Although I appreciate what the author was trying to convey in this book, I found it challenging to read. The writing jumps around a lot and I often found myself wondering where the author was going with all the random (but yes, interesting facts). Not sure if the book needed to be longer, more focussed, or just layed out differently, but it just didn’t work for me.
3 stars because I love trees and there is lots of memorable info (it just comes at you in an overwhelming way)

I love, and have read several, books about trees. This one is less about trees and more a personal statement from the author on the impact of humans on nature - through deforestation, global warming, etc. - as such, it wasn’t for me. The author dedicates pages to a diary-like reflection of his interaction with trees often wandering completely from the tree of the chapters and, at times, from the topic of trees entirely. I had no desire to learn in detail about insects or production processes or several other tangents. It is well written and undoubtedly well research but far too little tree and far too much other for me.

(3.5 stars)

Twelve trees, thousands if not more of interconnected species, hundreds of ways they affect our lives, our cultures, our future, and as many ways that we harm them.
This is a quite interesting book, very well researched that focuses on twelve trees, and their invaluable survival. Their survival is our survival as a species, and we should all understand and accept this, if we want to (somewhat) avoid the disasters that await us.
The only negative thing that I can find, is that the author lost his footing at some places, dedicating too many words for things he could cover in a couple of paragraphs.

An overall enjoyable and informative read, that I hope it will find a broad audience when published.

Thank you NetGalley and Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

Twelve Trees is a beautiful, well researched love letter to trees. Daniel Lewis describes 12 different species of trees in great detail. I really enjoyed learning about how different species of tree manage water and the importance of controlled fires to preventing massive disasters. Trees coexist as part of biomes and the interaction between trees and other forms of life are explored. After reading this book I have a much better understanding for how critical the survival of trees is to so many ecosystems and the general balance of biodiversity. Human interaction, disruption and consumption has already had catastrophic impacts on many species including trees discussed in this book.

I would rate this book as 4.5 stars. The one challenge that I had with the book is that there were sometime tangents that did not see relevant. The biological and ecological information was fascinating but sometimes the non-science tangents slowed down my reading.

My sincere hope is that many people will read this book and take action. Twelve Trees is a beautiful tribute to trees and the critical role we all have to play in preservation to mitigate climate change.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.