A Forest Language

This beautifully illustrated essay collection offers a curious and creative invitation into the world of trees and the words we use to understand them.

What is crown shyness, and how could a tree be shy? What is heartwood, and what does it have to do with the heart? So often even our scientific terms are rife with surprising etymologies and images that may reveal as much about us humans and our relationship to nature as they do about the things they describe. Words related to trees and forests are no exception.

With a poet’s sensibility, Hannah Fries peels back the layers of these ecological terms, reflecting on their meaning both literally and figuratively, intertwining science and metaphor.

• "A Forest Language reads like a quiet, necessary conversation with the living world, where every generous word—mycorrhiza, sap, lenticil—glows with the tenderness of a living thing. Hannah Fries brilliantly teaches us how to love trees not just as scenery, but as neighbors, mentors, and astonishing collaborators."
   
  Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of World of Wonders
• "A Forest Language is an exquisite cabinet of arboreal wonders, where each term becomes a story and each story a portal into the secret lives of trees, written with the precision of a naturalist and the tenderness of a poet."
  Diane Ackerman, author of A Natural History of the Senses
• "A welcome, nourishing encounter at the crossroads of science and poetry, of fact and meaning, of understanding and intoxicating awe."
  Jarod K. Anderson, author of Strange Animals and Something in the Woods Loves You
• "A Forest Language embraces the technical vocabulary of the forest sciences, celebrating the precise meanings of these curious words while also forging a shared lexicon of awe and admiration for forests. Far exceeding a mere glossary, Hannah has assembled a richly annotated collection of reflections, astonishments and wonderment gleaned from a lifetime spent among the trees."
  Peter Grima, forester and botanist
• “Fries sheds light in this poignant illustrated essay collection on the ecological terms used to describe forests... This is a treasure.”  
  Publishers Weekly