Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England [Hardcover]

Tom Wessels (Author), Brian D. Cohen (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

Reading the Forested Landscape is a full and original portrait of New England's forests, tracing their evolution from precolonial days to the present through an examination of the patterns we see today. This book teaches us to read a landscape the way we might solve a mystery. Each chapter addresses a form of forest disturbance common in New England - fire, logging, and blight are examples - and depicts it in an extraordinary, full-page etching. Studying Wessels's descriptions of forest scenes in conjunction with Cohen's visual portraits teaches us to identify disturbance patterns and, in turn, to take our discoveries outside and read the history written in the character of the land.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The etchings in "Reading the Forested Landscape" are fabulous and the text is more entertaining than The Disney Channel. -- Peterborough, NH Transcript, Brian Downey

Tom Wessels evokes ancient logging roads from the weathered scars on trees deep in the New England forest.....he brings alive the intricate, interwoven, and ever-changing story of his region. I feel grateful for this illuminating and beautifully written book. -- John Elder, author of "Reading the Mountains of Home"

What a fascinating book-it is equal parts Sherlock Holmes and Aldo Leopold, and it will help many thousands of New Englanders answer the questions that come to mind as they wander this landscape of stone walls, stunted apple trees, and towering hemlocks. Forget John LeCarre--it's Tom Wessels you want on your nightstand. -- Bill McKibben, author of "The Plain Reader"

From the Inside Flap

A full and wholly original portrait of New England's forests, tracing their evolution from pre-colonial days to the present through a study of the patterns we see today. Read this book, is many fans have said, and no walk in the woods will ever be the same.

Most books and courses on natural history focus on the identification of one small aspect of the complex world outside our doors. We may know how to identify our neighborhood trees but not know why pine are dominant in one place and maple in another; we may notice fungus growing on a beech trunk but not know the devastating impact of blights on our forests over the centuries. Tom Wessels, who has spent more than twenty years interpreting New England's landscape and teaching others to see "the forest for the trees," argues that by coming to a fuller understanding of our home ground, we achieve a greater sense of place.

An intrepid sleuth and articulate tutor, Wessels teaches us to read a landscape the way we might solve a mystery. Each chapter addresses a form of forest disturbance common in New England--fire, logging, and blight are examples--and depicts it in an extraordinary, full-page etching. Studying Wessels's descriptions of forest scenes in conjunction with Cohen's visual portraits teaches us to identify disturbance patterns and, in turn, to take our discoveries outside and read the history written in the character of the land.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 199 pages
• Publisher: Countryman Pr (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881503789
• ISBN-13: 978-0881503784
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,435,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Natural History, July 24, 2000

By 

I. Westray (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England (Hardcover)

Reading the Forested Landscape, first of all, plainly deserves readers outside of New England. While the particular forests the book looks at are in the northeast, Tom Wessels' approach and style won't be lost on anyone with an interest in natural history. Give this as a gift to a birding friend, or for someone to keep in their cabin.

The bedrock of the book is patient, graceful storytelling. At the outset of each chapter, Wessels shows us a simple print of a forest. He asks us to wonder what made that forest, and then he leads us, in unaffected voice, through his thinking as he answers that question. Why is this maple here? Are the trees here fire damaged? Wessels describes the outlines from which we can read a larger story. Each chapter is a little mystery, in a sense. Those little puzzles are fun.

It's apparent how carefully Forested Landscape was crafted. This isn't just a collection of portraits; the chapters progress from one to the next intelligently. For example, you learn how to recognize a fire in one chapter; at the beginning of the next, Wessels starts by asking whether a similar fire has taken place in this new spot. That's a simple transition, but it really helps you stay in the flow of the writing. The author's smart enough to reinforce what you've learned at the same time that he's establishing continuity in the larger story. This book reads through wonderfully.

And there's a bigger picture you're reading toward, too. Each chapter also includes a broader natural history subject related to its particular forest. You've seen a few trees, and you've puzzled out the sort of setting you're looking at; now, by touching on a bigger natural historical theme, you place that forest in the natural world as a whole. Forested Landscape does a wonderful job of drawing you into that big picture. How can we look at an eastern forest without thinking of the Chestnuts that dominated there until early this century? Sure, maybe those trees are gone now, but they're part of this story. (The chestnut blight as told here has real pathos to it. You'll feel like doing something to bring them back.)

The patient, graceful, intelligent tone of this book reminded me of Chased By The Light, a collection of Jim Brandenberg photos taken, one shot a day, in the northwoods of Minnesota. I'm from Minnesota, so I took out Brandenberg's photos to look at every once in a while while I read. Buy yourself a collection of local nature photographs, things from your area. Or give the photos and Reading the Forested Landscape together, as a gift. Satisfying.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adds Understanding to Your Next Walk in the Woods, December 9, 2002

By 

Craig L. Howe "The Pointed Pundit" (Darien, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England (Paperback)

This book is a guide to understanding clues that explain the varied forest patterns of Central New England.

Each chapter focuses on a single form of disturbance - either man made or natural - that impacts the region's forests. The chapters focus on logging, pasture abandonment, fire, beaver activity, blow downs, forest blights, topography and substrate and their impact on the plants located near these disturbances.

Each chapter discusses the disturbance and then in a section entitled "A Look Back" the disturbance is related to the site's natural history. This new way of seeing a forest and its history adds to my walks in the woods. I feel a connection, a reverence, an enhancement and an inclusion that was not part of my previous walks. Although most of my hikes are in the Green Mountains of Vermont, I am convinced this process of reading the forest can be applied to any woodland in North America.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gives a new meaning to "Wanta see my etchings?", January 15, 2002

By 

M. Broderick "mikebinok" (Oklahoma City, OK USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England (Paperback)

This brief and readable book advertises upfront that it focuses on New England, but I believe it will benefit anyone who wants to understand and interpret temperate forest landscapes anywhere. The book is a series of chapters focusing on different topics. Each chapter is headed by an etching of a particular scene. The chapter explores all the small minutiae of the scene, and instructs you in recognizing what they can tell you about it. Some of the things you can learn about (specific to New England in some cases) include: What the size of the rocks in a stone fence tells you about past land use; what the number of dead trees in an abandoned beaver pond can tell you; the meaning of a group of gnarled, twisted, and stunted apple trees in a field. The only thing that restrains my enthusiasm about the book is it's great strength--The etchings. I'd prefer to see photographs, particularly detailed closeups of some of the things discussed. The book contains blowups of portions of the etchings, and these do help. But I'd like to see the etchings supplemented by photos of real occurrences, showing real color.
Nevertheless, highly recommended!