Favourite books
In one of our early webinars – The Wisdom of the Ancients – all the way back in May 2020, we asked our speakers what book about trees they would recommend to people.
The question was entirely unexpected but both of our speakers that day happened to have their favourites immediately to hand. Jill Butler opted for Pasture Woodlands in Lowland Britain by Paul Harding and Francis Rose, and Grazing Ecology and Forest History by Frans Vera. Kamil Witkos-Gnash also chose two books – The Afterlife of a Tree by Andrzej Bobiec et al., and Ancient and Other Veteran Trees: Further Guidance on Management by David Lonsdale. Since then, we have asked the same question at many more webinars, and to tie in with the annual ARB Magazine book round-up, we thought we would publish the list here. It contains some classic reference works, a few surprises and a couple of titles which are not tree-related but are certainly worth a look. Hopefully you might find some inspiration in there. How many have you read already?
Name |
Title |
Jeremy Barrell |
Shogun, James Clavell |
Greg Packman |
The CODIT Principle, Dirk Dujesiefken and Walter Liese |
Jill Butler |
Pasture Woodlands in Lowland Britain, Paul Harding and Francis Rose.
Grazing Ecology and Forest History, Frans Vera.
The Bayeux Tapestry |
Kamil Witkos-Gnash |
The Afterlife of a Tree, Andrzej Bobiec, Jerzy M. Gutowski, William F. Laudenslayer, Paweł Pawlaczyk and Karol Zub.
Ancient and Other Veteran Trees: Further Guidance on Management, David Lonsdale |
Rob Northrop |
Design with Nature, Ian McHarg.
City Trees: A Historical Geography from the Renaissance through the Nineteenth Century, Henry Lawrence.
Landscape Architecture Theory, Michael Murphy |
Amelia Williams |
Bonsai Shohin Passion, Roland Schatzer |
Deborah Hillard |
The Golden Spruce, John Vaillant |
Rupert Bentley-Walls |
The Man who Planted Trees, John Giono |
David Humphries |
Trees and Woodland in the British Countryside, Oliver Rackham.
Entangled Life, Merlin Sheldrake |
Emma Gilmartin |
In Praise of Plants, Francis Halle |
Mike Raupp |
The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein |
Katherine O’Donnell |
The Book of Seeds, Paul Smith |
Christiana Payne |
The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben |
Reg Harris |
Mycelium Running, Paul Stamets |
Frans Vera |
Ancient Woodland, Oliver Rackham |
Sir Harry Studholme |
Sylva, John Evelyn |
Andrew Koeser |
Photographing Trees, Edward Parker |
Rachel Sheridan |
Between Earth and Sky, Nalini Nadkarni |
Paul Mandibondibo |
Shinrin-Yoku, Qing Li |
Rob McBride |
Heritage Trees Wales, Archie Miles |
Abdallah Tawfic |
Understanding Cairo: The Logic of a City out of Control, David Sims |
Lauriane Chalmin-Pui |
The Garden of Evening Mists, Tan Twan Eng |
Luke Fay |
Principles of Tree Hazard Assessment and Management, David Lonsdale.
Tree Form, Size and Colour, John St Bodfan Gruffydd |
Michelle Ryan |
Around the World in 80 Trees, Jonathan Drori |
Poppy-Jayne Morgan |
Extraordinary Insects, Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson |
Caroline Parker |
The Lion Children, Angus Maisie and Travers McNeice.
Collins Gem Guide to Trees |
Jon Ryan |
The Book of Trees, Piotr Socha and Wojciech Grajkowsji.
The Law of Trees, Forests and Hedges, Charles Mynors |
This article was taken from Issue 192 Spring 2021 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.