Tree story The history of the world written in rings

This work portrays an interesting method of looking at history as revealed by the science of dendrochronology, the study of growth rings in trees. The text unfolds as a narrative, based on the author's own personal history. Trouet (Univ. of Arizona) describes her career in the scholarly world, from her beginnings as a young student in Belgium up to her success as a US academic, where she is currently a faculty member of the renowned Tree-Ring Lab in Arizona, literally the home of her chosen discipline. Trouet's research has taken her to many countries on various continents to examine patterns in the trees found in each environment and explore what their rings reveal about the climactic and biological changes that may have taken place there in the remote past. Often Trouet has been accompanied by students/colleagues, and her account of trips to locales ranging from deserts to high mountain ranges is both substantive and entertaining. The rings themselves can play their own role in geopolitics, as shown by Trouet's observations on climate change and the debate over a perceived dismal future. Her conclusions are particularly arresting, projecting the inundation of certain land masses in the not-too-distant future. In this intellectual autobiography, man-made climate change plays a role of utmost importance. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. --Francis W. Yow, emeritus, Kenyon College

Trouet (Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, Univ. of Arizona) demonstrates how dendrochronology can be used to identify natural events and how that correlates with our human history. For example, a narrow tree ring indicates a dry year, explaining how something like a drought prompted a mass migration. Tree rings can also show how global warming is quickening. Yet, rather than lingering on the negative, Trouet celebrates the scientific processes and discoveries of her work and that of her colleagues, such as collaborative investigations of everything from stalagmites to sunken Spanish ships that pair with environmental events such as volcanic activity, hurricanes, snow droughts, earthquakes, tsunamis, and forest fires. Trouet writes that the purpose of this book is to excite people about science, and she succeeds by creating an engaging, credible work sprinkled with anecdotes. VERDICT With this brief, accessible look at the wisdom of tree rings, Trouet draws readers into a narrative that clearly displays her joy for her work and offers some fun with word play. [For a fictional account about the significance of trees in our lives, see Michael Christie's novel Greenwood, reviewed on p. 81.--Ed.]--Elissa Cooper, Helen Plum Memorial Lib., Lombard, IL