Being an Oak

Life as a tree

Laurent Tillon, Jessica Moore

• Publisher: Ithaka
• Year: 2025
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781804183397
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: Biological Sciences

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

'A wonderful book' - Tristan Gooley, author of How To Read A Tree
'Unique and thrilling' - Ben Rawlance, author of The Treeline
'A celebration of the oak as nature's masterpiece' - Daniel Lewis, author of Twelve Trees
'A glorious, revelatory tale of a tree that enlarges our world' - Patrick Barkham, author of The Butterfly Isles


The enchanting biography of an ancient tree.

For over two centuries, as rulers have risen and fallen and wars have raged, one majestic oak tree has lived out an epic drama. From germination in 1780 to adapting to the changing climate of the modern age, its struggles and triumphs took place far from human eyes. That is, until one day a young man named Laurent Tillon came across it, and a decades-long relationship began ...

In this dazzling book, biodiversity expert Tillon narrates the story of the tree he calls Quercus. Evoking the richness which is all around us, he reveals that Quercus is embedded in a network of ever-shifting relationships, from close alliances between plants and animals to battles between insects, birds and fungi.

A book of ecology unlike any other, Being An Oak offers a tree-eyed view of life on earth.

Translated by the award-winning translator Jessica Moore.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• About the Author
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface: In the Bark of a Tree
• Introduction: Meeting My Tree Companion
• Quercus, The Oak, 1780
• Apodemus, The Wood Mouse, 1780
• Quercus, 1781
• Leccinum, The Boletus, 1782
• Homo, The Human, 1787
• Quercus, 1810
• Tortrix, The Caterpillar, 1820
• Nemobius, The Cricket, 1820
• Quercus, 1840
• Neuroterus, The Wasp, 1850
• Homo, 1860
• Canis, The Wolf, 1869
• Silva, The Forest, 1871
• Fagus, The Beech Tree, 1872
• Quercus, 1872
• Pinus, The Scots Pine, 1870 and 1892
• Homo, From 1892 to 1950
• Quercus, 1953
• Quercus and Homo, 1970
• Dryocopus, The Black Woodpecker, 1992
• Silva, 1992
• Homo, 1992 and 1993
• Cerambyx, The Capricorn Beetle, 1997
• Dendrocopos, The Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1998
• Myotis, The Bechstein’s Bat, 1999
• Quercus, 1999
• Lothar and Martin, Atmospheric Monsters, 1999
• Salamandra, The Fire Salamander, 2000
• Lacerta, The Sand Lizard, 2000
• Homo and Silva, 2000 to 2019
• Silva, 2019
• Conversation with Quercus, 2020
• Acknowledgements
• Translator’s Note