Reception
In the Canadian market, the hardcover edition peaked at number three in the MacLean's and the National Post's non-fiction best seller lists. The magazine Science & Spirit published an excerpt in the January–February 2005 edition. It was nominated for the 2004 Canadian Science Writers' Association's Science in Society Journalism Award for 'General Audience Book', the 2005 B.C. Booksellers' Choice Award and the 2006 Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries' Annual Litereature Award for best 'General Interest' book. The French translation was nominated for the 2006 Governor General's Awards for best English to French translation.
The premise of a biography for a tree was well received. The writing was called engaging, lyrical, and compelling. Robert Wiersema wrote, "Tree is science writing at its finest. It's sweeping but focused, keenly aware of both the minutiae and the big picture. ... Although some of the concepts are complex, the writing is always accessible ... Scientific matters are explained in layman's terms, and the text never bogs down or bottlenecks." However, some reviewers found the language too technical. In the Montreal Gazette, Bronwyn Chester wrote that the scientific language "dilut our feeling and concern for this tree through too much information". Robert Bateman's black and white illustrations, while skilled, were said to add little to the narrative.
Read more about this topic: Tree: A Life Story
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion.... Art is the accomplice of love. Take love away and there is no longer art.”
—Rémy De Gourmont (1858–1915)
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“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
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