeners also get the added pleasure and authenticity of hearing the author read the book himself.

Long and arduous

Probably a great book for the right person
I had to listen at 1.3 because I was determined to get through it. Much I’ve heard before from various sources. Also found it redundant and too political/preachy even though I support much of his philosophy