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The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession Audiobook
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Fifty vignettes of remarkable people whose lives have been transformed by their obsessive passion for trees—written and charmingly illustrated by the New York Times bestselling author of The Drunken Botanist
“I love everything Amy Stewart has ever created, but this book is my favorite yet. I’m giving this book to everyone I know. Because it, like its subject, is a gift.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love
When Amy Stewart discovered a community of tree collectors, she expected to meet horticultural fanatics driven to plant every species of oak or maple. But she also discovered that the urge to collect trees springs from something deeper and more profound: a longing for community, a vision for the future, or a path to healing and reconciliation.
In this slyly humorous, informative, often poignant volume, Stewart brings us captivating stories of people who spend their lives in pursuit of rare and wonderful trees and are transformed in the process. Vivian Keh has forged a connection to her Korean elders through her persimmon orchard. The former poet laureate W. S. Merwin planted a tree almost every day for more than three decades, until he had turned a barren estate into a palm sanctuary. And Joe Hamilton cultivates pines on land passed down to him by his once-enslaved great-grandfather, building a legacy for the future.
Stewart populates this lively compendium with her own hand-drawn watercolor portraits of these extraordinary people and their trees, interspersed with side trips to investigate famous tree collections, arboreal glossaries, and even tips for “unauthorized” forestry. This book is a stunning tribute to a devoted group of nature lovers making their lives—and the world—more beautiful, one tree at a time.
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"The Tree Collectors does not disappoint. A series of fascinating international portraits explores the mind-blowing and multi-dimensional connections people have with trees. In lively prose and thoughtful illustrations, The Tree Collectors felt like sitting down and having the best kind of coffee date with one fascinating person after another: artists to educators, collectors to researchers, bereaved parents to peach caretakers, even ‘unauthorized foresters.’ Each fresh portrait expresses a unique passion for collecting and cultivating trees. No matter your arboreal experience or expertise, you will learn something from The Tree Collectors while feeling uplifted by Stewart’s own thoughtful and bright botanical illustrations. You might finish the book and conclude, like one of her subjects, ‘My answers were in the trees all along.’"
— Kathryn Aalto, author of Writing Wild
Quotes
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I love everything Amy Stewart has ever created, but this book is my favorite of hers yet. This is the sort of book that, while you are reading it, you keep adding names to the list in your head of all the people you want to give it to. But I’ll keep it simple: I’m giving this book to everyone I know. Because it, like its subject, is a gift.
— Elizabeth Gilbert, author of City of Girls and The Signature of All Things -
I love everything Amy Stewart has ever created, but this book is my favorite of hers yet. This is the sort of book that, while you are reading it, you keep adding names to the list in your head of all the people you want to give it to. But I’ll keep it simple: I’m giving this book to everyone I know. Because it, like its subject, is a gift.
— Elizabeth Gilbert, author of The City of Girls and The Signature of All Things -
’Tree nut’ takes on a different meaning as Amy Stewart brings us inside the hidden world of tree collecting in this delightfully offbeat book about a group of otherwise normal people as diverse as the specimens they collect. Whether saving a species, engaging in an expensive whim, or committing misdemeanors in the name of civic beautification, the men and women of The Tree Collectors will take root in your consciousness and nurture your soul.
— William Alexander, author of Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World -
Blue gum eucalyptus, oaks, maples, ginkos, Boxwoods, cottonwoods, dogwoods, mangos, flowering cherries. With graceful prose and tender watercolors, Amy Stewart’s arboreal global tour explores the fragility and resilience of Earth’s great canopy. The Tree Collectors ushers readers into the hidden groves and lush forests where the world’s most dedicated gardeners plant the landscape of the future.
— Lauren Redniss, author of Oak Flat -
I love everything Amy Stewart has ever created, but this book is my favorite yet. I’m giving this book to everyone I know. Because it, like its subject, is a gift.
— Elizabeth Gilbert, author of The City of Girls and The Signature of All Things -
What a gift! The Tree Collectors takes us on a whirlwind planetary journey into the wondrously entangled life of people and plants. With this book, Amy Stewart shows us how we are all related to one another, through trees.
— Katie Holten, author of The Language of Trees -
Blue gum eucalyptus, oaks, maples, ginkgoes, boxwoods, cottonwoods, dogwoods, mangos, flowering cherries . . . With graceful prose and tender watercolors, Amy Stewart’s arboreal global tour explores the fragility and resilience of Earth’s great canopy. The Tree Collectors ushers readers into the hidden groves and lush forests where the world’s most dedicated gardeners plant the landscape of the future.
— Lauren Redniss, author of Oak Flat -
Amy Stewart brings us inside the hidden world of tree collecting in this delightfully offbeat book about a group of otherwise normal people as diverse as the specimens they collect. The Tree Collectors will take root in your consciousness and nurture your soul.
— William Alexander, author of Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World -
Reading The Tree Collectors feels like sitting down and having the best kind of coffee date with one fascinating person after another. No matter your arboreal experience or expertise, you will learn something, while feeling uplifted by Stewart’s own thoughtful and bright botanical illustrations.
— Kathryn Aalto, author of Writing Wild -
Like the brushstrokes in the fine paintings alongside them, Stewart’s vignettes add up to something more: a powerful portrait of the human passion for plants and a paean to what the plants give back.
— Thor Hanson, author of The Triumph of Seeds -
Literary pointillism . . . a warm and brilliant mural of life that tells a larger story about humanity: our desires, our losses, our salvation, and our place on a beautiful living planet during a time of immense challenges.
— Greg King, author of The Ghost Forest -
These mesmerizing trees, and the inspiring people they’ve transformed, will alter your perspective and give you hope.
— Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees -
After spending time [with The Tree Collectors], you’ll undoubtedly experience an intense desire to recline under the shade of a leafy canopy. But something even more profound is happening here: by creating a space for people to talk about something they love, Stewart made me feel more tender-hearted toward my fellow humans. ‘How often do any of us get a chance to pour our hearts out to a stranger?’ she writes. ‘Somehow, talking about trees made it possible.’
— Scientific American
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About Amy Stewart
Amy Stewart is the author of several books, including the historical fiction Kopp Sisters series, which began with Girl Waits with Gun. The series is based on the true story of three remarkable sisters who lived in New Jersey in the early twentieth-century. She has also written six nonfiction books on the perils and pleasures of the natural world, including the international bestsellers The Drunken Botanist, Wicked Bugs, Wicked Plants, and Flower Confidential. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and the American Horticultural Society’s 2010 Book Award. She lives in Portland with her husband Scott Brown, a rare book dealer. They own an independent bookstore called Eureka Books, which is so independent that it lives in California while they live in Oregon.
About Jade Wheeler
Andrew Eiden, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, is an actor and voice artist. He has been acting since the age of four, working at regional theaters including La Mirada Theatre, the Glendale Center Theatre, and the Pasadena Playhouse. He has starred in dozens of national commercials, guest-spotted on numerous television shows, and has been a series regular on three programs: Discovery Channel’s Outward Bound, Disney Channel’s Movie Surfers, and most notably ABC’s Complete Savages