About this episode

Robert Moor discusses his new book 'In Trees' and explores the concept of trees as verbs and their implications on intelligence and relationality.

  Robert Moor is a journalist and essayist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, The Atlantic, Emergence, and The New York Times. His first book, On Trails , won the National Outdoor Book Award and the William Saroyan International Prize. He lives in Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia. His new book is ' In Trees' . Topics 00:00 Welcome, and the new SAND course 00:04 A tree is a verb, not a noun 00:06 Branching, brains, and why AI has no roots 00:13 Pruning, gnarling, and the beauty of wounds 00:16 The Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya 00:19 From On Trails to In Trees 00:22 Tree thinking and the tree of contents 00:27 Intelligence without anthropomorphizing 00:34 Cedars, Haida Gwaii, and deep time 00:38 Branching futures, many apocalypses, and grief 00:47 Hierarchy, the rhizome, and the Korowai 00:52 Rootedness and relationality Robert Moor In Trees: An Exploration (Simon & Schuster, April 2026) On Trails: An Exploration Robert Moor at Hill Nadell Literary Agency Books mentioned Songs for Relinquishing the Earth by Jan Zwicky. Originally hand-sewn by the author on recycled stock and distributed by request; later won the Governor General's Award for Poetry. Between Earth…

People in this episode

Guest: Robert Moor

Topics covered

• trees
• intelligence
• AI
• branching futures
• grief
• relationality

Keywords

• Robert Moor
• In Trees
• On Trails
• trees
• intelligence
• AI
• branching futures
• grief

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The New Yorker, Harper's, The Atlantic, Emergence, The New York Times

Books & works: On Trails, In Trees, Songs for Relinquishing the Earth, Between Earth and Sky: Our Intimate Connections to Trees, The Hidden Life of Trees, Finding the Mother Tree, The Light Eaters, Thus Spoke the Plant, The Secret Life of Trees

Places: Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia

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