A Jungle of Tales

                I've written previously about Discworld in general and about the books centered on the original witches . Another recurring set of characters - good for whenever there is a mystery involved are the Ankh Morepork City Watch. But these stories aren’t JUST mysteries or crime thrillers; They are always strongly political as well.             Commander Samuel Vimes is at the center of these stories. Vimes is in the odd position of deeply distrusting authority and traditional power structures - due to his working class background - while being an authority and agent of state power himself. He is also a deeply angry man, who at the start of his arc medicates his chronic state of "knurd" 1 with alcohol and exhibits a pretty wide range of prejudices. Over time these lessen as he engages with a greater diversity of beings, and he learns to harness his anger in more productive ways. The latter often means "kicking over the status quo"

  This is an engagingly written book that provides a decent introduction to the current state of forest science. Now, being a forest biologist myself, my first inclination was to get nit-picky. The author states that his training as a forester was very narrow, focusing just on stuff that is supposed to produce more timber and not on ecological relationships or tree physiology, and that he rediscovered his sense of wonder about forests later in life. This does show in places, but most of the information is accurate and it is an easy and fun read.              Some of the 100% accurate forest facts include: - Trees, and plants in general, can sense and respond to their environment, and can send out signals to communicate with other organisms. - The root systems of trees form underground connections, sometimes directly, more often via networks of mycorrhizal fungi 1 . Messages and resources (eg. sugars) can be sent from one plant to another throug