In the tradition of Elizabeth Kolbert and Barry Lopez, a powerful, poetic and deeply absorbing account of the "lung" at the top of the world.
For the last fifty years, the trees of the boreal forest have been moving north. The Treeline takes us along this critical frontier of our warming planet from Norway to Siberia, Alaska to Greenland, to meet the scientists, residents and trees confronting huge geological changes. Only the hardiest species survive at these latitudes including the ice-loving Dahurian larch of Siberia, the antiseptic Spruce that purifies our atmosphere, the Downy birch conquering Scandinavia, the healing Balsam poplar that Native Americans use as a cure-all and the noble Scots Pine that lives longer when surrounded by its family.
It is a journey of wonder and awe at the incredible creativity and resilience of these species and the mysterious workings of the forest upon which we rely for the air we breathe. Blending reportage with the latest science, The Treeline is a story of what might soon be the last forest left and what that means for the future of all life on earth.
Publisher: Macmillan
Original Binding: Hardcover with dust jacket
Pages: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 1250270235
Item Weight: 1.1 lbs
Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.1 x 9.5 inches
Customer Reviews: 4 out of 5 stars 501 to 1,000 ratings
"A masterful and lyrically evocative exploration of the boreal forests of the far north." --Richard Schiffman, The Washington Post
Advance praise for The Treeline:
"What an extraordinary book this is! It is a sustained act of attention, of observing and listening to a land that observes and listens back. This is not just a description of a warming world but an active invitation to live differently, to participate with wisdom and humility in the cacophonous and ever-unfinished abundance of terrestrial life." --Ben Ehrenreich, author of Desert Notebooks: A Roadmap for the End of Time "Our trees are on the move but we have no place left to go... A moving, thoughtful, deeply reported elegy for our vanishing world and a map of the one to come." --Nathaniel Rich, author of Losing Earth and Second Nature "A fascinating book drawing on a brilliant, original line of thinking to reveal the roots and reach of our changing boreal forests. Once again, Rawlence delivers a perfect combination of lyrical writing and rigorous reporting. Utterly illuminating." --Sophy Roberts, author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia
"In this beautiful homage to the world's northernmost forests... Alluring prose present fascinating and challenging ideas of what a forest is: not a static place on a map but a creative, evolutionary process... Documents how the treeline is now undergoing one of its greatest transformations with enormous consequences for humanity and the planet. By focusing his formidable curiosity and craft on the arboreal biosphere, Rawlence has given both trees and people an enormous gift." --M.R. O'Connor, author of Wayfinding
BEN RAWLENCE is a former researcher for Human Rights Watch in the horn of Africa. He is the author of City of Thorns and Radio Congo and has written for a wide range of publications, including The Guardian, the London Review of Books, and Prospect. He is the founder and director of Black Mountains College and lives with his family in Wales.
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