As a devoted lover of photography and nature's wonders, Kieron Connolly's "Forests" is a breathtaking journey through the heart of our planet's lush landscapes. With more than 180 mesmerizing photographs, this book isn't merely a visual feast—it's an enchanting ode to the ancient ecosystems that cover a third of Earth's land mass.

From the peculiar Dragon's Blood Forest in Socotra, Yemen, to the vibrant Borneo rainforest teeming with life, each chapter unveils a tapestry of biodiversity. Connolly's meticulous organization by continent and country adds a layer of educational depth, transforming this book into an immersive exploration of global woodlands.

The photographs, meticulously captured, showcase the intricate beauty of each forest environment. The mysterious Crooked Forest in Poland, the majestic Cathedral Grove in British Columbia, and the legendary German Black Forest—all come alive through Connolly's lens. Each page is a canvas, painting a vivid portrait of Earth's green treasures.

"Forests" is not just a book; it's an experiential journey. The blend of captivating visuals and insightful narratives creates a profound connection between the reader and these ancient ecosystems. As a photography and nature enthusiast, I find myself enchanted, eager to revisit this extraordinary collection and get lost once again in the sublime beauty of our planet's wooded wonders.

Absolutely beautiful but not well formatted for reading digitally so I can’t recommend you read it as I did.

Absolutely stunning book full of beautiful imagery and well researched and thought out words. As an environmental professional this book was both fascinating and educational. Kieron has produced something which is both a stunning coffee table book to flip through at leisure, and something to sit and intently read from cover to cover.

I think they truly set out to just astonish you with the amazing photography and they certainly succeeded. Fantastic book for nature lovers! I would definitely order this to look at and try to visit some of these astounding forests.

A showcase of the diversity of forests and within forests. The photographs take the reader around the world and by the finish you've absorbed a lot of information via the captions. Some of the pictures are especially stunning and all are very well reproduced. As you would expect they vary from vistas to details, including fauna as well as flora. Because of the book's scope I saw several 'new to me' sights. Obviously different forests act differently, and replanted areas aren't the same as what they replace. Yet it's possible to make use of what a forest produces without destroying it as many mushroom hunters would tell you. An less widely reported than deforestation are efforts to bring back forests to places like Iceland. As someone who feels nurtured when in a woods this book is a joy.

Stunning, stunning, stunning! I could (and probably will!) stare at this over and over. The photography is just breathtaking and I now have a million more places on my must-go list. The selection is nicely balanced, geographically, and the accompanying text is a perfect amount of information for context and interesting facts without being overlong.

This would be a great pick for lovers of nature and photography along with all armchair travelers. It's definitely one you'll come back to again and again!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

For a tree hugger like myself, this book was green heaven!!

Packed full of the most astonishing photographs, it a journey around the world showing off the wide and varied forest stories from different continents, to different climates. It is accompanied by some astonishing facts and information from each area, touching on the wildlife found within (be warned, there's some weird and wonderful creatures out there!!), how the forests look in different seasons, how they're used by the locals and how they've changed over the years.

It also brings to the fore the negative impact of humans on these areas through logging, using palm oil replacements and it was staggering to see the destruction in some of the more poignant photos.

This is a staggeringly beautiful book and one i'll never tire of looking at or learning from!

Such an interesting book. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour around the worlds forests and the notes about each one. The photography was absolutely stunning, I very much enjoyed this feast for my eyes. A great book for anyone who is interested in the natural world and forests, trees and biodiversity within these spaces specifically.

This coffee table book takes readers around the world viewing the forests. The book is roughly divided up by continent. Each section has a brief introduction highlighting information like climate, main types of trees in the area, and a short history of human interaction with forests. The rest of the book consists of photography. The photos showcase forests in different seasons showcasing their beauty year round. Each photograph is captioned providing the location and some interesting information about the trees or animals that live in the area. I did laugh when one of the photos in Africa showed a bird's nest fern as I have one sitting 5 feet away from me that's struggling to survive on my coffee table in Utah. The book does touch on some issues like deforestation and the palm oil trade, but doesn't go into a lot of depth as it is focused on the photography. This book would make a great gift for anyone who loves nature.

"Forests" by Kieron Connolly is a wonderfully relaxing and soul soothing coffee table book (over 200 pages, over 200 photographs, 11.5 X 8.6 inches in size) that focuses on the best forested areas on the planet. The book is logically split into the regions of Europe, Africa/Middle East, Asia/Pacific, North American, and Central/South America. Each and every picture shows an area that is supremely worthy of a dedicated hiking trip. Each picture and region is described with educational and thought provoking detail and information. Many of the pictures are also worthy of framing and prominent display. As much as I like trees, many of the photographs highlight other unique plant and animal life, waterfalls, mountains, various bodies of water, and in general majestic scenery.

I thank Kieron Connolly and Amber Books for graciously providing a temporary electronic review copy of this work.

Perusing this I found myself enjoying it – until I made the perhaps fatal error of asking myself who it's for. Is it for tree-huggers? Well they've cost a fraction of one for this book, which is by no means a substitute. Is it for scientists in the forestry world? Surely in covering the entire globe it is too general and slender (the captions are more detailed than the publishers' animal books, for an example, but not that much more comprehensive and scientific). It's not for wannabe tree identifiers, for while it tells us what trees grow where it forces us to go elsewhere to find out what those trees actually are like. As a photographic book it's lush, but I kind of expected that, knowing what an eye these publishers have for such things. So when all is said and done, unless I'm barking up the wrong proverbial, this remains a true, old-fashioned coffee table book, sitting there, looking pretty and declaiming to all-comers what you want your public perception to be. "Oh vicar, didn't you know I liked trees? Why wooden I?!"

