The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben | Black Inc.

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries From a Secret World

Awards for The Hidden Life of Trees

  • Shortlisted, 2017 Australian Book Industry Awards
  • Winner, 2017 American Booksellers Association Indies Choice Book Award for Nonfiction. 

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Birds-eye view photograph of trees with yellow and white text

About the author

Peter Wohlleben

Peter Wohlleben spent more than twenty years working for the forestry commission before leaving to put his ideas of ecology into practice. He now runs an environmentally friendly woodland in Germany, where he is working for the return of primeval forests. …

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Praise for The Hidden Life of Trees

‘Opening this book, you are about to enter a wonderland.’ —Tim Flannery, author of Atmosphere of Hope andThe Weather Makers

‘Charming, provocative, fascinating.’ —David George Haskell, author of The Forest Unseen, Pulitzer finalist

‘In this spirited exploration, [Wohlleben] guarantees that readers will never look at these life forms in quite the same way again.’ —Library Journal

The Hidden Life of Trees delivers clear, substantiated examples of ways trees not only adapt but teach, learn and help each other out. Wohlleben takes pains to make clear that the care trees demonstrate toward one another goes beyond a survival mechanism.’ —Readings

‘Chattily engaging ... its quips and contagious puns invite the reader into the minutiae of trees’ lives.’ —Felicity Plunkett, Weekend Australia

‘Wohlleben might be an incarnation of the Lorax, that mythical Seussian creature who speaks for the trees. But he speaks, too, for a host of researchers worldwide, bringing their findings to a wider audience with passion and generosity.’ —Ashley Hay, Sydney Morning Herald

‘Scientific research … underpins all his vivid descriptions … in Wohlleben’s analysis, it’s almost as if trees have feelings and character.’ – Tim Lusher, Guardian Australia

‘You cannot read this book and walk through the bush the same way again. It changes your thinking forever.’ —Kathleen Noonan, Courier Mail

‘Peter Wohlleben’s new book The Hidden Life of Trees has given me an entirely new perspective. It’s a fascinating insight into the language of trees: how they communicate with each other and even “feel”’. —Deborah Bogle, Adelaide Advertiser

‘Peter Wohlleben’s [book], backed by scientific research, will make you rethink the way you interact with nature and reignite the romantic notion of magical forests we read about as children.’ —MiNDFOOD Australia

‘Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees breaks entirely new ground, and John Evelyn would have been delighted with his discoveries …’ —Thomas Pakenham, New York Review of Books

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