Finding the Mother Tree cover art

Finding the Mother Tree

Uncovering the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Forest

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Finding the Mother Tree

By: Suzanne Simard
Narrated by: Suzanne Simard
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £11.20

Buy Now for £11.20

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

A dazzling scientific detective story from the ecologist who first discovered the hidden language of trees

No one has done more to transform our understanding of trees than the world-renowned scientist Suzanne Simard. Now she shares the secrets of a lifetime spent uncovering startling truths about trees: their cooperation, healing capacity, memory, wisdom and sentience.

Raised in the forests of British Columbia, where her family has lived for generations, Professor Simard did not set out to be a scientist. She was working in the forest service when she first discovered how trees communicate underground through an immense web of fungi, at the centre of which lie the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful entities that nurture their kin and sustain the forest.

Though her ground-breaking findings were initially dismissed and even ridiculed, they are now firmly supported by the data. As her remarkable journey shows us, science is not a realm apart from ordinary life, but deeply connected with our humanity.

In Finding the Mother Tree, she reveals how the complex cycle of forest life - on which we rely for our existence - offers profound lessons about resilience and kinship, and must be preserved before it's too late.

© Suzanne Simard 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Biological Sciences Botany & Plants Ecology Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Inspiring Thought-Provoking
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Critic reviews

A scientific memoir as gripping as any HBO drama series... Just as she disinters earthy mushrooms and the finest of filaments, so she lays bare the human heart with moving simplicity... It is her gallant mission in the book and in her life - and one essential to combating the climate crisis - to make science more humanly engaged (Kate Kellaway)
Finding the Mother Tree is the kind of story we need to be telling, a new way of communicating that the world desperately needs to hear... A reminder to listen to our wilder selves, and to remember, with humility, how little we know of the complexities of the natural world (Tiffany Francis-Baker)
This book is a testament to Simard's skill as a science communicator. Her research is clearly defined, the steps of her experiments articulated, her astonishing results explained and the implications laid bare: We ignore the complexity of forests at our peril (Jonathan C. Slaght)
A masterwork of planetary significance
[Simard] is an intellectual force... Simard's results are so revolutionary and controversial that they have quickly worked their way into social theory, urban planning, culture and art... We have a lot of rethinking to do about the economic and political models that, since Darwin, have been taken to be natural (Kate Brown)
Finding the Mother Tree has come at a crucial moment... With biodiversity on a knife edge, the need to appreciate and understand the complexity and brilliance of the natural world could not be more important (Rosie Boycott)
Vivid and inspiring... a radical new understanding of plants (Eugenia Bone)
Speaking with Simard felt like coming to the headwaters of a vast system of ideas, both innovative and ancient... To read Finding the Mother Tree is to imagine the view from a 250-foot redwood. The recognition that we're all connected is one of the great gifts of the memoir
[Suzanne Simard] forever transformed our views of the world and the interconnectivity of our environment. Finding the Mother Tree is not only a deeply beautiful memoir about one woman's impactful life, it's also a call to action to protect, understand and connect with the natural world (Amy Adams)
A vivid and compelling memoir of [Simard's] lifelong quest to prove that the forest is more than just a collection of trees
All stars
Most relevant
I found the reading and the storytelling not to my taste at first but persevered. The story of the discovery of mycelium connecting trees in forests is fascinating and timely. Suzanne Simard discovered this 15 years ago. The later chapters where she describes making her discovery, the proof of her research, were very much worth it. It is very much worth reading I think. From the at first rejection, and then acceptance of her findings it is a revealing and significant book, I found it eye-opening.

Worth it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wow Suzanne Simard your book about your research into tree networks, communications, and inter species cooperation is revolutionary. If you want to change the way you view our world, you have to read this - it’s unbelievable!

A fanatic read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Brilliant! I listened to this audible version on every available appliance available until the end.

I'd give this 6 stars if I could !

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Although often heartbreaking Suzanne's dedication must be honoured and valued. She brought scientific proof to what we know in our hearts.

Hope

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I had no particular expectations when I chose this book, except that it ought to be a bit about trees. As a tree lover and a man comfortable with the outdoors, I was pleasantly surprised where it took me. I've been spending time expanding my understanding of life beneath the ground, and this fitted right in there, but delivered in a very accessible way. I must admit I couldn't follow the threads of complexity that were being described, (one of the problems with audio books when things start to get a little complicated; there is no "slow-down button") I think I got the general gist of it. More than that it was a pleasant and personal story interwoven with her passionate science. opening a window on a fascinating world between organisms, and it all takes place right under our feet without us even realising it. Thank heavens for people who can do this sort of science, and then write so entertainingly about it.

Refreshing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews