Women's Prize for Non-Fiction Longlist 2026 | The Genius of Trees: How trees mastered the elements and shaped the world - Harriet Rix

Over hundreds of millions of years, from the prehistoric forests to those standing tall over us today, trees have evolved to sculpt the environments. They split rock, change sex, spin carbon, and manipulate bacteria, animals and even humankind to achieve their ends and shape the natural world. In The Genius of Trees, Harriet Rix takes us on a mind-expanding, globe-spanning journey into the remarkable inner lives of trees.

For the first time, we see trees not as victims, but as powerful agents of change in a grand ecological narrative – as leading actors in the great drama of life on earth who have transformed our planet and offer us hope for its future.