The Extraordinary Story of the Bishnoi, the World’s First Eco-Warriors
Meet the Bishnois, the world’s oldest sustainable community – with a foreword from Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees
‘Sensitive and engaging … I hope everybody reads it’ Brian Eno
A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024
With a foreword by Peter Wohlleben – “I was electrified – This book, thrilling to the last page, fills a gap in the environental debate. It can offer inspiration to many readers who wish to concentrate on the truly important things in life … What an enormous contribution Martin Goodman offers by bringing this culture and religion closer to us.”
How much can one love a tree? Rajasthan, in northern India, is home to the Bishnoi, a community renowned for the extreme lengths they go to in order to protect nature: Bishnoi men and women have died to defend trees from loggers and wildlife from poachers.
Writer and conservationist Martin Goodman, one of few trusted outsiders, relates the history of the Bishnoi, and asks what a world facing climate change and natural disaster can learn from a 600-year-old sustainable community leading an existence in delicate balance with nature and under threat from rapacious modernity.
My Head for a Tree offers a timely reflection on indigenous, community-based activism and how we might adjust our lives to fight for the natural world.
“The story of the Bishnoi – the first true environmentalists – is important, inspirational and humbling. My Head for a Tree is essential reading for all those who care about our magnificent planet. Utterly fascinating.”
Some reviews:
Martin Goodman’s ‘My Head for a Tree’: A tribute to Bishnois & fierce love for nature – The Tribune
Review: My Head For A Tree by Martin Goodman – Geographical
And in The Hindustan Times
