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How I Became a Tree book cover
How I Became a Tree
2017
First Published
3.43
Average Rating
248
Number of Pages

Sumana Roy’s How I Became a Tree offers a new vision of what it means to be human in the natural world. Hailed by reviewers as “a love song to plants and trees” and “an ode to all that is unnoticed, ill, neglected, and yet resilient,” Roy’s stunning meditations on trees, forests, plant life, time, self, agency, and more emulate trees’ spacious, relaxed rhythms. “I was tired of speed,” she writes, “I wanted to live to tree time.” She is drawn to trees’ wisdom, their nonviolent way of being, and their ability to cope with loneliness and pain. Roy movingly explores the lessons that writers, painters, photographers, scientists, and spiritual figures have gleaned through their engagement with trees—from Rabindranath Tagore and D. H. Lawrence to scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose and the Buddha. Blending literary history, theology, philosophy, botany, and more, this absorbing book will prompt readers to imagine a reenchanted world in which humans live more like trees.

Avg Rating
3.43
Number of Ratings
595
5 STARS
21%
4 STARS
29%
3 STARS
30%
2 STARS
14%
1 STARS
6%
goodreads

Author

Sumana Roy
Sumana Roy
Author · 5 books
Sumana Roy writes from Siliguri, a small town in sub-Himalayan Bengal.
548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
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