# Episode 237 — Tree Books! What to read, why it matters, and how it shapes practice

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-forest-school-podcast-1141815/episode-237-tree-books-what-to-read-why-it-matters-and-how-it-shapes-practice
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-forest-school-podcast-1141815/episode-237-tree-books-what-to-read-why-it-matters-and-how-it-shapes-practice.md
Podcast: [The Forest School Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-forest-school-podcast-1141815)
Published: 2026-01-11T16:44:58+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theforestschoolpodcast/episodes/Episode-237--Tree-Books--What-to-read--why-it-matters--and-how-it-shapes-practice-e3df79b
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/3faf584/podcast/play/113793771/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-0-11%2F415898001-44100-2-db43189930236.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-forest-school-podcast-1141815/episodes/episode-237-tree-books-what-to-read-why-it-matters-and-how-it-shapes-practice
Duration seconds: 3364

## Resource

Summary From Westonbirt inspirations to field guides and plant-hunter epics, Lewis and Gemma pull 13 tree books and ask how reading changes woodland practice. Hear about ships with greenhouses, coppice cycles, charcoal burning, fungal networks, minimalist nursery design, mapping with old OS layers and LiDAR, plus a practitioner’s starter stack for ID and ethnobotany. Sponsors TENTSILE Save 10% on tree tents and hammocks with code ForestChildren10 at checkout. Ideal for leaders who want flexible base-camp shelter without ground impact. Chris Holland Explore Chris’s 54-page Plant of the Week guide with songs, stories and QR videos. Use our affiliate link: https://chrisholland.myshopify.com/?ref=ForestSchoolPodcast Key takeaways Books are tools. Ideas on the page translate into better planning, richer invitations to play and clearer woodland decisions. History explains today’s woods. War, trade and enclosure shaped plantations and access. When the landscape is the resource you can need fewer add-ons. Mycorrhizal science challenges the clean slate approach to plantations. Diversity can feed young trees. A balanced shelf helps practitioners. Mix narrative inspiration, technical ID, land-use history and local mapping. Chapters 00:00 Audio or video and how to follow along 02:10 Westonbirt, tree hunters and why one book leads to three more 06:40 Plant collectors, ships with greenhouses and species introductions 11:20 Remarkable trees and the Douglas fir story 15:20 Finding the Mother Tree and what fungal networks show us 20:10 Managing woods for play, coppice cycles and charcoal 25:40 Enclosure, disafforestation and the Western Rising rabbit hole 30:40 Rackham, old OS maps and first steps with LiDAR 35:30 Practitioner stack for sessions and ethnobotany 40:50 Photos or illustra…

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