Jacques Tassin is a researcher in plant ecology at CIRAD, the French agricultural research and cooperation organization working for the sustainable development of tropical and Mediterranean regions, and is acknowledged to be one of the current philosophers of ecology. He is the author of several books on the connection between humans and plants, notably Penser comme un arbre [Thinking Like a Tree] and À quoi pensent les plantes? [What Do Plants Think About?]
Because of the progress that has been made in the realm of ecology, today we no longer doubt our dependency on trees. But we do not fully measure how much we depend on their presence and their beauty. In this book from a scientist’s perspective, but which is also a contemplative stroll among trees, the author continues his exploration of the unique nature of the tree and of the human/tree relationship. What is a tree, that entity that blends “reality” and the imaginary? What debt must we remember to repay it?

To understand a tree, reason alone is not enough; we must resort to a sensory experience.

The author takes us into a forest in the Val de Loire. Page by page, in the course of a new “reverie of a solitary walker,” Jacques Tassin casts a sometimes metaphysical, sometimes naturalist, but always sensitive gaze upon the tree, intending to reveal the profound intimacy that we have with it, and why we should believe in that relationship.

“To contemplate a tree by way of sensory experiences, is to reestablish our presence in the world.”

An invitation to connect with trees and with the living world.