Readers who enjoyed Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, our previous Master Gardener book, are sure to enjoy this highly regarded book. Professor Suzanne Simard is a pioneer of plant communication and intelligence. She's been compared to Rachel Carson and praised for her skill in conveying complex, technical ideas through both science and story.

In this part-memoir, part-scientific exploration, Simard illuminates the fascinating truths about how trees create complicated, interdependent circles of life; how forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground fungal networks; and how their communal lives are not that different from our own. She parallels the story of her scientific quest with that of her own journey and many challenges. We learn how human scientific inquiry can flourish beyond data and technology, enriching our understanding of who we are and our place in the world.

Among those inspired by her work are James Cameron who based the Tree of Life in his movie Avatar on the Mother Tree; author Peter Wohlleben drew on her work for his global bestseller, The Hidden Life of Trees; and Richard Powers who based a central character in his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Overstory on her.

This book club is sponsored by Humboldt/Del Norte UCCE Master Gardeners of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties and hosted by the Eureka Library. The library has a supply of books and offer downloadable EBooks. Host Susan Kornfeld is a UCCE Master Gardener.