Bill Haywood's book "Forest on the Fringe"

Reviews

From David Novak, Prairie Oak Restoration LLC, Cedar Rapids, IA

Have you ever walked into a place and instantly realized you weren't seeing everything there? The sense of the place was so diverse, so rich, and so dynamic that you wanted to immerse yourself in all of its intricate relationships?
Bill Haywood takes you into this world in his book, Forest on the Fringe. He describes a human being's education of not only what's going on in the woods, but also how the woods came to be in evolutionary terms.
The human is a character Haywood calls Sapien. His teachers are species of the forest, from fungi to trees, who patiently lecture their student. The result is a gold mine of information, insights and wisdom.
Some of the jewels stand alone. Liverwort directs, "Go forth Sapien, but remain inconspicuous." Millipede explains, "We don't feed on that 3 ½ tons of debris per acre per year just to gorge ourselves." Hard maple enlightens, "Without fire and destruction, the trees can't establish a new generation of seedlings." Scarlet cup asks, "Were human beings made for the earth or was the earth made for human beings?" Aspen observes, "Your species has been given the incredible wisdom to understand the flow of energy, sharing and caring of resources, and stabilizing the balance between all of the earth's ecosystems."
Absent in the book's 239 pages are terms such as "basal area" and "board feet," but the book points to the new way of looking at woods. Forest on the fringe should be required reading in college natural resources and environmental studies. Forestry and prairie practitioners will also want to read this book.

From Rollie Henkes, Editor, Midwest Woodlands & Prairies magazine

In Forest on the Fringe, author Bill Haywood turns the tables by letting the plants do the talking while the human, called Sapien, is only to listen.
The refreshing approach enlivens a broad ranging scientific discourse and makes us feel more at one with the forest.
When an aspen tells Sapien, "It was photosynthesis that gave you and I our lives," you get the message that we are part of the natural world.
This world includes the living and the non-living. We learn from the book that the minerals in our bodies make us kin to the rocks of the forest. In the same way, we relate to the fungi that degrade rocks to release essential minerals for uptake by plants. Then one of the fungi, the scarlet cup (featured on the cover), tells Sapien, "You are not here to manipulate the science to your benefit and consume the earth. You are part of the living earth. You do not have the right to barter the products of the earth. What you have is the privilege to care for natural systems."
Despite the colorful characters that carry the narrative, readers will soon find that this is a complicated book that works on several levels as a scientific discourse and morality tale. Unfortunately, the plants lapse into foggy rhetoric at times. One might have wished for a tougher editor to clear away the verbal underbrush.
Nevertheless, this one-of-a-kind book would add to anyone's understanding of the origins and ecology of the natural world and our place in it. It is a book that bears reading and re-reading.

From Ed Amend, Professor of Philosophy and Religion, University of Northern Iowa

"Forest on the Fringe" is a most unusual book, unlike anything that I have read before. The closest I can imagine would be an allegory or a morality play. Using various plants to speak to a representative human being is an extremely creative way by which to convey individual plant life in the natural community surrounding and involving us.
As I read the book, I tried to imagine its appropriate readership. Certainly high school teachers and students should find it of value, as well as college students and professors. I would also think that people of various religious groups would appreciate the sensitive understanding of natural life and the concern for our environment. For a large part of the book, I considered it as a possible textbook for high school or college. I was especially impressed by the affection and reverence for each of the plants and trees, as a kind of theology emerges out of the descriptions of evolutionary development and relationships.
It is a book that deserves, and indeed requires more than one reading, and I would think that some of the chapters should be read separately in order to savor the images and ideas. While put in the form of dialogue or monologue, which normally is especially easy reading, the information often is quite dense and is of special value the more one knows about biology, geology, and plant taxonomy. I think that sections of the book could be published separately as articles in various nature magazines which would enable readers to digest the images and information in smaller amounts.

From John M. Carpenter, Publisher, The Columbus Gazette

Although Forest on the Fringe could be described as a technical manual, Bill Haywood has a unique ability to weave the reader through the developmental stages of our earth in a format that gives one the impression that they are reading a novel. His use of the Sapien character as he interacts with the various plant species in the forest is a marvelous technique that allows the reader to overcome the difficult terminology that is necessary to describe the process, and obtain a true understanding of how our world came to be. The description of the race between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to the Gulf of Mexico is fascinating. The race not only gives the reader the excitement of witnessing the contest, but also allows one to come away with a new understanding of the make-up of the soil under the fringe land as Bill describes the various difficulties the two rivers overcame in their quest.
Throughout the book, with the clever use of plants as characters, the reader obtains an understanding of the natural forces that are in place to protect our plants and timber, and the actions that humans must take to maintain these natural forces. After reading the book, one will certainly come away viewing our timberlands differently, and will experience an almost spiritual obligation to do their part in maintaining the natural forces that have been at work for centuries. Forest on the Fringe is definitely a necessary read for everyone who respects our environment, and is dedicated to maintaining its longevity.