Ancient Trees: Trees That Live for 1,000 Years

by Anna Lewington, Edouard Parker, Anna Levington, et al.

Book Overview

Celebrate some of the most beautiful, longest-living organisms on the planet: trees that have survived 1,000 years. Stunning photos capture species ranging from European Oaks and California Redwoods... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1855857049
• ISBN13: 9781855857049
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: Sterling
• Length: 185 Pages
• Weight: 3.07 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.3" x 12.0"

Customer Reviews

A likable coffee-table book

I liked this. I bought this for the pictures of Welwitschia cones, something I did not encounter a good picture of before. Admittedly these are an exception in the degree of detail they show: all the other pictures are 'atmosphere' pictures only. This is really a coffee-table book only, not a tree book.For a coffee table book it has relatively few errors. Sure, on page 63 the lay-out editor inserted the "(right)" at the wrong place in the caption (should have been after "nuts" instead of "pods") and an occasional misspelling of "ginkgo" slipped through. Worse the taxonomic position of Welwitschia is misdescribed (off the scale). The chapter on yew is indeed riddled with errors. A knowledgable editor with a red pencil could have a whale of a time. But for a coffee-table book it is well above average and it has got its facts mostly straight (and up to date). It is a coffee-table book, not science.The most remarkable thing wrong with it is that it omitted the best documented oldest genuine tree species, even though it is extremely big. This must be because it occurs about as far away from England as can be. The book has a distinct bias: the world's oldest tree species occur in England with the British Empire's former Colonies bringing up the rear. The rest of the world is devoid of old trees! (Allright, one species that is often planted on English lawns is thrown in to represent the rest of the world). A coffee-table book for sure, meant for the English coffee-table.

Facinating and beautiful

This book is a enthralling look at the world's oldest trees. Aside from the famed redwoods and bristlecone pines, how many know that limes can live over 1000 years, or that olive trees from Plato's time still yield their fruit in season? reading the chapters of this book send the mind wandering back across all of human history: the Tree of One Hundred Horses, an olive tree so huge that its' shade could cover literally a hundred head of horse, famous in Plato's time, has thrived at the foot of Mt. Etna, an active volcano, since nearly the dawn of history. Or, think of how there are cedars in Lebanon that were standing when Solomom's temple was built out of their brothers. The reverie and sense of awe that this tome's stories inspire are well worth the price. -Lloyd A. Conway

Worthy Of All Coffee Tables

An outstanding book worth adding to any collection. Travel around the world to visit the great Trees that live with us on our planet. Rare Welwitschia the oldest tree on earth and the African Baobab are featured. This book is filled with hundreds of color photos. Anna lewington and Edward Parker are to be commended for their work.