''An exceptional book'' ROBIN LANE FOX ''This wondrous book gives us trees as we''ve never seen them before ... Beautifully explained, brilliantly written and perception-changing'' ISABELLA TREE Taking us on an awe-inspiring journey through deep history and across the globe, The Genius of Trees restores trees to their rightful position not as victims of our negligence but as ingenious, stunningly inventive agents in a grand ecological narrative. Some have been using fire as a reproductive tool since prehistoric times. Others have gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure their fruits reach large primates, who can spread their seeds over vast distances, while poisoning smaller and less useful mammals. Some can split solid rock and create fertile ground in barren landscapes, effectively building entire ecosystems from scratch. For the first time, we witness the inventive and astonishing ways trees sculpt and even master their environment and understand the science of how they achieve these feats. From oaks growing in Devon and Amedi in Iraq to the laurel rainforests of the Canary Islands, metasequoias in California and fossil forests preserved from hundreds of millions of years ago, we see how trees not only farm the landscape in which they grow but also manipulate the fundamental elements, other species and even humankind to achieve their ends. At once transporting and expert, this eye-opening, mind-expanding journey into the inner lives of nature''s most powerful plant is a profoundly new and original way of understanding both the miracles trees perform and the glories of our natural world. ''Full of wonder and revelation ... Highly recommended'' SUE STUART-SMITH ''If I was dazzled by nature and in awe of trees before I read this book, I now know how much we are indebted to them for the way they have shepherded life on earth for millions on years'' KIRSTY WARK

Autorentext

Harriet Rix is a tree science consultant and writer. She was formerly based at the Tree Council where she supported Defra in researching tree diseases and urban tree strategies. Before joining the tree sector, she worked in landmine clearance in the Middle East. She acted as scientific advisor on Adrian Grenier's climate documentary, was secretary of Hedgelink and is trustee of the Iraqi environmental charity Hasar.

Rix holds a biochemistry degree from the University of Oxford and an MPhil in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge. She was a London Library Emerging Writer, and her writing and photography has been published in the Financial Times, London Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement and more. The Genius of Trees is her first book.

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LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2026

'Sublime ... A true masterpiece' DAILY TELEGRAPH,

'Mind-blowing' GUARDIAN

'Wondrous. Gives us trees as we've never seen them before' ISABELLA TREE, author of Wilding

A TELEGRAPH, COUNTRY LIFE, NEW YORKER and CRITIC BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025

The extraordinary story of the inventive and astonishing ways trees have shaped our natural world.

Over hundreds of millions of years, from the prehistoric forests to those standing tall over us today, trees have evolved to sculpt the environments. They split rock, change sex, spin carbon, and manipulate bacteria, animals and even humankind to achieve their ends and shape the natural world.

In The Genius of Trees, Harriet Rix takes us on a mind-expanding, globe-spanning journey into the remarkable inner lives of trees. For the first time, we see trees not as victims, but as powerful agents of change in a grand ecological narrative - as leading actors in the great drama of life on earth who have transformed our planet and offer us hope for its future.

'Exceptional ... Changes our entire view of trees' ROBIN LANE FOX, Financial Times Gardening Columnist

'Full of wonder and revelation' SUE STUART-SMITH, author of The Well Gardened Mind

'Captivating' COUNTRY LIFE

'Profoundly inventive' INDEPENDENT

'A magisterial tour de force - destined to become a classic' BEN RAWLENCE, author of The Treeline