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Reviews
Can You Hear the Trees Talking?: Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest by Peter Wohlleben
ninakeller's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent children’s nonfiction book that takes the research from his book The Hidden Life of Trees and tells the science of the forest in kid-friendly crafted language. I learned a lot about trees and interdependence from this book, as it is grounded in cutting edge scientific discovery, and I’d like to read more of Peter Wohlleben’s work translated from German.
lala783's review against another edition
5.0
I read this book's young readers' edition (only finding out now that there is another version), and while I may not have been the target audience of this delightful peek into the hidden world, I enjoyed it immensely. Wohlleben's book explores topics about trees I've always found interesting ranging from the underground network of communication via fungi to why trees leave changes in the winter. One of my favorite sections was about different trees' personalities. An excellent book recommended for all ages interested in the world around us!
annetjeberg's review against another edition
5.0
All the kids have read it, and so have I. Wonderful knowledge on trees, sometimes a bit long, and feels repetitive, HOWEVER the interesting parts do outweigh that all.
Highly recommended!
Highly recommended!
ruthmoog's review
adventurous
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.25
This is aimed at children and parents, full of wowing tree facts and activities (which I could never be bothered to do?).
My main criticism why I didn't enjoy this so much, is that the author uses comparisons with humans throughout, which is perhaps a teaching device that works well for children... But trees are inherently important in their own right and (ideally) do not need to be relentlessly compared to humans for us to feel connected to them, imo!
My main criticism why I didn't enjoy this so much, is that the author uses comparisons with humans throughout, which is perhaps a teaching device that works well for children... But trees are inherently important in their own right and (ideally) do not need to be relentlessly compared to humans for us to feel connected to them, imo!
anneke_b's review against another edition
5.0
All the kids have read it, and so have I. Wonderful knowledge on trees, sometimes a bit long, and feels repetitive, HOWEVER the interesting parts do outweigh that all.
Highly recommended!
Highly recommended!
lauriehnatiuk's review against another edition
4.0
A treat for me! @peter_wohlleben has made a wonderful adaptation of his adult book The Hidden Life of Trees. An informative book providing lesser known information about trees, how they communicate, protect themselves and other fascinating facts. Information is not overwhelming, easy to follow and has a consistent format regarding text features. Biased with my love of trees and nature this would be bought for my school libraries.
mldavisreads's review against another edition
informative
reflective
4.5
Middle grade nonfiction. This book was chock full of interesting facts about trees, forests, and other organisms that live among them. I learned about the guessing game trees play when losing their leaves (too early and they lose the chance to build up additional sugar reserves for the winter, too late and an early snow could break the heavy limbs), and how there was a similar issue in determining when it was safe to bud new leaves in the spring. Animals were mentioned plenty, including destructive bark beetles, aphid-farming ants, and woodpeckers. There was a lot of information on the benefits trees have for people, such as helping prevent soil erosion, air filtering, oxygen production, and shade. And a few other odd bits of information about how tree families work and tree communication. A very interesting book that was a bit dense, I had to read in small doses.
mystery_reader_24's review
4.0
Even though Can You Hear the Trees Talking? is aimed at children, I decided to borrow it for a change of pace. I had also decided I didn't have the patience to read [b:The Hidden Life of Trees|28256439|The Hidden Life of Trees What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World|Peter Wohlleben|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1464281905l/28256439._SX50_.jpg|48295241] which is also written [a:Peter Wohlleben|4110912|Peter Wohlleben|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1474069110p2/4110912.jpg].
Wohlleben actually does a quite a good job of explaining some complex information about trees, without oversimplifying things for his target audience. He does compare some concepts to human emotions, such as do trees get sick or do they sleep? For the most part he uses correct scientific terms to answer those questions. The illustrations and photos also add interest while reinforcing the concepts. The suggested experiments are an added bonus for kids, though I didn't try any of the activities myself. I actually enjoyed the text and photos and found myself learning some new things about how trees interact.
One small quibble over the ebook version of this book. The text is small and isn't adjustable as in most ebooks. If you really want to enjoy the book without straining your eyes, I'd recommend borrowing or buying the hardcover copy instead.