Outstanding | Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England

Heart-felt subject, graceful writing | Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England | Tom Wessels

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	• Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England Tom Wessels Countryman, 2005 - 200 pages average customer review:based on 23 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Gives a new meaning to "Wanta see my etchings?"

This brief and readable book advertises upfront that it focuses on New England, but I believe it will benefit anyone who wants to understand and interpret temperate forest landscapes anywhere. The book is a series of chapters focusing on different topics. Each chapter is headed by an etching of a particular scene. The chapter explores all the small minutiae of the scene, and instructs you in recognizing what they can tell you about it. Some of the things you can learn about (specific to New England in some cases) include: What the size of the rocks in a stone fence tells you about past land use; what the number of dead trees in an abandoned beaver pond can tell you; the meaning of a group of gnarled, twisted, and stunted apple trees in a field. The only thing that restrains my enthusiasm about the book is it's great strength--The etchings. I'd prefer to see photographs, particularly detailed closeups of some of the things discussed. The book contains blowups of portions of the etchings, and these do help. But I'd like to see the etchings supplemented by photos of real occurrences, showing real color.
Nevertheless, highly recommended!

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Outstanding

This book is a worthwhile and fun read for anyone who has any interest in natural history. Tom, in his words, practices forest forensics. I would add that he does so with absolute precision. Read this book at least twice! You are certain to enjoy it.

Heart-felt subject, graceful writing

I am blessed to own some woodland in New England, and my forester recommended this book.

The author writes with the same love for the land that I have, but with much more knowledge. He really enjoys the wonderful details that exist in a forest, and he illuminates them with clear explanations of how the landscape has evolved. The general tone of the book is one of guided investigation for the curious, so there is a great deal of warmth in it.

I don't know how well it works for those who do not have a basic knowledge of trees. If you are not already familiar with the different kinds of tree, you may want a tree identification book too.

I can't give this book five stars because the illustrations were not as helpful as I would have liked. I wanted color and a better sense of the textures. Illustrations of indicator plants would have been a big bonus in the appendix, and I wish they had been provided.

For a more technical book, see Working with Your Woodland by Mollie Beattie. It contains more information and is geared to the landowner, but it doesn't have nearly as much soul. For example, Wessels' book describes stumps with a keen loving eye. They barely get a mention in Beattie's book, and their significance is lost.

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A most excellent book!

This is a fascinating piece of writing, beautifully illustrated, and full of thought-provoking ideas. Wessels does an excellent job of leading the reader through a historical/natural historical approach to understanding portions of the New England landscape. The book is a mixture of "how to" guide and a basket of intriguing facts. My one quibble is that the author is still fixated on a somewhat '70's view of "ecosystems" and "succession" -although he does allow a refreshing degree of indeterminism to creep in on occasion. Other than that this is a must read for any regional ecologist!

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Outstanding!

Tom's clear concise ability to look through a landscape using a slightly non-traditional lens makes this book a winner. He really knows his stuff and is a wealth of information. If you ever get a chance to join him in the field, do so! It's excellent to see how he applies what he knows and sees.

reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5

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