Author Talk: Robert Moor
November 5 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
To truly grasp the wisdom of a tree, you need to begin thinking like one…
One day, years ago, Robert Moor set out to climb a tree near his home in British Columbia. This simple act unwittingly launched him on a decade-long adventure around the world, ranging from Papua to Tanzania. Along the way, he learned the art of “tree-thinking,” which, he discovered, has the power to break open some of humanity’s oldest questions: What is the secret to truly growing old? How do we set down roots in an increasingly chaotic world? Most importantly, how should we—as individuals, as communities, as stewards of the earth—live?
Moor’s mind-expanding talk, “How To Think Like A Tree” will reveal the myriad ways trees teach us to “grow wise.” The genius of trees, he argues, is that they deftly combine four entwined processes: branching, pruning, gnarling, and rooting. He shows how this pattern appears well beyond the realm of botany; it occurs also in human brains, in family trees, and in the evolutionary tree of life. His lecture includes colourful anecdotes and multimedia from his travels, including his experiences studying bonsai in Japan, climbing giant sequoias with David Attenborough, and sleeping in a chimpanzee nest in Tanzania. The end result of learning to ’think like a tree,’ Moor argues, is to become more creative, rigorous, and deeply rooted to the living world.
Thursday, November 5, 2 to 4 p.m.
Free to attend. Please register beforehand so we know you’re coming!
About Robert Moor
Hailed by critics as a “philosopher on foot,” Robert Moor is the bestselling author of On Trails and In Trees. Translated into more than a dozen languages, On Trails garnered the National Outdoor Book Award, the Pacific Northwest Book Award, and the William Saroyan International Prize. Moor’s writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s, and many other publications. He lives in Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia.
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