The Overstory by Richard Powers

★★★★★|☆☆
“What you make from a tree should be at least as miraculous as what you cut down.”
Timestamps and links below the fold ↓
0:00 Intro
0:25 Summary
1:03 Review
2:06 Trees are awesome
Around the World in 80 Trees by Jonathan Drori
4:05 Consumption
5:24 Individual action
6:13 Plants vs animals
Smarty Plants on Radiolab - www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/...
8:38 Impact
9:58 Goodbye
Find on Chareads - chareads.com/books/the-overst...
See on Goodreads - cha.rs/3GTOU21ZP/gr
Buy on Book Depository - cha.rs/3GTOU21ZP/bd
Buy on Amazon - cha.rs/3GTOU21ZP/amzn
🏡 chareads.com/
📚 / charlotte-dann
🌟 / charlotte_dann

[@tnan123]

My appreciation of trees definitely grew with reading this book. I didn't like how the plot developed towards the end of the book though. The idea of plants as living and being part of a community and having knowledge really struck me too.

[@tikipaddy]

I really enjoyed the Overstory and it truly is a love story of tree's. What a adventure it takes you on. Thanks to Richard Powers for his appreciation of how trees are such a part of our life!

[@bethannebruninga-socolar]

WOW, Overstory sounds amazing. 😍😍😍

[@Tristramwilliams]

I really enjoyed it too. At the sentence by sentence level, it is among the best recent novels I’ve read. The passages at the top of the redwood were particularly beautiful. I also found the structure very interesting (if a little long in the second part). Thematically, it made me feel a little sad and helpless, perhaps as many of the characters feel, like we are in a war against greed and human expansion that is impossible to win. I’m definitely going to check out more of RP’s work - I think The Goldbug Variations will be next.

[@sethpeterson339]

Just got to the Trunk. Loving it thus far. I work as a whitewater guide out in the meowtains, so this book really is hitting me. Good review. Love The Overstory. Why as I looking up book reviews as I am reading said book? Know why I do not. Read I will continue.

[@hiralsheth8885]

Book recommendation for what you spoke about in the video (Timestamp 6:00) on our consumption patterns - Under A White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert. Tell me what you think.

[@poladrize7786]

I loved this! I've been meaning to read this book for a while and now I'm rEALLY excited about it. Weird question but, would you say the font in that edition is big enough? I really can't deal with those 2mm sized fonts -.-

[@Chareads]

I'd say it's pretty average size for a paperback, nicely typeset and clear printing as well :)

[@jp-st8vn]

I want some book recommendations like cmbyn, upstream (essays), overstory. They aren't very similar but all have the vibe of nature.

[@hiralsheth8885]

I am here after Bill Gates recommended this book. Thank you for this review. I can’t wait read it now.

[@una_10bananas]

May just have forgotten if you've ever mentioned it but have you ever read any Joanne Harris? Some of the books in the same world as Chocolat are very nature

[@tomlademann8301]

WOW - I read this one last year and I loved it! You are looking for book recommendations .... have you read "Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer.

[@SteveLeckie]

You mention eating meat and that this book has opened the idea that plants are in the same level of animals in terms of sensitivity. But meat eaters actually kill more plants than vegans. If you want to spare plants then ironically you should eat plants rather than feed plants to animals and then eat the animals. Also note that many plants are not killed or harmed during harvest . Orchards and other perennials live on, picking and eating apples doesn’t kill the tree. The plants that are killed during harvest are typically annuals that die after their season has completed.

[@tehmeenachaudhry]

One thing that concerns me about this book as the absence of diversity, though I haven't read it, reviews say most if the characters are white (some Asian characters I think?). The reason that concerns me is that Black, Indigenous and Latin communities have historically been condemned as "savages" for having a relationship with nature whereas now white people have the privilege of connecting to nature without any historical stigma/trauma or barrier. Black, Indigenous and Latin communities also at a disproportionately high risk when it comes to conservation issues...and I find it more than a little appalling if there is not any Indigenous representation for conservation of Pacific Northwest Redwoods...like you took the land and now you're sad you're cutting the trees down lol

[@Chareads]

There is some ethnic diversity in the protagonists - there's a Chinese-American woman and an Indian-American man and we definitely see the effects of racism in their journeys (I was quite surprised at the author's ability to write from those perspectives well). All of the characters who end up at the redwoods are "drawn" there and immigration / travel is a theme of the book as well, so I think that's why there's less of a focus on the local communities and historic land use. It's a really fair point though, I hadn't thought about the indigenous population and their connection to the forests. Perhaps it is addressed and I glossed over it, but you're right that it should be a prominent voice in this story.

[@tehmeenachaudhry]

@@Chareads I do appreciate the author adding those narratives, I think they're really important. However as a South Asian person myself, I am hyper aware of my position as a "model minority" and how this narrative can be used almost to placate diversity quotas without having to address the issues of slavery, genocide and generational trauma which profoundly shape the Black and Indigenous relationship to the land and forests of North America. The theme of "immigration" being centred around that placating device...of course I have no doubts this book is still a masterful work and I am tempted to read it. However I think it is also important to also note that if you glazed over potential commentary on Indigenous communities it may not have been successful commentary.