In her new book, Simard contends that at the center of a healthy forest stands a Mother Tree: an old-growth matriarch that acts as a hub of nutrients shared by trees of different ages and species linked together via a vast underground fungal network. Her argument is elegantly detailed here alongside a deeply personal memoir, with her story and that of the forest tightly interwoven ... 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 ... her arguments are buoyed by rigorous, decades-spanning research ... Simard explains in clear language what the implications of these findings are, an important next step often lacking in the work of other scientists who try to share their ideas with a wider public.
A luminous weave of memoir, scientific treatise and Native-inflected meditation ... She limns her tale with rich anecdotes and family lore ... But the science here is equally absorbing. Simard is foremost a student of trees. Early on, she stumbles across a vital linkage between forests and mycorrhizal fungi, and she devotes years of graduate study and creative field experiments to the complex symbiosis between overstory (the uppermost canopy) and understory (the saplings and shrubs below) ... a literary revelation, that botany class you never knew you needed, and certain to be one of this year's most widely discussed books.
... a vivid and inspiring new memoir ... Ms. Simard...shows her prowess as a communicator, something she teaches as well. Even an English major like myself can understand the biology described here ... a combination of personal anecdote and scientific article. For each of Ms. Simard’s discoveries, we get the hypothesis, the experiment and methods, a discussion of results, and a conclusion suggesting where it all might lead. But the author makes it easy by replacing the emotion-purged language of science with something more lyrical, enriching and subjective. There are beautiful paragraphs listing species and their niches ... And there are surprising (and surprisingly apt) analogies ... For Ms. Simard, personal experience leads to revelation, and scientific revelation leads to personal insight. No surprise, then, that she endows trees with human characteristics ... Her portrayals provide the lay reader with an anthropomorphic compass by which to better navigate the biology. But it’s a slippery slope. I chafe when genetic adaptation is called wisdom, or feedback loops are described as intelligence, when maybe it is more accurate to say feedback loops are a model for intelligence. I feel a little crabby complaining about it, but that’s the anthropomorphism conundrum ... In the end, I think the affixing of human traits on plants is justified because Finding the Mother Tree helps make sense of a forest of mysteries.
Simard demonstrates how storytelling can ignite something science alone cannot ... The strength of this story isn’t only in the discoveries she makes, although they are so fascinating it would be easy to dismiss them as fantasy ... Throw in a theory about interconnected roots and spores in the soil, and you can’t help but be impressed by her courage – but therein lies the magic of this book. This is science in action, from beginning to end, and so much more than a study published in a journal ... Simard shows us that scientific study is not just statistics and conferences, but a journey of passion and introspection that relies on the organic nature of the human mind just as much as the meticulousness of experimentation ... Alongside her forestry work, we gain insights into Simard’s friendships, relationships, marriage, motherhood and her recent breast cancer. Her talent as a writer enables her to draw these events into her story, so that seemingly disconnected experiences become woven seamlessly into her working life. In studying the relationships between the trees, air, earth and everything in between, she reflects on her own relationships, not only with other people but with the trees themselves. This interconnectivity is at the core of her writing ... the kind of story we need to be telling, a new way of communicating that the world desperately needs to hear. The idea of spirituality in science may seem paradoxical to some, but as we have learned from ecologists like Simard and Kimmerer, there is something missing in our study of nature. We have forgotten that we are part of the subjects we study, part of the forests that produce the air we breathe and the water we drink. We rely on nature’s rhythms and cycles far more than we rely on profit and technology. Simard’s book invites us to embrace this connection with the Earth ... This book has, at its centre, a simple tale of a woman who follows her intuition, views compassion as a strength, and dares to see the world differently. It is also a reminder to listen to our wilder selves, and to remember, with humility, how little we know of the complexities of the natural world.
Forest ecologist Simard has been studying intricate, mutually sustaining forms of communication and interconnectivity among trees and fungi for decades, initially as a determined and controversial researcher for the Canadian Forest Service, then as a professor who attained TED Talk fame ... As Simard elucidates her revolutionary experiments, replete with gorgeous descriptions and moments of fear and wonder, a vision of the forest as an 'intelligent system, perceptive and responsive,' comes into focus, leading to her revelation of how 'mother trees' not only nourish and protect seedlings but also 'continuously gauge, adjust, and regulate' their support of the entire forest through a finely calibrated web that mirrors our own neural network and cardiovascular system ... A masterwork of planetary significance.
Simard celebrates pivotal moments, navigates personal crises, and admits to professional doubts; all told in a smoothly written narrative. The risks and rigors of her field work—conducting experiments with radioactive materials, navigating salmon runs while being aware of wild animals within and around the forest—are keenly felt, as are the challenges facing a reticent woman working for change in the way we manage forests ... Simard’s science fascinates, and so too does her life. This is an engaging memoir of scientific discovery.
... a frequently lyrical memoir which puts [Simard's] work in the context of her lifelong fascination with the forest, and her growing alarm over the massive clearcuts that are transforming the region into a blighted checkerboard ... This personal narrative reminds us that science is a human enterprise – and, in Simard’s case at least, as much a product of the heart as of the head ... The author’s urgent call at the end of the book to preserve our remaining old-growth forest lands could not be more timely.
Forest ecology professor Simard artfully blends science with memoir in her eye-opening debut on the 'startling secrets' of trees. Simard explains that trees are 'linked by a system of underground channels' that create a 'forest society,' and among the mind-blowing discoveries she’s made is that older trees are able to identify which saplings they’re related to, and that they nurture younger trees ... As moving as it is educational, this groundbreaking work entrances.
One of the world’s leading forest ecologists recounts her lifelong experimentation with tree-to-tree communication ... Simard focuses on her work probing the nature of forest society and how the constellation of various species tree hubs (in particular, 'mother trees') interacts with mycorrhizal (fungal) links to send chemical signals to each other ... Simard charts her yearslong inquiry into the underground wiring of trees, among a variety of species, as it advanced alongside the growth of her own family. These parallel, intimate stories are equally absorbing, and the author’s descriptions of the science involved in her pioneering research are consistently engaging. Though some readers may not appreciate Simard’s frequent anthropomorphism, the science is solid, and the author’s overarching theme of stewardship is clear, understandable, and necessary.
