Book of the Week (November 5, 2007)

On the New Book Shelf

Call Number: QK 494.5 .P66 S89 2007

Tree: A Life Story

By David Suzuki and Wayne Grady

Publisher's Description: In Tree: A Life Story, authors David Suzuki and Wayne Grady extend that celebration in a "biography" of this extraordinary - and extraordinarily important - organism. A story that spans a millennium and includes a cast of millions but focuses on a single tree, a Douglas fir. It grows close to Suzuki's beach cottage, is 50 meters (160 feet) high, about five meters (16 feet) in diameter, and may be 400 years old.

Tree describes in poetic detail the organism's modest origins that begin with a dramatic burst of millions of microscopic grains of pollen. The authors recount the amazing characteristics of the species, how they reproduce and how they receive from and offer nourishment to generations of other plants and animals. The tree's pivotal role in making life possible for the creatures around it - including human beings - is lovingly explored. The richly detailed text and Robert Bateman's original art pay tribute to this ubiquitous organism that is too often taken for granted. Wildlife artist Robert Bateman illustrates.