This is a surprising little book. Sectioned by our four seasons, they are literally little tree notes from an ecologist and National Geographic Explorer at Large. Each one brings a little joy to your day.

I loved learning about bark cloth, discovering the healing of willows (their scientific name, Salix, is from the Celtic word meaning “near water”), and finding out more about how we encounter (and can more sustainably use) trees like in violin bows and cork. I’ve been reading a lot about trees lately, and this fits right in as a refreshing start or end to the day.

Thank you to NegGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Glorious little book about trees! Woven through Nadkarni’s notes including personal stories, wisdom and experiences shares copious and varied facts about trees, that range from global traditions to pollen, petrified wood to drumsticks, and that’s just the first chapter.! It’s fascinating all of the tree knowledge, in a highly consumable note format, making it easy to reach for and get some tree education each day. It’s perfect unpredictability made me smile again and again— you know it all revolves around trees, but you wonder, what will I learn next? Perfect for tree lovers like me!🌲🫶🌲

The title accurately describes this book. The chapters are a little longer than factoids, but encompass notes. I wonder what this book will look like on paper. There is plenty of interesting tree-related information, but it seems a little scattered. Maybe a more fluid book might have resulted in more time spent massaging the information. Maybe that wasn't what was intended.