When the Forest Breathes—4.5 Stars
Updated: 22 minutes ago
10/13/2026
When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World, by Suzanne Simard
You may have read Suzanne Simard’s earlier book, Finding the Mother Tree. In this New York Times bestseller, she describes her discovery of how trees communicate with each other, passing on vital information as they learn and adapt their behavior in response to their shared environment. When the Forest Breathes is her second book and a follow-up to her initial groundbreaking discoveries.
Simard grew up in a logging family that was devoted to sustainable logging. She says that “Early one spring morning, I went back to the forest. I wanted to learn what the mother trees could teach me about survival and adaptability, about living and dying.” She developed a study involving the planting of test plots within areas that had been or were about to be logged. Her primary finding was that, where the overstory mother trees had been logged, newly planted trees struggled to flourish and grow.
The book, however, is not a dissertation or research paper. Simard shares her frustrations with loggers, the hot and sticky or cold and wet misery of planting hundreds of small trees in forest clearings, the joys of watching her daughters grow to become adults as passionate about her work as she is, and the sadness of her mother’s death. Loss and regeneration affect her own life as they do the living forest.
Reader Poll
Enjoyable - 4.56 out of 5 stars
Educational - 4.33 out of 5 stars
Recommended - 4.67 out of 5 stars
Reader Comments
Our Ramsey County Garden Educator Volunteer readers gave the book an average of 4.52 out of 5 points for how much they enjoyed the book, how useful it would be, and how much they would recommend it to another gardener. Comments included the following:
“The author always does a great job of helping me understand how trees thrive in communities and I'm grateful for her work.”
“The book was a very powerful presentation on how ‘hard science’ can be used to provide evidence for indigenous knowledge on the interconnectedness of forests and support for indigenous forest management practices. “
"Nicely written, builds empathy for the author's work, helps with understanding of the relatedness of all things. However, I felt there was a fair amount of needless repetition in this book.”
“I appreciated Simard's prioritization of Indigenous voices and their ways of knowing as a framework to model for forest health and sustainability.”
“I liked the way the author wove her personal life and that of her family into describing the work she does. She also described the challenges she and her students faced so that the reader could see and feel what they were experiencing.”
“Great info about the forest ecosystem.”
“This is the beginning of learning about trees and how different they are from grass, flowers, and other native plants. That taking care of a new tree is the same as getting a pet.”
“I enjoyed her passion, expertise, and love of trees. The indigenous insight was very informative. We can use much of the book to teach our communities the importance of trees.”
“I appreciated learning about indigenous vs. commercial practices and the author’s attempt to merge the two. Simard's dedication to her research and perseverance is inspiring.”
Next Book Club Discussion
The next book selected for discussion is Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark by Leigh Ann Henion.