Still, just because I can't picture the intended user so competently, what do you actually get when you sign up for ownership? Well, a continent by continent guide to the world's woodlands, as you'd expect. 90% of each page is photographic, with the margins used for the captions telling us what we need to know – where we are, what trees are there, and anything else relevant. And a lot is fine and interesting – the forest that replaced the farms of Verdun, due to the UXBs all still in the soil to this day; the growth around Pripyat now humans aren't in the region (and won't be to live safely for 270 years). There is a boost for the likes of me when we leave the familiarity of Europe and find endemic Yemeni trees so uniform in how they are pretty much all wood until a top plating of green growth – and the book feels freer in opening up to show the forest critters, too – which arachnophobes will curse.

Visually, this is at times jaw-dropping – the bamboo forests just outside Kyoto perhaps the greatest wonder, but any time you focus up from the ground to distant canopies, or dazzle with colours under grey mountain bluffs or pause Plitvice's waterfalls you're on to a winner. I did find the drone shots straight down to the woods quite pointless, in contrast – the book is at its best when you can smell the mulch and the sun warming the dew off a gazillion leaves. In that regard yes it can bring a multitude of corners of the world's natural wealth into the living room, and that travel aspect is to me the most enjoyable side of things. This remained fun to browse, but to me was still a little unnecessary fun – and yet done so well it still ticks over the four star mark.

An educational and enjoyable read. It was fun to see the forests of the world and learn about them and what lives in them. The photography was really well done.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is primarily a coffee-table kind of book. Most of the luscious photographs are as big as a whole page, varying from air photography to close-ups of the details (such as plants or animal portraits).
There is not much text, but each photograph has a caption and some information about it and the subject in it, which usually is some interesting fact about that particular forest or trees/animals. It is a good introduction to the topic of various forests around the earth and can encourage you to read more on the subject.
The book is very family-friendly and anyone, no matter the age can find something appealing.

I love trees! And I love to hike in the woods. So you can see why I was excited about a book filled with beautiful photography of forests around the world.

Each chapter covers different continents. Gorgeous photos make you feel like you’re walking through these wonderful places. The book gives you a peaceful feeling. Some places look like they’re straight out of a fairy tale.

Interesting facts accompany the photography. You also see bridges, buildings, animals, and other plants that live in these enchanted woods. The photos make you want to visit each place. It was fascinating to see where trees have reclaimed abandoned land, after war, nuclear accident, and time.

You could read it straight through or pick it up and turn to any page. It would make a great gift or something to keep on your coffee table. It comes out next month, July 14. Thank you to Amber Books and NetGalley for my copy.

Not only are forests therapeutic, tranquil and important to our wellbeing but they are also crucial to our existence. Forests of all imaginable and fantastic types are displayed in this book by continent in 180 magnificent photographs with brief descriptions of their biodiversity, tree and plant species, animal and insect species, habitat and characteristics.

The origin of the word "forest" is described as are the reasons forests have been destroyed throughout history, such as agricultural crops, war, building railroads, hunting and logging. Forests such as Verdun in France are still little-explored due to unexploded ordnances. Interestingly, Europe has one third more woodland now than it did in 1900. Amongst my favourite forests in this book are (and I've been to several!) enchanting fairy tale forests of Scotland and Ireland, the diverse Black Forest in Germany, the mysterious pine forest in Poland, Chernobyl in Ukraine, karst and lakes in Slovenia and Croatia, Dragon's Blood Forest in Yemen, Quiver trees in Namibia, pitcher plants in Madagascar, Dibeen in Jordan, Sinharaja in Sri Lanka, dense rain forest in Asia, eerie Arashiyama Forest in Japan, Kauria trees in New Zealand, wax palms in Colombia and special hummingbird habitat in Costa Rica. I had never even heard of Quiver trees and had no idea that the umbrella trees with unique properties were called Dragon's Blood trees. Imagine walking through the surreal bamboo forest in Japan!

Our world is a wondrous place and though it is growing more accessible to more people, its diversity and forests are awe inspiring and otherworldly. We have much to learn about replenishing and maintaining them. What a shame more don't enjoy them. As a forest fiend I am lost without being in/near them. There is always something new to explore. But you needn't be a forest nut to be besotted by this luscious book. It is my idea of THE dream book, not just to draw inspiration from but to act upon and explore.

My sincere thank you to Amber Books Ltd. and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this spectacularly beautiful book!

I love trees. I have a real thing for trees, I can't explain it. A lot of the photos in this book are simply magnificent. It also has a great balance of mostly photos with just enough text.

This would look stunning on anybody's coffee table.

Gorgeous nature photos, a very beautiful book that made wish I could walk in the places.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This book of 180 photos shows the variety and richness of the world’s forests. The photography is excellent and captivating. We truly live in an amazing and beautiful world.

I am having trouble opening this book. By reading the reviews its seems like an excellent book on forests.

The perfect book for nature lovers, with gorgeous photographs of diverse forest landscapes, along with flora and fauna. The stunning images are a treat for the eyes and magically transport the reader to exotic locations from the comfort of the reader's own living room!