The Ash and the Beech

A well-written and passionate piece of work — the sort that actually makes you want to look at the world in a different way. Mabey, a nature writer by training, invokes philosophy, history, socioeconomics and literature in his account of the role that trees (particularly the beech — and in this revised edition of his original work, the ash too) play in British culture and how this has changed over time. What makes his work particularly compelling is not just the depth of the material upon which Mabey draws, but how it is combined seamlessly with his personal experiences. The work is rendered all the more interesting since many of Mabey's interactions with trees occur in the Chilterns and the New Forest. His key contention is that despite their ubiquity and how humans have sought to appropriate them, it is crucial for us not only to respect their independence but to recognise their enduring powers of survival. As Mabey writes, We have angered them (the trees) into "forms that suit us", but when we do they "respond with torturous narratives of their own" (page 26). Every stage of their lives is "governed by rituals alien to us" (page 29). Learn to live with and respect nature, in other words. Trees are "the Earth's gift to us" (page 99) — not the other way around. His account of the great storm of 1987 is especially poignant.

By Richard Mabey