From ink to sailing ships, a biography of the essential tree.

The story of oak is at the root of everything we know. The oak tree is everywhere in the temperate zones of the world; knowing how to use it has made an astonishing difference to human history. Acorn-eating has sustained humans and animals; oak has been central to religious rites, heating, homemaking, and travel by land and sea; the ink from oak galls advanced the written word; oak casks have made possible food and drink storage and transport; oak ships have fought the dramatic naval battles that determined political and economic history.

William Bryant Logan combines science, philosophy, spirituality, and history with a quirky curiosity about why the natural world works the way it does. In lively literary prose, he narrates the biography of the tree that since time immemorial has been a symbol of loyalty and strength, generosity and renewal. The oak has been both a patient teacher and an inexhaustible subject. Recent studies reveal remarkable facts about its communitarian nature—proving that the oak can yet instruct us. 30 illustrations.