Simard (forest ecology, Univ. of British Columbia) tells the story of her pioneering research on trees' use of fungal networks to nourish and communicate with one other: the so-called "wood-wide web." There should be strong interest in Simard's memoir, as she is something of a star among tree lovers and was the inspiration for the character Patricia Westerford in Richard Powers's Pulitzer Prize-winner The Overstory. Here, readers follow along as Simard's research develops, and as she discovers that plant communities are driven by not only competition but cooperation as well: different tree species share resources with trees in need, "mother" trees send carbon to seedlings, and dying trees donate nutrients to neighbors. Simard celebrates pivotal moments, navigates personal crises, and admits to professional doubts; all told in a smoothly written narrative. The risks and rigors of her field work—conducting experiments with radioactive materials, navigating salmon runs while being aware of wild animals within and around the forest—are keenly felt, as are the challenges facing a reticent woman working for change in the way we manage forests. There are photographs of trees throughout. VERDICT Simard's science fascinates, and so too does her life. This is an engaging memoir of scientific discovery.—Robert Eagan, Windsor P.L., Ont.

Forest ecology professor Simard artfully blends science with memoir in her eye-opening debut on the "startling secrets" of trees. Simard explains that trees are "linked by a system of underground channels" that create a "forest society," and among the mind-blowing discoveries she's made is that older trees are able to identify which saplings they're related to, and that they nurture younger trees. These conclusions stem from her work on "mycorrhizal networks," or fungal threads that grow between cells of plant roots, and a "Mother Tree" that uses such a system to transfer nutrients to kin saplings. These revelations, she argues, make for more than just a series of oddities: it should be motivation to reform forest management in a way that benefits humans as well as trees. She explains the resistance her theories encountered after her initial article on tree intelligence made her a minor scientific celebrity, and grounds her own journey of scientific discovery in seminal life events: after discovering in the lab that birch and fir trees communicate, for example, she received a call that a sibling she'd been estranged from had died: "The funeral was held in agonizing cold. The aspens were bare, the firs nestled beneath their dendritic crowns drooping in snow." As moving as it is educational, this groundbreaking work entrances. (May)