#148: Natural History Reading List #11: 'The Wood for the Trees'

Richard Fortey has written a few books which deserve to be on the reading list that we are putting together for sharing, and will also be in my growing GCSE Natural History library which I will assemble in my classroom in 2024.

Fortey is a palaentologist who has written a number of books and won a number of awards including the Linnean Medal. They are useful for supporting the teaching of several of the proposed themes, and he is able to bring together a range of themes and disciplines together really well.

I imagine there will also be an 'official' list of recommended and supplementary reading in the final specification. 

Being well read about the wide range of options for a course in natural history is going to be important.

From a review of the book, which gives you a flavour of its contents:

This biography of a beech-and-bluebell wood through diverse moods and changing seasons combines stunning natural history with the ancient history of the countryside to tell the full story of the British landscape.

Guided by his abiding love of nature and a lifetime of scientific expertise, Richard Fortey takes us on a journey through ecosystems and time. The Wood for the Trees is the story of humankind meeting nature, an homage to the mesmerising interactions between flora, fauna and fungi.

Discover the lives of animals and plants; the passage of seasons; visits by fellow enthusiasts; the play of light between branches; the influence of geology; and how woodland has shaped history, architecture, and industry. 

On every page Fortey shows how an intimate study of one small wood can reveal so much about the natural world, and demonstrates his relish for the incomparable pleasures of discovery.

The book was published in 2016, and I have a 2nd hand copy in my growing Natural History library. 

After Christmas, I am going to be creating a series of shelves in my classroom and an area of storage boxes where I file away relevant documents and resources ready for potential discussions with other colleagues.

Here's a review by Rob Cowen.

In 2011, after retiring from his role as senior palaeontologist Fortey purchased four acres of prime beech and bluebell wood. Located in the Chiltern Hills, a mile from his hometown of Henley-on-Thames, Grim’s Dyke Wood was the very patch of wood that 19th-century philosopher John Stuart Mill walked through and proclaimed woods “the great beauty of this country”.

I will be sharing some sections from this once I've had a chance to fillet it - there are already quite a few post it notes sticking out of the side of the book.