Reviews - To Speak for the Trees: My Life's Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest

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177 reviews for:

To Speak for the Trees: My Life's Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest

Inspiring, heartwarming, edifying life story of a powerful individual. Like Braiding Sweetgrass, but from a different tradition. What a refreshing read. Makes me want to go out and plant 6 trees tomorrow.

small_gift811's review

5.0

Inspirational memoir of a woman educated in the ancient Celtic ways who married this understanding to education in biochemistry & botany. I wish the last third of the book on the Celtic ogham writing and trees was even longer.

loridickinsonblack's review against another edition

4.0

Fascinating book. Wonderful story of the author’s life. Some of the details in the end seemed cumbersome, but still worth the read. Gave me a deeper appreciation for trees, the environment, and Celtic culture.

mama_honeybee's review

2.0

informative slow-paced

I’m genuinely baffled by all the 5-star reviews for this book. Did we even read the same book? Or have people just gotten too used to poorly written books that they don’t know to expect better? I know that’s a harsh statement, but this book is mediocre at best.

The book is less about trees and more about her laundry list of accomplishments. It reads like a grant paper or fattened resume. I absolutely believe she is a very educated woman and doing extraordinary things for our environment, but her ego is so super-inflated that I found myself frequently eye-rolling. She believes herself to be the last scion of all Celtic wisdom, and her job to share that knowledge, but then hardly does! There’s also a section where her white saviorism is the very definition of “cringe”.

In another review I read, the reviewer mentioned that the childhood autobiography seems fantastical and made up, and I agree with this statement. Wild things happen to people all the time, but the flatness and disconnect with the story makes me think that pieces of truth are there, but her ego inflated, fantasized, and distorted the reality.

The writing is scattered and cluttered, often repetitive. The Ogham section was worth a star, as it was very interesting, but again, the writing is scattered and in need of serious editing.

While I appreciate her knowledge and passion to save the environment, this book is a huge disappointment, especially after just reading the sweet, intelligent, humble voice of Robin Wall Kimmerer in the book Braiding Sweetgrass.

manilace's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

themushroomalien's review

5.0

Whelp, this book had me crying buckets—as most books about trees do—but this one was different. The author starts the book off with tales of her childhood and growing up in Ireland. She became an orphan at a young age, and was taken in by the elders of her village where she was taught the ancient wisdom of the Druids.

This knowledge was the catalyst for the author to major in biology and botany. She is one of the forerunners in her field and is working to create a “bioplan” that can possibly save us from catastrophic climate change.

This book is filled with ancient Celtic medical wisdom that the author has confirmed with science. The book is poetic and informational. I learned so much about trees. Did you know trees are responsible for most of our major medicines, including cancer treatments? Neither did I. We must protect these gentle giants. Our future depends on it. This book helped me see another part of the picture that is life. It is precious and must be protected.