The Story of Yew

This is the story of Yew and because her story becomes entwined with humankind, it is also the story of you which aims to stand out in contrast with the alternative and complementary works on health written over the 20th century, because of its basis in both modern science and traditional learning.

From the Author
The Essence of Yew

Dear Reader,

THE STORY OF YEW is the result of years of research and of the contributions of many world-class thinkers, scientists, naturalists, and many, many other people involved at all levels. It is also a first-of-its-kind project, as no-one in the history of literature has dared to give voice to a tree by writing the memoirs of an age-old matriarch. I assure you that I have striven to make this book neither anthropomorphic, nor anthropocentric, but rather "dendrocentric". Indeed, when I wrote it I was singularly at variance with humanity, and the pathogenic anthropocentrism of modernity. I suspect that my total immersion in the world of trees made me think as one. This is no cuddly story about how wonderful nature is, but rather the unsparing chronicle of two thousand years of history narrated by an illustrious insider. Not man speaking about trees, but trees speaking (also) about man. Some of it is poetic, some harsh, much as Nature herself. But, overall, it is a celebration of life, with all its attributes and disconcerting ambivalence. I hope you enjoy this as I much as I have enjoyed writing it. And in the end, yew be the judge!

Toto corde,

Guido

Review

This is a book which I found quite beautiful. Di Sospiro writes the life story of an ancient Irish yew, one of the grand old yews of Kilarney National Park yew wood, yet he writes it from the perspective of the tree itself. As a result, his style is almost childish throughout. While I didn't feel remotely convinced of his notion of the yew's vision, that didn't matter, for the perspective he expresses has value in itself. The yew's consciousness was human, but it was one of simplicity, reaching across time and space into a profound connectedness, as the tree explores her sense of being through power, purpose, relationship, grief, arrogance, in the end finding a serenity.

If you are seeking intricate or authentic information, you won't find it here. The Story of Yew is about simplicity, from its biochemistry to its mythology, ideas gently seeping into one another leaving what feels, in the end, to be a very natural mist of being.

Hardcover 182 pages (April 23, 2000)
Publisher: Findhorn Press Ltd
ISBN: 1899171630