**LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2026**

’Sublime ... A true masterpiece’ DAILY TELEGRAPH, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'Mind-blowing' GUARDIAN

‘Wondrous. Gives us trees as we've never seen them before’ ISABELLA TREE, author of Wilding

The extraordinary story of the inventive and astonishing ways trees have shaped our natural world.

Over hundreds of millions of years, from the prehistoric forests to those standing tall over us today, trees have evolved to sculpt the environments. They split rock, change sex, spin carbon, and manipulate bacteria, animals and even humankind to achieve their ends and shape the natural world.

In The Genius of Trees, Harriet Rix takes us on a mind-expanding, globe-spanning journey into the remarkable inner lives of trees. For the first time, we see trees not as victims, but as powerful agents of change in a grand ecological narrative – as leading actors in the great drama of life on earth who have transformed our planet and offer us hope for its future.

**A TELEGRAPH, COUNTRY LIFE, NEW YORKER AND CRITIC BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025**

‘Exceptional ... Changes our entire view of trees’ ROBIN LANE FOX, Financial Times Gardening Columnist

'Full of wonder and revelation' SUE STUART-SMITH, author of The Well Gardened Mind

'Captivating' COUNTRY LIFE

'Profoundly inventive' INDEPENDENT

'A magisterial tour de force - destined to become a classic' BEN RAWLENCE, author of The Treeline

"Sublime … Through the scenes we glimpse an Indiana Jones figure who is both an eminent, travelling scientist and a born writer … Dazzling … Non-fiction rarely sees a debut like The Genius of Trees. It is a true masterpiece" - Daily Telegraph, 5 stars

"A mind-blowing and erudite account of how trees created the world around us ... Harriet Rix presents trees as an awesome force of nature" - Guardian

"Very few book reviewers are so captivated that they read the book carefully from end to end - not once, but twice. That is my boast about this extraordinary first work from Harriet Rix ... Rix has given us a completely new vision of how trees came to dominate our continents" - Country Life

"Extensively researched [and] elegantly written ... A satisfying read. Trees emerge as entities which are just as dynamic as animals - including, dare one say, humans" - Literary Review

"You’ll never look at a tree the same way again after reading this dazzling book" - Daily Telegraph, *Books of the Year*

"A profoundly inventive exploration of the science of trees" - Independent

"Ambitious and stunningly expansive ... Few come better qualified or more passionate than Rix, a biochemist and tree science consultant, who makes this subject utterly compellingly" - Daily Mirror

"An ambitious and stunningly expansive investigation into the role trees play in shaping our natural world … Few come better qualified than Rix ... The Genius of Trees feels like a particularly timely reminder of the importance of protecting natural resources" - Northern Echo

"The idea of trees manipulating animals may be eye-opening, but in The Genius of Trees swiftly makes complete sense … In an elegantly structured, shibboleth-shaking book, Rix explains how trees have shaped the elements and then played dynamic roles in influencing the evolution of species in all kingdoms of life … An impressive, globetrotting book" - The Oldie

"An ambitious and stunningly expansive investigation into the role trees play in shaping our natural world. Few come better qualified than Rix, a biochemist and long-time tree science consultant, whose passion for the project shines through in this immersive paean to the grandest of all plants" - Yorkshire Post

"Harriet’s own genius is her ability to weave scientific fact with great storytelling… her knowledge, courage and conviction shines through every page" - Critic, *Books of the Year*

"By far the most interesting book I have read this year… profound, but accessible" - Country Life, *Books of the Year*

"[A] wide-ranging treatise ... Using recent science, reports from field research, detours through evolutionary history, and sometimes surprising literary references, Rix reveals the myriad ways in which trees bend the natural world to their own ends" - New Yorker, *Books of the Year*