Effortless and enchanting, Roger Deakin's Wildwood is unique in its weaving of encyclopedic appreciation for trees and personal anecdote. Simply if uncharitably put, Deakin looks into his navel and finds a forest. It's idosyncratic and beautiful, and you might find yourself checking prices on flights to southern Kyrgyzstan just to see if an actual lived experience can live up to his description of a walnut forest, or driving around Suffolk looking for his 400-year-old digs, or just wishing you could be half as observant as this writer, who spent a lifetime carefully looking around him and beautifully recording it. Give this amazing study of what he dubbed "the fifth element" (wood), a little time to take root, and something beatuiful will grow. Now you know!