The Overstory was a great book to read. At first I thought it was going to be doom and gloom. For the first few chapters you are met with a few ups and a lot of downs. I was fearful the entire book would be sad. As I read more and more of the book I realized it was not that the book was sad. More the book was telling a story, a very big story.

For a huge chunk of the book the pages were meandering. It felt like the story was going no where and drudging on just to take up my time. Forcing me, a completionist, to keep on reading. The best part of this book was realizing the meaning with 3 pages remaining. Much like another great book series “journey before destination” applies to this book. The act of reading the book is part of the meaning.

The Overstory does a fantastic job painting a large picture of many lives. Further it shows how all these lives relate to one another even if the individuals never see each other in their day-to-day lives. The key take way for me is remembering that you cannot convince someone of a good idea with data alone. You need a good story to motivate people to action.

The Overstory’s message became clear in the final pages: if we want this planet to do thrive, we need to care for it. It conveyed a message of saving the planet by telling a great story, The Overstory!