The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees

by Douglas W. Tallamy, 200 pages, 6x9, hardcover. All life occurs in a web, seen and unseen. This book about oaks makes that web visible in a clear calendrical progression that starts in October with acorns dropping. A windfall of nuts provides for many animals through winter: deer, squirrels, mice, jays, and even the acorn weevil who, in tunneling out of the acorn, leaves a hole just the right size for an ant to move in and set up shelter. It is just this kind of detail—along with beautiful and clear pictures—that makes this book so compelling. Here in Maine, the recent resurgence of the browntail moth has us peering up into the tall oak canopies for the telltale webbing that hosts the caterpillars whose shedding hairs cause an itchy rash to anyone within range. Our oaks are threatened both by these voracious defoliating caterpillars and also by landowners who cut down the trees to eliminate the pest. This book could help us appreciate the oaks in our neighborhoods. In New England alone that would comprise 12 species of oak and the countless creatures oaks support, diversity worth conserving. -Nikos Kavanya