Tree: A Life Story

Naomi Brun is a freelance writer and a book reviewer for The Hamilton
Spectator.

David Suzuki, Wayne Grady, and Robert Bateman have all based their
celebrated careers on their profound love of the natural world. Suzuki
unravels life’s hows and whys, Grady puts those discoveries into
words, and Bateman captures their beauty in art. Little wonder, then,
that these three have combined their talents in a creative endeavour.

The result of their collaboration is an absolutely magical biography of
a tree. Not just any tree, but one of those massive Douglas firs that
figure so prominently in the ecological psyche of Canada’s West Coast.
The very size of these trees makes them seem ageless, and they are, in
fact, very old. For example, the tree in question has seen the birth of
modern empirical science, the European explorations of North America,
countless revolutions, and the repopulation of its own land. It has
outlived any ruler the world has ever known, and brought constant
benefit to the planet simply by existing in its own ecosystem. Over its
lifetime, this Douglas fir has provided shelter to countless insects,
animals, and birds; nourished the earth; cleaned the air; and enriched
the water. And in death, its decomposition has continued to feed the
land that gave it life.

In choosing to write a biography, these passionate environmentalists
have attempted to confer a near-human status on the Douglas fir. Tree: A
Life Story is a brilliant success in this regard, for, as a reader, I
cared deeply for that tree. I wanted to know what was happening in the
world at each of the tree’s stages, what was happening to the tree at
its different points of development, and how the tree connected to its
environment. As a result, I learned a great deal not only about the
Douglas fir, but about ecology in general, and grew to love the
interrelatedness of life.

This fine book teaches the reader that the spiritual and the scientific
do not need to inhabit separate realms. In creating this work, the
authors have fused these two worlds together to help us better
appreciate our own.