How “reading trees” can unlock many mysteries

IT WAS just a seedling when Egypt’s great pyramids were built. By the time the Roman empire fell its trunk was gnarled and auburn, stretching up more than ten metres. The ancient bristlecone pine (pictured) has witnessed human history for millennia, including “epochs of turbulence and calm”. It is one of 12 trees chronicled by Daniel Lewis, a historian at the Huntington Library in California, in a marvellous new book. This arboreal adventure takes you up the trunk of the mighty ceiba tree in Peru and into the blazing forest fires America’s longleaf pines need to thrive. The dozen species show how much the lives of trees are entwined with people.