The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Book Cover for: The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession, Amy Stewart

The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession

Amy Stewart

Fifty vignettes of remarkable people whose lives have been transformed by their obsessive passion for trees--written and charmingly illustrated by the New York Times bestselling author of The Drunken Botanist

"I love everything Amy Stewart has ever created, but this book is my favorite yet. I'm giving this book to everyone I know. Because it, like its subject, is a gift."--Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love

When Amy Stewart discovered a community of tree collectors, she expected to meet horticultural fanatics driven to plant every species of oak or maple. But she also discovered that the urge to collect trees springs from something deeper and more profound: a longing for community, a vision for the future, or a path to healing and reconciliation.

In this slyly humorous, informative, often poignant volume, Stewart brings us captivating stories of people who spend their lives in pursuit of rare and wonderful trees and are transformed in the process. Vivian Keh has forged a connection to her Korean elders through her persimmon orchard. The former poet laureate W. S. Merwin planted a tree almost every day for more than three decades, until he had turned a barren estate into a palm sanctuary. And Joe Hamilton cultivates pines on land passed down to him by his once-enslaved great-grandfather, building a legacy for the future.

Stewart populates this lively compendium with her own hand-drawn watercolor portraits of these extraordinary people and their trees, interspersed with side trips to investigate famous tree collections, arboreal glossaries, and even tips for "unauthorized" forestry. This book is a stunning tribute to a devoted group of nature lovers making their lives--and the world--more beautiful, one tree at a time.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Random House
  • Publish Date: Jul 16th, 2024
  • Pages: 336
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 6.60in - 8.40in - 1.40in - 1.90lb
  • EAN: 9780593446850
  • Categories: Life Sciences - BotanyPlants - TreesNonfiction - Biography & Memoir

More books to explore

Book Cover for: The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape, Katie Holten
Book Cover for: Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, Robin Wall Kimmerer
Book Cover for: Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Plant Intelligence, Paco Calvo
Book Cover for: The Sakura Obsession: The Incredible Story of the Plant Hunter Who Saved Japan's Cherry Blossoms, Naoko Abe
Book Cover for: Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe, Charlotte Gill
Book Cover for: The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries from a Secret World, Peter Wohlleben
Book Cover for: Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, Suzanne Simard
Book Cover for: The Journeys of Trees: A Story about Forests, People, and the Future, Zach St George
Book Cover for: The Nation of Plants, Stefano Mancuso
Book Cover for: The Plant Hunter: A Scientist's Quest for Nature's Next Medicines, Cassandra Leah Quave
Book Cover for: The Nature of Life and Death: Every Body Leaves a Trace, Patricia Wiltshire
Book Cover for: Mountains of Memory: A Fire Lookout's Life in the River of No Return Wilderness, Don Scheese
Book Cover for: Iwigara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science, Enrique Salmon
Book Cover for: Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation, Kyo Maclear
Book Cover for: Field Study: Meditations on a Year at the Herbarium, Helen Humphreys

About the Author

Amy Stewart is the New York Times bestselling author of The Drunken Botanist, Wicked Plants, and several other popular nonfiction titles about the natural world. She's also written seven novels in her beloved Kopp Sisters series, based on the true story of one of America's first female deputy sheriffs. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

More books by Amy Stewart

Book Cover for: The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks: 10th Anniversary Edition, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: Girl Waits with Gun, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon's Army & Other Diabolical Insects, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: Lady Cop Makes Trouble, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: Flower Confidential, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: Miss Kopp Just Won't Quit, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: Miss Kopp Investigates, 7, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: Wicked Bugs (Young Readers Edition): The Meanest, Deadliest, Grossest Bugs on Earth, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: Kopp Sisters on the March, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: Dear Miss Kopp, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: The Wicked Plants Coloring Book, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: Miss Kopp Investigates, Amy Stewart
Book Cover for: The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2016, Amy Stewart

Praise for this book

"Delightful. Filled with the color and surprise of an actual forest. If you aren't already a tree lover, this book will make you into one. Stewart assembles her ensemble cast into a story about the value of trees in our imagination as much as in our ecology and economy. [She] delights in beauty and connection, in history and prehistory--and in all the many ways our fellow living beings bring pleasure and meaning into our lives."--The Washington Post

"After spending time [with The Tree Collectors], you'll undoubtedly experience an intense desire to recline under the shade of a leafy canopy. But something even more profound is happening here: by creating a space for people to talk about something they love, Stewart made me feel more tender-hearted toward my fellow humans."--Scientific American

"I love everything Amy Stewart has ever created, but this book is my favorite yet. I'm giving this book to everyone I know. Because it, like its subject, is a gift."--Elizabeth Gilbert, author of The City of Girls and The Signature of All Things

"These mesmerizing trees, and the inspiring people they've transformed, will alter your perspective and give you hope."--Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees

"What a gift! The Tree Collectors takes us on a whirlwind planetary journey into the wondrously entangled life of people and plants. With this book, Amy Stewart shows us how we are all related to one another, through trees."--Katie Holten, author of The Language of Trees

"With graceful prose and tender watercolors, Amy Stewart's arboreal global tour explores the fragility and resilience of Earth's great canopy. The Tree Collectors ushers readers into the hidden groves and lush forests where the world's most dedicated gardeners plant the landscape of the future."--Lauren Redniss, author of Oak Flat

"Like the brushstrokes in the fine paintings alongside them, Stewart's vignettes add up to something more: a powerful portrait of the human passion for plants and a paean to what the plants give back."--Thor Hanson, author of The Triumph of Seeds

"Amy Stewart brings us inside the hidden world of tree collecting in this delightfully offbeat book about a group of otherwise normal people as diverse as the specimens they collect. The Tree Collectors will take root in your consciousness and nurture your soul."--William Alexander, author of Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World

"Reading The Tree Collectors feels like sitting down and having the best kind of coffee date with one fascinating person after another. No matter your arboreal experience or expertise, you will learn something, while feeling uplifted by Stewart's own thoughtful and bright botanical illustrations."--Kathryn Aalto, author of Writing Wild

"Literary pointillism . . . a warm and brilliant mural of life that tells a larger story about humanity: our desires, our losses, our salvation, and our place on a beautiful living planet during a time of immense challenges."--Greg King, author of The Ghost Forest