Claim Now The Wood For The Trees: The Long View Of Nature From A Small Wood Depicted By Richard Fortey File Format PDF

a keen reader of natural history books, so I was pleased to be recommended this author, new to me.
I wasnt disappointed. Richard Fortey was the senior palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum, London, On retiring, he and his wife bought four acres of beech woodland in the Chiltern hills, near HenleyonThames, where they live.

This is an indepth study of the wood and its surrounding area, cleverly written as the diary of a year, beginning with spring in April.
Not only does the author cover the natural history of the wood in detail, he also describes the history of the area, social, economic, geological.
There is great detail on trees, fungi, insects, plants, lichens, mosses, but Fortey can write beautifully, so this is not a dry scientific study, Of course, because of his career, he was able to call on experts from the NHM to help him survey the wood, adding to the interest of his exploration.

The economic role of woodland in this area plays a key part in the survival of the wood from fuel for London, to charcoal, furniture making, brush backs, to tent pegs and rifle butts during WW.

I am slightly biased, as I lived for nearlyyears in nearby Reading, so I know the area he describes well.
It brought back some lovely memories,
Ill conclude with a quote from the last chapter, March, which I think sums up my feelings about the book and the writer:
Some contemporary nature writing is rich in the details of the author sympathising in some fuzzy way with the totality of nature and the inter connectedness of things, but engagement with the nittygritty details of living animals and plants is not on the literary agenda.
I prefer the éloquence of detail, I believe that all organisms are as interesting as human beings, and certainly no less important than the observer.
Nope.

What a marketing scam, This is not a "biography of a beechandbluebell wood", It is Fortey's diary and ego made large, I couldn't even make it through the first chapter,

It's a shame too, because, skimming the text, the bits where Fortey doesn't jump in front of the spotlight are actually wellwritten and extremely interesting.
But I can't tolerate an author who impedes his own work by demanding to be seen and validated.


In the meantime I'll stick to sitelinkRobert Macfarlane, who knows how take a step back and let the landscape shine.
This quiet book tells the story of a patch of woodland largely beech, a tree known as 'the widowmaker' painting the picture as it is unfolding over the seasons, and as it has been evolving over many previous years and centuries.
It manages to be broadly educational, specifically instructive, forensic, artistic and poetic at the same time both personal and universal in vision, a broad brush here, laser point precision there.
This is a work of science and beauty, of intellectual inquiry, simple curiosity and love,
No distinctions necessary, and that's just as it should be,
They would be meaningless, A lovely read. A British gentleman, scientist, and writer walks us through his four acres of English forest followingmonths of a year.
He explores his woods in classic detail, from fungal molecules to the trees' canopy, while romping through the history of nearby villages, human history and influence, geology, and literature, all laced with a sense of humor.
Altogether it was a thoughtful, provoking, yet relaxing read, Very wellwritten and edited.

The first thing I did with this book was turn to the index in search of "mycelium" or "mycorrhizal," as they refer to a fairly new science of the forest that is my personal research topic this winter.
I was disappointed not to find them in the index, However, I read the book and was very pleased to find good knowledge and many references to the mycorrhizal relationships between fungus, trees, and other species.
Sweet! Richard Fortey is a scientist best known for his work in paleontology you can read my brief reviews of other books of his here.
The Wood for the Trees however is a wonderfully thorough exploration of a small patch of woodland that Fortey owns in the Chiltern Hills.


He takes us through the history of the woods through the centuries, including how thewoods have been affected by changing land use patterns and changing fashions in using wood as a material for furniture and fuel.
He details the seasonal changes in the plant and animal life of the woods, Fortey isn't the kind of nature writer to wax lyrical about nature in general, he waxes lyrical about the details of things that many people would overlook and he notices everything he has found well overspecies of fungi in his wood! He is adept too at making the connections, finding cherry pits that have been nibbled by wood mice and then finding where the mice are living.
He is also very aware of his own limitations and has consulted experts in the fields where he isn't able to identify species himself, weaving their input into the complete story of his woods.


Fortey would be a brilliant companion for a walk through any British woodland and reading this book inspires me to pay even more attention when I'm next in the woods.


This is a totally fascinating and satisfying read for anyone who is interested in natural history.
A book to enjoy and learn from and read over and over again,

Interesting a year looking at a single stretch of forest in the south of England, The author is a bit of celebrity scientist I am so happy this is a category that exists in the UK, having penned a number of popsci books and appearing on television.


He bought the woods, and he spends the year cataloging the plants and animals and birds and bugs he finds in them.
He worked as a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London, and he leans on his colleagues to assist him in this task.


He also makes some things from the product of the woods some spirits, a walking cane, a curiosity cabinet, a set of bowls.


Oddity for an American reader: He really digs into the people history and not just the natural history of the woods.
The royals and the gentry that passed through or owned the land, The Wood for the Trees: One Mans Long View of Nature Fortey
stars

Richard Fortney is a British paleontologist and author.
This book is an ongoing journal of a yearlong study of several acres of beech and bluebell wood that he bought after retiring from his position at the British Museum.
Each chapter is devoted to a month of the year, Fortey discusses his observations of the

botany, biology, and geology of the woodland, He researches the human history of the surrounding area and discusses the ecological issues facing the woodland in the future.


I thought this book was very engaging and readable, in small doses, Each month was divided into a variety of subtopics of two or three pages in length, Such a wide variety of topics Nettle Fertilizer, Chanterelle Potatoes, Saved by the Chair, Rot and Renewal, A plethora of trivia: for example, necessary culling and cutting of the Lambeth beeches was made marginally profitable by the demand for Potterish toy broomsticks.
Or, did you know that collected deer droppings can be incubated to sprout a variety of microscopic fungi Fortey makes it all interesting and occasionally funny with extremely bad, but irresistible puns.
This book reminded me of what I used read on lunch breaks, magazine articles from Smithsonian and Natural History magazines.
Not a good book to get lost in for hours at a time, but great for a coffee break.


I had the audiobook which is read beautifully by Michael Page, but it is much better to have the text for maps, photography, and other illustrations.
.