Wood for the Trees

Richard Fortey spent his working life in palaeontology at the Natural History Museum, specialising in trilobites and becoming a world expert. He was elected President of the Geological Society of London for its bicentennial year of 2007 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Society of Literature. He has received the Frink Medal, the Michael Faraday Prize and the Lewis Thomas Prize for science writing, as well as the silver medal of the Zoological Society for science communication. He is the writer of eight previous science and nature books, including two Sunday Times bestsellers, all of which are still in print. He has presented many television programmes across the BBC and other channels.

★★★★★ Sunday Telegraph‘Fortey’s forte is that he gets down and dirty in this diary of his beech wood. If you go down to the woods today, take Fortey with you’ John Lewis-Stempel, Books of the Year, The Times‘This marvellous book documents a year in the life of his patch – and he chronicles its changing moods superbly … Fortey's prose is a joy … his sharp eye and ceaselessly inquiring mind are an inspiration’ Daily Mail‘His remarkable scientific knowledge, intense curiosity and love of nature mean entries erupt with the same richness and variety as the woods they describe … Fortey's enthusiasm for his new wonderland is infectious and illuminating …. deep and interesting’ Guardian‘Wonderfully readable’ BBC Wildlife magazine‘Captivating … what he shows in this remarkable book, always precise, often lyrical … is just how much can be learned by sinking into one particular place’ Evening Standard‘An exceptionally detailed record … a deep understanding of the natural history that it shapes’ Nature magazine‘Fortey’s fascinating and thorough book … illuminates its flora and fauna, history and ecology with indisputable expertise’ Financial Times‘Fortey is never dull … ‘The Wood For the Trees’ yields plenty of fascinating nuggets … a joyous celebration of what we now call biodiversity – the sheer creative exuberance, endless variety and inventiveness of nature, evident in four acres of Chiltern woodland … ‘The Wood For the Trees’ is a handsome volume copiously illustrated, well indexed and packed with facts. It would sit well on any woodland lover’s bookshelf’ Literary Review‘The volume of flora and fauna collected and identified by Fortey and his expert friends is impressive … like the truffles that he unearths at the foot of a beech tree, there are good things to be found in this book’ The Times