Forests

Forests have been entwined with human development and cultural history for centuries. In this Very Short Introduction Jaboury Ghazoul explores their origins, dynamics, and the range of goods and services they provide to human society, as well as looking at issues of deforestation, reforestation, and the effects of climate change.

Although the Very Short Introduction books aim to be accessible introductions to someone new to their subject, there is ample here to stimulate anyone with an interest in forests.

I very much enjoyed this book, and the exercise of thinking of things that I would have liked mentioned was part of the fun there weren't many of these; Jaboury Ghazoul has packed a huge amount into this slim volume. Reading about favourite examples like the Sook Plain and the Eastern White Pine was like seeing old friends again. I heartily recommend this book to forest ecologists, and suggest that anyone beginning a degree in ecology spend an evening reading it.

Jaboury Ghazoul is Professor of Ecosystem Management at ETH Zurich. He was Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biotropica from 2006 to 2013, and is President of the Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation in 2015. He is also author of Tropical Rain Forest Ecology, Diversity, and Conservation (OUP, 2010).