Remarkable Baobab

by Thomas Pakenham

Book Overview

Standing tall on the sunburned plains of Africa and Australia, baobabs may be the oldest life forms on the planet. Many of the specimens still standing today have been around for well over two... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0297843737
• ISBN13: 9780297843733
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Weidenfeld Nicolson Illustrated
• Weight: 1.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.9" x 0.8" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Unfortunately….

Unfortunately I have not received this book yet. I thought I was still waiting for it. I’m very disappointed because I really wanted to have this book. What can I do about getting it? Thank you.

This man LOVES trees...

And I love them, too. Pakenham delivers ... wonderful photographic portraits of many baobabs combines with 'tree tales' ... his experiences, the legends, the uses- and abuses- of the "upside down tree", etc. If you love trees, you'll love this book (and, by the way, I have two others of his books, Meetings with Remarkable Trees and Remarkable Trees of the world, which are equally delightful!)

Re-creation of an enviable journey

All trees are fascinating both from a biological point of view and a geometric one. But at least for this reviewer, there is no tree on Earth that holds as much fascination as the baobab. The author of this book clearly holds the same opinion, and with his commentary and the beautiful photos takes readers on a journey that they is the next best thing to the enviable journeys that the author has taken for real. One could only imagine the awesome and humbling feeling one would get standing in the presence of the baobab, with reports of the girth sometimes reaching 77 feet. But the author also reminds us that the beautiful can also be practical, as he describes the baobab as being a "godsend to the poor": its flowers and foliage can be eaten as fresh salad, and its bark can be made into roof tiles or rope. With six species living in Madagascar and the other two in Africa and Australia, the author gives brief explanations as to why they exist in regions thousands of miles apart. Some of these reasons are anecdotal, with the author favoring one based on the mobility of their seedpods. The future of the baobab is probably at the same level of certainty as other flora occupying their same habitats. The author addresses its survivability in the book. Maybe the techniques of genetic engineering can assist in their survivability in environments in which they are not custom. Whatever techniques are used, it is imperative that the baobab be encouraged to flourish. Its beauty alone gives it infinite utility.

The most beautiful tree

The only book i know of that focuses just on the baobabs. More of a discovery of them and their location by the writer than any scientific information or care for them. Still looking for a book that could have that info. Great photos! Interesting to note that the author has written other books beforehand looking for "Remakable Trees of the World". It seems as though that the most remarkable is what he has found in these pages. Note that this isn't the size of most picture coffee table books, it is somewhat smaller.

a must have for every Baobab lover

If you're a succulent collector and want to find information about raising these trees, this book is not for you. But if you like seeing great pictures and information how the native people live with them and use them for food, water and shelter it has everything you're asking for.

Lively and wonderful celebratory descriptions and photos

The Remarkable Baobab deserves no singular audience mind: it will attract attention from naturalists, armchair travel readers, botanists, and adventure readers alike. Thomas Pakenham followed in the footsteps of an 18th century French naturalist who first brought baobabs to the attention of Westerners: his travels took him to the heart of Africa, to Australia's outback, and even to Hawaii and Miami as he traces the qualities and persistence of these ancient trees. Pakenham's purpose is to convey a sense of wonder and discovery, not to provide a technical scientist's botanical reference: in this purpose he succeeds, with lively and wonderful celebratory descriptions and photos alike.