The Power of Trees: How Ancient Forests Can Save Us if We Let Them

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Hidden Life of Trees comes a book that will deepen our understanding of ancient forests, reaffirm our dependence on trees, and celebrate their ability to survive human-caused climate change.

Trees can survive without humans, but we can't live without trees. Even if human-caused climate change devastates our planet, the trees will return–-as they do, always and everywhere, even after ice ages, catastrophic fires, destructive storms, and deforestation. It would just be nice if we could be around to see them flourish.

The Power of Trees is forester Peter Wohlleben's follow-up to The Hidden Life of Trees, a New York Times bestseller that sold millions of copies worldwide. The Power of Trees is as fascinating and eye-opening as it is trenchant in its critique: on the one hand, Wohlleben describes astonishing discoveries about how trees pass knowledge down to succeeding generations and their ability to survive climate change; on the other, he is unsparing in his criticism of those who wield economic and political power-who plant trees exclusively for the sake of logging and virtue-signaling, even as they ruthlessly exploit nature.

The Promise of Trees is a love letter to the forest and a passionate argument for protecting nature's boundless diversity, not only for the trees, but also for ourselves.

Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.

Peter Wohlleben is the author of several books about the natural world, including The Hidden Life of Trees, The Inner Life of Animals, and The Heartbeat of Trees. His books for children include Can You Hear the Trees Talking?, Do You Know Where the Animals Live?, and Peter and the Tree Children. A longtime former forester, Wohlleben runs a forest academy in Germany that supports sustainable forest management and teaches adults and children about the many wonders of the forest.

Jane Billinghurst is a nature lover, master gardener, editor, translator, and author of six books. She has translated and edited several books by Peter Wohlleben, including the New York Times bestseller The Hidden Life of Trees. She lives in Anacortes, Washington, next to 2,800 acres of community forest lands.