The Treeline, Ben Rawlence
The Treeline, Ben Rawlence
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The Treeline
The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth

Author: Ben Rawlence

Narrator: Jamie Parker

Unabridged: 11 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/15/2022

Synopsis

In the tradition of Elizabeth Kolbert and Barry Lopez, a powerful, poetic and deeply absorbing account of the “lung” at the top of the world.

For the last fifty years, the trees of the boreal forest have been moving north. The Treeline takes us along this critical frontier of our warming planet from Norway to Siberia, Alaska to Greenland, to meet the scientists, residents and trees confronting huge geological changes. Only the hardest species survive at these latitudes including the ice-loving Dahurian larch of Siberia, the antiseptic Spruce that purifies our atmosphere, the Downy birch conquering Scandinavia, the healing Balsam poplar that Native Americans use as a cure-all and the noble Scots Pine that lives longer when surrounded by its family.

It is a journey of wonder and awe at the incredible creativity and resilience of these species and the mysterious workings of the forest upon which we rely for the air we breathe. Blending reportage with the latest science, The Treeline is a story of what might soon be the last forest left and what that means for the future of all life on earth.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

About Ben Rawlence

Ben Rawlence is the award-winning author of Radio Congo, City of Thorns, The Treeline and Think Like a Forest. His writing has been translated into more than 10 languages. The Treeline won the 2023 Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism, the 2022 Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communications and many others. He is the founder and director of the pioneering educational institution, Black Mountains College in Wales.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Will

Big changes are taking place across the vast plain stippled by spruce and striated with water that unfolds below the aircraft at 10,000 feet. The skin of the earth is melting, microbial life waking after thousands, possibly millions, of frozen years. The soil is transpiring—perspiring one could......more

Goodreads review by L.G.

What we call the treeline is not really a line at all, but rather the growing limit for trees, which is only as certain as the environment that facilitates their growth. Over geologic time incremental global temperature changes have meant that the treeline has always been a moving target, albeit a s......more

Goodreads review by Miya (severe pain struggles, slower at the moment)

Absolutely beautiful! Slightly heartbreaking as well. I know there are other tree lovers out there...this is a book you have to read. It is fully engaging, informative, and just one of a kind. The way it is laid out is perfect. I really enjoyed this one.......more

Goodreads review by BAM (I will vote!)

"Trees are on the move. They shouldn't be. And this sinister fact has enormous consequences for all life on earth." The treeline that Ben Rawlence traveled around the world to observe from 2018 t0 2021 is not really a line at all but a transition zone between what scientists call 'the forest-tundra......more

Goodreads review by Lana

Look, we knew this book wasn't going to be good news going into it. My biggest gripes/reason for two stars are twofold. 1) I am also an academic scientist. And I believe strongly that writing intended for broader public MUST be accessible. This book was infuriatingly inaccessible to those without nic......more

Awards

  • NPR Best Book of the Year
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