This is a hard hitting, but lovingly written examination into what it means to truly love a forest in our climate changed world. We are past the point of "doing nothing" and must actively work on protecting what we can. Tapper uses his experience as a forester to tend to the forest he owns, and shares his story. This book has beautiful purple prose, uses indigenous names when possible, and makes you feels as if you're in the woods next to him, looking at a deer down a scope, spraying barberry with pesticide, or lovingly following a queen bee.

I think Tapper's message is incredibly important. As someone who works and teaches in a forest being decimated by climate change, I feel his grief full heartedly. I hear his neighbor's snide comments or shrugs about the invasives in their own yard, and feel his stinging fingers and aching back as he pulls what he can. This is my reality too. Tapper says we all must do what we can, even if we cannot do all that much. That we as human's need to remember that we are stewards of the Earth, not just residents here. This is beautiful.

I do think this book suffers a little from white savior-ism. Tapper tries hard to be humble, but at times I felt a tad off put. But maybe he is the savior to his piece of land, and maybe we all can be too, if we work together.

Very descriptively and poetically written. It is defiantly a love letter to the woods. It felt like it was half memoir and half non-fiction and I kind of wanted it to be one or the other.

Interesting read with elements of a poetic style. It felt to me like contemplation on dichotomies - being a consulting forester marking trees for logging and loving a home forest… being a hunter and loving the ecosystem of a forest… is human interference a good thing… contemplative… interesting. Thank you to the author. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it was more of a memoir than I realized it would be but that wasn't a bad thing. It was really neat reading about his love and experiences with the forest and how it came to be. I myself am a nature lover so there was a lot to be appreciated in this book. I felt like his writing kept me engaged through it as well.

How to Love a Forest read more like a memoir than I initially thought it would based on the description. However, it was a really enjoyable book and the author's passion for the forests of our world shined throughout! The author tells his story of how he became a forester and how he is working to restore his own forest to its pre-colonial state. I think this book would make a great gift for those who have wooded land and those who live forests.

A beautiful, heart felt work. Tapper is gifted with use of language. One of my favorite works on nature since Wendell Berry. A truly perfect piece of art.

I was hoping to like it a bit more. It was very moving and interesting at times, so overall I would rate it three stars.

You know that meme where the person takes a sip and is like, "No" and then a second later their facials expression is more like, "Maybe, it's pretty good?" I waffled back and forth with this book. In some ways, I love it. In other ways, I struggled with it. If you didn't come to the book for the author's reflection (more memoir) you might not get what you want out of this book. It's very lyrical.