Tree Wisdom: The definitive guidebook to the myth, folklore and healing power of Trees

I ordered this book after noticing it was used as a resource often in essays and books. I then read the reviews on Amazon and spent the money to add this book to my collection.The book is interesting and gives a lot of information on 17 trees that are also seen in the ogham (for those that view the ogham as a tree alphabet) and it is filled with mythological references. There are some things that she could have done better though.My biggest dissapointment was the lack of references to researchers, translators, or citations of any sort. She seems to know what she is talking about but I am always wary of this especially after so many Llewellyn "experts" have been exposed as frauds or to have written about subjects that they clearly have little experience with (Tree Wisdom is a Thorsons/Harper Collins book).Like many other books on the subject there seems to be a lot of filler for certain trees. Some trees have very rich Celtic associations like the apple or hawthorn while others are a little less found in documents such as pine or ash. As is often the case the author talks about what every other culture thought of the tree-such as the Greeks or Norse and leaves a gaping hole when it comes to the celts ("the druids burned fires of pine" and "pine is prolific in Britain" are all she says on pine for example). Other myths are interesting but consistency is always nice. I agree with the other review that speaks of runes as well. So many writers try to make a connection between the runes and the ogham but there are very few actual connections and they are just forced to fit.The "recommended reading" in the back seems to lack any reason and lists Carlos Castanada, J.R.R. Tolkien and many other random books despite only being two pages long. The only relevent books are Tree Oracle, White Goddess,and a few books on mythology, a few on herbs and a couple on identifying trees but mostly irrelevent to the book itself and having read the books suggested I know much of the information came from somewhere else - not sure where.Good book but with a little extra attention to detail it could have been much much more.

17 trees in 356 pages. This book deals more with the trees than with the authors beliefs. Some of the other books give one page to each tree and that includes the picture.Trees are described by botanical, bark, leaves,flowers, fruit, custom & legend, healing, magic, inspiration and physical uses.

This book was on my coven reading list so l had to read it, but surprisingly I loved this book. It taught me a lot about trees and I now have a new appreciation for our trees.

Love this book. Great information and a welcomed addition to my collection

Most of this I already know, still, a very good book for reference and also learning for beginners. Happy to have it and it will be around as my daughter needs it as well.

Not my cup of “tea” Too British for me

Exhaustive treatment of such a rich subject.

Great book

This book put me off at first. I wasn't impressed with the quality of the very brownish/gray paper its printed on. And the description claims not once, twice, but THREE times that it is "Beautifully illustrated", so my expectations were of a few full page and full colour pictures and there isn't ONE. A few simple and small black sketches on poor quality paper. I almost returned it. That being said, once you start to read it and get past the fact that the trees are all native of Britain (so not necessarily useful for Canada?) it's quite captivating. They really could have knocked it out of the park if it HAD actually been beautifully illustrated and was on decent paper. Oh well.

i *almost* bought a different 'tree wisdom' book ~~~ until i had an astonishing dream which warned it would prove more of a decorative 'bauble' than a substantive read. this one? absolutely : w o n d e r f u l : its richly researched : well written : heart~centric : poetic : & carefully breaks down each tree covered into sections such as 'botanical' / 'mythological' / 'magical' / 'herbal uses' / 'inspirational', which lends a fluid structure to the whole. for me, one can really sense the author's deep Druidic studies & personal roots in the writing & her very animated living relationship to the trees in question. a true gem. { & definitely NO 'bauble'! }

I love this boo'ks exploration of the folklore and history for many different types of tree found in the UK. It really is the most informative and charming book I have found on this topic. Fabulous resource for all those with an arboreal interest. Cannot rate this highly enough to all those with an interest in folklore and story telling.

I really like this book and it contains a good amount of information. Definitely a book I will always dip into again and again.

when I had my brain tumour diagnosed I spent a lot of time sat under a large oak tree and it made me feel very peaceful now 14yrs on and still clear when ever I feel stressed just touching a tree helps me ,bought this book to read someone else,s opinion .goes into all species of trees in detail .I told my son that the book confirmed what I thought he said no mum it just confirms that someones as mad as you ha ha read it yourself and see