The Global Forest

Description

A pioneering scientist writes of the fascinating ecological and pharmaceutical properties of trees, and how mother trees nourish younger trees and help them defend themselves 

Renowned scientist Diana Beresford-Kroeger presents an unforgettable and highly original work of natural history with The Global Forest. She explores the fascinating and largely untapped ecological and pharmaceutical properties of trees: leaves that can comb the air of particulate pollution, fatty acids in the nuts of hickory and walnut trees that promote brain development, the compound in the water ash that helps prevent cancer, aerosols in pine trees that calm nerves. In precise, imaginative, and poetic prose, she describes the complexity and beauty of forests, as well as the environmental dangers they face. The author’s indisputable passion for her subject matter will inspire readers to look at trees, and at their own connection to the natural world, with newfound awe.Praise for The Global Forest:

“On occasion, someone understands a subject so deeply that information is transmuted into wisdom.  This book marks one of those occasions – it is rich and hopeful and compelling.” —Bill McKibben
 
“Beautifully written . . .this book delves into environmental sciences with a fresh perspective.” —New Scientist
  
“Beresford-Kroeger is among the world’s experts in forest medicine . . . She hopes that by educating people about the beneficial effect of forest environments on human health, it will encourage forest repopulation, which will, in turn, counteract the effects of global warming and pollution.” —The Globe and Mail (Canada)

“An important book with many significant insights into the interconnectedness of trees and other life forms.” —Orion Magazine

Praise for Diana Beresford-Kroeger:

“A maverick!” — Richard Powers

“Who speaks for the trees, speaks for all nature. Diana Beresford-Kroeger is one of the rare individuals who can accomplish this outwardly complex and difficult translation from the nonhuman to human realm. The essays of The Global Forest are a beautiful and poetic tribute to their subject, based on wide-ranging scientific knowledge.” —Edward O. Wilson
  
“[Beresford-Kroeger’s] books have been a call to humanity to treat trees with the awe due to immensely resourceful creatures that we still know so little about.” —Richard Powers, Conjunctions
 
“In her youth in Ireland Diana Beresford-Kroeger received an extraordinary and unique education in traditional Celtic plant lore. At university in Canada she specialized in biochemistry and merged what she learned and observed into her signature studies of trees, augmented by First Nation forest wisdom.” —Annie Proulx

“Often these kinds of brilliant pioneers are outliers who don’t play by the rules.” — Ben Rawlence, author of The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on EarthDIANA BERESFORD-KROEGER is a world-recognized botanist, medical biochemist and author, whose work uniquely combines western scientific knowledge and the traditional concepts of the ancient world. Her books include To Speak for the Trees, The Sweetness of a Simple Life, The Global Forest, Arboretum Borealis, Arboretum America–which won the National Arbor Day Foundation Award for exemplary educational work on trees and forests–Time Will Tell, and A Garden for Life. She is the author and presenter of a feature documentary, Call of the Forest, and is also at the heart of an upcoming three-part series airing on PBS called The Truth about Trees. Currently she is advocating on behalf of an ambitious global “bioplan” encouraging ordinary people to develop a new relationship with nature and join together to restore the global forest.US

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