John Fowler's Landscapes and Lives, subtitled "The Scottish forest through the ages", is a fascinating, well-researched study of trees in this country. It spreads from the naturally seeded post-Ice Age trees, through the ambitious "Planting Dukes", to the blanket plantations of the post-war years and the managed commercial and leisure woodlands of today.
For many years until his retirement, John Fowler was arts editor of the Herald newspaper. He has made good use of his journalistic skills in crafting this story, which his publishers justifiably describe as "a long love letter to the forest".
His quest took him from north to south, interviewing foresters, botanical experts, historians and present-day powers in all branches of tree husbandry and forest design - men and women with a vision and a mission. In Canada he talked to Jock Carlisle about his adventures in search of the ancient pine woods.
Appropriate, cleverly chosen pictures illustrate the author's text, reinforcing the wonders of nature and the amazing timescale spanned by the oldest known Scots pine tree. Pictured in a "secret" location is a veteran of 500-plus years - a young tree, the author comments, when Columbus set sail and already a fine specimen when Bonnie Prince Charlie fled through the area after Culloden.
There are oaks from Perthshire, from Bailefuil Wood near Strathyre, from Loch Lomond-side and from Darnaway in Moray where more than 200 trees were felled to re-roof the Great Hall of Stirling Castle.
That John Fowler - a former FotO member who now lives in Linlithgow - relished writing this book is clearly reflected in the end product. Published by Canongate at £16.99, Landscapes and Lives will sit handsomely alongside his earlier hillwalking book, Have you seen the Glories?