Trees of Life

Trees of Life , Tree Species > Identification and selection , Head of Zeus

9781789541427

Head of Zeus

Max Adams

A captivatingly informative and visually beautiful survey of the tree species - from all over the world - that human cultures have found most useful. Each tree species is the subject of a concise text centred on a story - or stories - about the tree in question, and is depicted by means of a photograph, painting or other aesthetic artefact. The species will be organized thematically according to the virtues they impart, be that in the form of timber, nuts, fruit or medicine. The bloodwood tree, a native of central America, is a tree that made a nation. Its wood produces a brilliant and lucrative bright red dye and was imported to Europe for use in dyeing fabrics. The 17th and 18th-century logging camps established by the British later became the modern nation of Belize, and the bloodwood tree appears on its national flag. From the bloodwood to the breadfruit and from the cinchona to the peach, these are trees that offer not merely shelter, timber and fuel but also medicines, dyes, foods and fibres. They are very special trees, and Max Adams, author of The Wisdom of Trees, has a plethora of such fascinating stories to tell about them.

Review: PRAISE FOR THE WISDOM OF TREES: 'An elegant book packed with information ... Adams is a true woodsman so speaks with authority' Country Life. 'This fascinating, quirky exposition of all things woody that tells us much about the astounding natural engineering of trees' Independent. 'Adam's enthusiasm is beguiling, his knowledge as bountiful as a beech-mast, and his appreciation of the utility of trees is a pointer to a better world' The Times.

Author Biography: Max Adams is the author of The Wisdom of Trees, The Little Book of Planting Trees and the bestselling The King in the North. A teacher of woodland tree histories, he manages an area of woodland in County Durham, where he has lived and worked in the North-East of England since 1993.

Head of Zeus

Manufactured by: Head of Zeus