DOWNTOOLS
BOOK REVIEWS
THE STORY OF TREES: AND HOW THEY CHANGED THE WAY WE LIVE
by Kevin Hobbs and David West
Laurence King, £25 ISBN 978-1786275226
An engaging, digestible take on the tree anthology, drawing together arboreal histories, attractive illustrations and a few surprises along the way.
Reviewer Matt Collins is head gardener at the Garden Museum.
The bookshelf given over to garden reading in my home study is struggling. There is a sag in the middle and the culprits are, without doubt, the tree books. As a species, they are numerous and weighty, encompassing stout, little field guides, such as the trusty Collins Complete Guide to British Trees, and great tomes, such as Hugh Johnson’s Trees. This is to say that there are already many good books about trees; nonetheless, I will be making room on my shelf for the newest among them, The Story of Trees by Kevin Hobbs and David West. It is a refreshingly upbeat work, with an attractive, sparse design that lends well to straddling both the reference and engaging reading categories.
Writing enthusiastically
