Every tree is a record of what happened to it. Gooley teaches you to read it: Why branches on the south side grow at a different angle, how a tree leans away from prevailing wind and thickens on the windward side, what a sudden change in bark texture means, why the lowest branches on a woodland tree died and on a field tree didn’t, what root flare tells you about the soil. Short chapters, each a single sign, and you can start on the walk to the mailbox. By the end an ordinary hedgerow is dense with information you were walking past.
How to Read a Tree