Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars | 4,226 ratings

Price: 17.72

Last update: 02-28-2025


About this item

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER From the world's leading forest ecologist who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another and to other living things in the forest—a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery

“Finding the Mother Tree reminds us that the world is a web of stories, connecting us to one another. [The book] carries the stories of trees, fungi, soil and bears—and of a human being listening in on the conversation. The interplay of personal narrative, scientific insights and the amazing revelations about the life of the forest make a compelling story.”—Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass

Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide.

In this, her first book, now available in audio, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths—that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own.

Simard writes—in inspiring, illuminating, and accessible ways—how trees, living side by side for hundreds of years, have evolved, how they learn and adapt their behaviors, recognize neighbors, compete and cooperate with one another with sophistication, characteristics ascribed to human intelligence, traits that are the essence of civil societies—and at the center of it all, the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful forces that connect and sustain the others that surround them.

And Simard writes of her own life, born and raised into a logging world in the rainforests of British Columbia, of her days as a child spent cataloging the trees from the forest and how she came to love and respect them. And as she writes of her scientific quest, she writes of her own journey, making us understand how deeply human scientific inquiry exists beyond data and technology, that it is about understanding who we are and our place in the world.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Neal Lemery
    5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging My Curiosity
    Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2021
    Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, by Suzanne Simard (2021)

    Part of the master gardener’s experience is a heightened awakening to the complexities of relationships in the plant world, and how we can explore that and broaden our own relationship with life and the world. This book is a well-merited and greatly enjoyed celebration of our curiosity.
    Reading this book is like a series of coffees with a bright and curious friend who thrives on looking into the unanswered questions of how plants grow and how rich the world is in relationships.
    Simard, now a professor of ecology at the University of British Columbia, is the third generation of loggers and farmers. Her childhood curiosity and fascination with forests led her to pursue a career in forestry and ecology. She struggled with the established forest practices of clearcutting and indiscriminate spraying, and began researching the role of various fungal networks (mycorrizae). Her writing engaged me and I too became curious about fungus in the forest. I found it hard to put the book down.
    She takes us to the forest and her laboratory, and invites us into her research and analysis, sharing the thrill of discovery and the development of her thinking. An engaging writer, she also weaves in her family life and her struggles with established science and industrial practices. Part memoir, part heroic tale, part mystery, and part botanical adventure and intrigue, the book is hard to put down. She fashions a compelling read and an intimate autobiography.
    This book is intriguing on a number of levels, and you come away with a new understanding of ecology, climate change, and the complexity of nature. This is also a celebration of one’s curiosity and our emotional connections to the earth and other living beings.
    “Finding the Mother Tree promises to change our understanding about what is really going on when a tree falls in the forest, and other pressing mysteries of the natural world.” --- Michael Pollan
  • Cyndi5.0
    5.0 out of 5 stars Critical knowledge for our earth
    Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2025
    Complex structures intertwine everything in the forest, discovering how to influence corporations to care is invaluable. This epic story is one for our world and it is not over.
    Thanks for helping a nature loving human see the complexity of this part of our world.
  • aggiereader
    5.0 out of 5 stars great read
    Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2024
    The book is very detailed in terms of science, forestry, and botany. At times it felt like too many details for someone unfamiliar with the topic, but it never lost my interest. The detailed accounts of the research were accompanied by details of the life of Suzanne Simard while she struggled with being heard in an industry that values more production over preservation. We accompany her through her research as well as her life, including grief, nostalgia, romance, sickness, etc. in other words, we see a complete human being figuring herself out while working for nature and against its destruction
  • Dianne Coin
    4.0 out of 5 stars Life and Science
    Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2024
    A wonderful and humble telling of how a scientist makes new knowledge from the perspective of the challenges of everyday life. Not being a scientist myself, I didn't get as much out of the more detailed description s of the natural processes as others might.
  • PamB
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting
    Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2024
    Great folow up after reading the Overstory
  • B. Geddes
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Insights
    Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2024
    This autobiographical book takes us along the author’s journey from curious student to brilliant scientist as she asks, investigates, and then conclusively proves that forests are massive neural networks amazingly analogous to our human neural network.

    As someone who knows almost nothing about forests but has always been repulsed by clear cuts, this was a unique opportunity to learn and to appreciate how little we understand about the way nature works. It’s a resounding rebuttal to our human beliefs in mankind’s inherent superiority over all else and that the whole world is built around a competition model. I especially appreciate that most of the writing is easily accessible to those of us who are not scientists and not knowledgeable about forests.
  • Jim Hurdis
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Page Turner
    Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2024
    An dramatic, first person scientific discovery journey. Identifying what native Americans understood, but apply scientific principles to document and to start official policy to agree there is an interdependence among trees of different species. They support each other. The Mother Tree supports and feeds her large family of growing trees. A very surprising interdependence link is discovered at the last chapter.
  • C
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Mother of all Tree Books, learn about how trees communicate
    Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2021
    This is a fascinating book about the interconnected community of trees; how they can communicate and care for each other, and the amazing things that the author Suzanne Simard has learned in her years of studying the forest ecosystem.

    Simard grabbed my attention right away in the Introduction, with the information that the complex underground fungal communication network that trees use to share information, bears a striking resemblance to the structure of the synapses and nodes of the human brain. She mentions that the chemicals that the trees use to communicate are identical to our own neurotransmitters. When you consider the level of communication, and ability to share information about potential danger, it really seems as though humans need to rethink their perception of trees and the entire forest ecosystem.

    The book has 15 chapters, and about 300 pages, and describes Simard's own personal journey that led to amazing groundbreaking scientific discoveries. There is quite a bit of information about the life cycles and networks of trees and fungi, and I'm still trying to absorb all of it. I will probably have to go back and read this a few times. There are also some beautiful pictures of forest environments, some in color and some black and white.

    I appreciate Simard for her unique dedication to the forest, and her contributions to science. This book really has me excited to do more research about this topic.
    Customer image
    C
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    The Mother of all Tree Books, learn about how trees communicate

    Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2021
    This is a fascinating book about the interconnected community of trees; how they can communicate and care for each other, and the amazing things that the author Suzanne Simard has learned in her years of studying the forest ecosystem.

    Simard grabbed my attention right away in the Introduction, with the information that the complex underground fungal communication network that trees use to share information, bears a striking resemblance to the structure of the synapses and nodes of the human brain. She mentions that the chemicals that the trees use to communicate are identical to our own neurotransmitters. When you consider the level of communication, and ability to share information about potential danger, it really seems as though humans need to rethink their perception of trees and the entire forest ecosystem.

    The book has 15 chapters, and about 300 pages, and describes Simard's own personal journey that led to amazing groundbreaking scientific discoveries. There is quite a bit of information about the life cycles and networks of trees and fungi, and I'm still trying to absorb all of it. I will probably have to go back and read this a few times. There are also some beautiful pictures of forest environments, some in color and some black and white.

    I appreciate Simard for her unique dedication to the forest, and her contributions to science. This book really has me excited to do more research about this topic.
    Images in this review

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