The Arbornaut
The Arbornaut
A LIFE DISCOVERING THE EIGHTH CONTINENT IN THE TREES ABOVE US
by Meg Lowman
Published in 2021 by Picador
One of my nieces gave me this book because we were actually in the same place at the same for my birthday this year, and I have eagerly savored it for six months. It’s been delightful! Because of the way it is organized I could pick it up, read a little, learn a little, digest a little, put it down and ponder a great deal… and then repeat. Because I keep multiple books going at one time, this writing style suited me quite well this summer.
Finishing this book felt very personal to me. I grew up loving trees. My parents did an awesome job instilling in me and my three brothers a strong love and appreciation for trees. They passed on their own knowledge and awe, and they provided and pointed us toward resources for us to do our own work around learning and loving trees. One of my favorite college classes was botany— and that was my first structured introduction to the immense botanical diversity around the world — not just in my small, well-loved Midwest pocket of trees and their canopies.
As an adult, after having lived in Australia, Thailand, California, Michigan, Indiana, and now Utah AND visited other countries around the world and multiple US states, the botanical diversity presented in this book felt like home and filled in a lot of my personal knowledge gaps.
Meg Lowman, the author, is an amazingly inspiring human being with grit, fortitude, imagination, creativity, and boundless energy. She delights the reader with incredible stories of her scientific adventures through the trees and around the world. In her writing, Meg balances her extensive scientific knowledge with anticipating her reader’s probable lack of knowledge. Somehow she masters the art of telling her experiential stories with humor, decades of data, and topical challenges for the reader.
Meg is both an expansive human being and someone very talented in educating and expanding others on the urgent need to care for our planet and one another. She provides extensive examples and insightful ways to help the reader do just that. I encourage you to check out this book and/or follow this link to her website to learn more. The map of the tree canopy walkways she has helped build is particularly interesting.
