4 out of 5 stars
The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.
I have always had a thing about Yew trees. They are such a long-lived tree and the places that they are located often show that they have had some significance to people over the past two millennia or maybe even longer. They are a strange tree too, evergreen, but not conifers, almost every part of them is poisonous to mammals, and yet they can save lives.
This book all about them is a mix of science, folklore and cultural history of this unique species of tree. Each chapter covers one element of the tree and the subjects vary from Ancient Yew to Political Yew, Metaphysical Yew to Social Yew. It is crammed full of facts about these trees and pretty much all of them are fascinating.
I thought that this was engrossing and really well-written. Hageneder has researched the subject thoroughly and more importantly, has got the right balance between imparting knowledge and the narrative story of the Yew. If you have even the slightest interest in this species then I can highly recommend it.
That sounds good. I presume it’s in a series?
It was, they are a biological enigma as they are not an evergreen nor are they decidious. It is the series is by Reaktion books and the rest are here: https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/series/botanical