These Trees Tell a Story

The Art of Reading Landscapes

By: Noah Charney

Narrated by: Douglas R Pratt

A deeply personal master class on how to read a natural landscape and unravel the clues to its unique ecological history.

Structured as a series of interactive field walks through ten New England ecosystems, this book challenges listeners to see the world through the eyes of a trained naturalist. With guided questions and a narrative approach, each chapter adds layers of complexity to a single scene, revealing the millions of years of forces at play. Tying together geology, forest ecology, wildlife biology, soil processes, evolution, conservation, and more, Noah Charney shows how and why landscapes appear in their current forms.

Charney’s stories and lessons will provide anyone with the necessary investigative skills to look at a landscape, interpret it, and tell its story—from its start as rock or soil to the plants and animals that live on it. Ultimately, Charney argues, by critically engaging with the landscape we will become better at connecting with nature and ourselves.

©2023 Noah Charney (P)2023 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

“A delightful immersion in close observation and deep understanding.” (Tristan Gooley, author of The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs)

“Become a nature detective by reading this insightful book!” (Meg Lowman, author of Life in the Treetops)

“A book for the shelf of any forest wanderer—and a book to take on those wanders, so you can much better understand what you’re seeing!” (Bill McKibben, author of Wandering Home)

Very insightful and entertaining

 This book is great for understanding nature, being open to learning from nature and appreciating its complexity and beauty.

Voice is grating

Hard to listen to. Could only take in small doses because this man's voice is so annoying

Engaging!

I listened to the whole thing and, as the book’s author, am pleased with the compelling and sensitive audio narration. The text is driven by stories which come through clearly. The light edits for audio work well. FYI, all the images are freely available on the book’s website, and if you have the time I’d recommend looking at each chapter’s main images before listening to that chapter.

Enjoyable Story

I loved the content and the narration. I live in semi-rural New England and listened as I walked in nature near my suburban home and it was great to look around as I listened. It became clear the physical book had a lot of photos. I wish the author's note was at the beginning so that I would have known to look for the photos before I finished the entire book. But otherwise loved it.