An interesting biography of a man most people will never of heard of but was neverthless ahead of the game in conservation and ecological awareness.

Forewords by HRH Prince Charles and Jane Goodall.
I enjoyed the many black and white photos.

This book deals with the life of forester and conservationist Richard St Barbe Baker, born in England, as he travelled, learned and applied his knowledge. Those who are early successful in the field they love, tend to have a family background in the business. Equestrians have a family of horse dealers. Baker was planting trees from his toddler years, before WW1. He travelled to Canada for adventure and this began his habit of meeting the Indigenous people of a land and learning their customs and respect for nature. He was a lifelong vegetarian.
Deciding to get a Cambridge degree in forestry, Baker sold his goods and returned to England, in nice time to be told there was a war on. He joined up and was put in charge of horse resupply. The book says he put 18,000 horses on board ships. He was also in many dire straits and gained injuries.
After the war Baker got his degree and was sent to Africa where, he gradually realised, he was supervising the destruction of the forests and removal of timber from indigenous lands. Applying lessons he had learned in Canada he encouraged the locals to start planting trees and tree nurseries, calling them Men of the Trees.
Thus began an estimable career.
Highlights include riding the length of New Zealand to deliver a lecture tour to schools, aged 74; championing a Redwood National Park in California to protect the trees from loggers; establishing that bamboo was a fine substitute for tree wood for many purposes, and renewable; meeting dignitaries all over the world. With his Cambridge status he was able to gain access to all kinds of important people, which another person would not.

Notes and index begin on P277 and go to 299, but the index pages are blank in my e-ARC. Thus I am unable to say how many sources quoted were female. Most of the quotes used in the body of the book were from the subject's own papers.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.

I have to be honest, I had never heard of Richard St Barbe Baker, but the description of this book sounded interesting, so I thought I would give it a go. It is interesting, although somewhat repetitive in terms of 'he goes here and talks to people about planing trees' and then he goes here etc! I think it is a book which would probably work better as a hardback 'coffee table' type book - I am sure I would have enjoyed it more that way. The photographs just don't do as well on a kindle. And at times, I would have liked to flick back in the book to something previously mentioned - also not as easy on a kindle.

That said, this book tells the extraordinary story of the life of a man who was almost certainly ahead of his time. He travelled extensively, initially at a time when this would not be as easy as it is today. He appears to have had influence all over the world and was involved with some organisations, such as the UN, at inception or certainly in the early years. The author has managed to intersperse his own words with quotations from books written by Richard St Barbe Baker, so it feels as though a large part of the narrative is autobiographical. It is very readable in that sense, but I found the timeline difficult to follow sometimes.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I am not usually reading biographies but this one really made me want to try it as it about ecology and trees. I love the story The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono and the work of Richard St. Barbe Baker reminds me so much of this story thanks to reforestation. A great book about a great man.

As a forest conservationist (*not* a preservationist, as the book points out), the life story of St. Barbe Baker is at once unbelievable and inspiring. As Hanley describes, the man went across the world, working to plant trees, reforest dying areas, revitalize dead areas, reinvigorate/stimulate the economies and morale of the inhabitants, and so much more. Like a superhero going place to place and helping to right wrongs (environmental ones, in this instance), his enthusiasm is infectious; the light of his passion still burns bright within the pages of Hanley's work---the book's structure not only allows us to follow Baker throughout his personal and professional life, but we're treated to many diary entries, which let us hear from the man himself.

His ideas were certainly progressive and his calls-to-arms prescient; we learn that not only was Baker a workaholic, but his life's story is a good candidate for introducing someone to the idea of fatalism. He was able to surmount some incredible odds and thwart massive dangers to simply accomplish the planting of trees, communication of the lasting effects of not planting trees, or both.

It shouldn't be a jaw-dropping discovery that a man of his time might also subscribe to some of the less attractive ideals regarding people of other countries (the book zeroes in on Africans) and some condescension/supremacy being thrown about, but nothing that's categorizable as shocking. Maybe Hanley shielded us from more of the abrasive passages, but I think the author is a bit too apologetic (there are several instances where we're asked to excuse his behavior/thoughts). We get it. It's fine. No one's perfect. On top of that, the man spent his life touring the planet and working to improve it not only for this generation, but future ones. He's allowed to be a product of his time, even just a little bit.

In this day and age of American politicians that seem to be salivating over the slightest prospect of deforestation for short-term monetary gain, this is a top-notch, feel-good read. Hanley doesn't paint a picture of things being all roses in Baker's life, to be sure, but we get to focus in on the man's desire and the vocation he was called to; in that, maybe this book will inspire us to do more. I hope this work of Hanley's stays with me every time and that I stay open to opportunities to improve the outside world.

Many thanks to NetGalley and University of Regina Press for the advance read.

Recognizing Climate Change a Hundred Years Ago

Man of the Trees is a hagiography. No great discoveries, no shocking revelations. The fact is, Richard St. Barbe Baker led an enormously full life, constantly touring the world, constantly speaking to groups, constantly being interviewed, queried and filmed, constantly reinforcing and expanding his network, constantly initiating tree plantings, and constantly being welcomed by world leaders who saw the value and the solution. In the 1920s, he was already damning of monoculture and fertilizers. He recognized Man had destroyed the forests, creating wastelands and even the Sahara Desert through careless destruction of the surface vegetation. Clearing forests changed the climate and made life difficult.

Baker trained as a forester in the early 1900s. What he meant by forester is what we call ecologist. It means understanding all the species that deploy in an ecosystem, how they relate, the effects of removing one and how introducing chemicals or new species changes the balance. That Man operates without any acknowledgment or understanding of this principle is why deserts are expanding, and feeding on their success to expand further. It seems HG Wells spelled it out ever earlier than Baker did: “Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe.”

The book sports an unusual structure for a biography. Since Baker wrote 30+ books on his love, appreciation and work with trees, making them all more or less autobiographies, there are innumerable long passages lifted directly from his own work. Author Paul Hanley seems to act as a linkman. He quickly summarizes what happened, to get readers to the next Baker passage.

Baker was able to make afforestation attractive to many world leaders by showing that it produced more revenue per acre than farming or grazing. The sustainability factor meant the land would continue to be productive, instead of drying up and blowing away, or draining away in rains and floods. His approach landed him meetings with country leaders – Canada, India, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya – and even Franklin Roosevelt, who leveraged afforestation in his conservation employment program during the Depression. Israel is famous for its drive to retree the country. That effort began with Baker in the 1920s, two decades before Israel became a country, and it involved all factions – Arab, Christian and Jewish. It was something they all had no problem agreeing to. Even for this latest book, the Prologue is by Prince Charles, and the Foreword is by Jane Goodall. Baker had the respect of the best.

He constantly toured the world, right up to his death at 91. Everywhere he went, he stirred the pot for afforestation, usually with some success. The problem is he never built out an army of Bakers. What was really needed was not so much an inspiring visit, but a full-time Baker in every country of the World, pushing for a sensible, profitable change in methods. One man is not persistent enough or available enough. As deforestation ramps up over much of the world, that lack is painful.

David Wineberg