Also found a copy of the Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert.
This probably won't soothe my misantropic mood.
And to add insult to injury, I got 'The Secret Life of Trees: The Astonishing Science of What Trees Feel and How They Communicate'.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/09/26/the-hidden-life-of-trees-peter-wohlleben/
@flip Thanks for the pointer - haven't heard of her before, but will look her up. Were her observations debunked, or on what basis weren't they well received?
@rostiger her observations were “debunked” because the men working as her superiors decided she was wrong and no amount of data could persuade them otherwise (is my understanding)
@flip It's sad how little that surprises me.
@rostiger I feel like it’s important to pass on that knowledge... she was a disregarded pioneer until others came along to profit off her labor
@rostiger do you know about Suzanne Simard? She's the woman who, in the west, presented the idea that trees feel and communicate and she was not well received for a long while