Street Trees of Seattle - by Taha Ebrahimi (Paperback)

About the Book

"Using data visualization as a starting point, Taha Ebrahimi takes readers on a tour of existing trees throughout Seattle neighborhoods and iconic parks through ... line drawings. In the process, she educates readers on the history of the trees and the city, and offers up drawings of leaves, trees, and leaflets as a ... way to identify trees throughout the city"--

Book Synopsis

The majestic trees of Seattle's neighborhoods take center stage in this illustrated and informative walking guide.

• Want to discover which neighborhood has the highest concentration of cherry street trees when cherry blossoms are at their peak?
• Eager to stroll down the only street lined with western red cedars?
• Curious how monkey puzzle trees made their way to the city?

Using data visualization as a starting point, the author takes readers on a tour of existing street trees throughout Seattle's neighborhoods and iconic parks through charming illustrations and maps. In the process, she educates readers on the history of the trees and the city, and offers up sketches of trees, leaves, and leaflets to identify trees throughout 33 different neighborhoods. The most notable of each species are highlighted, so urban adventurers can fully appreciate their surroundings or design their own walking routes to experience these natural wonders in their favorite areas of the city.

The book is organized alphabetically by neighborhood and each area:

• Showcases a species of tree
• Includes a history of the tree and neighborhood
• Offers maps and callouts for spotting the best street specimens

In an increasingly digital world, the book invites readers to slow down and embrace an analog approach to tree-spotting during their urban meanderings.

Review Quotes

" . . . a charming book full of hand-drawn maps, detailed sketches of leaf and petal shapes and bark patterns, and tons of very nerdy, very fascinating history about how certain species of trees got to Seattle in the first place."
--The Stranger

" Get to know Seattle's unique street trees with this new book . . . Filled with maps, diagrams and short, digestible explanations of the histories of local species, the book is designed to help people embark on their own tree walks, from Ballard to Columbia City. "
--Seattle Times

"With Ebrahimi's book, you'll encounter settlement patterns of Seattle neighborhoods, trends in landscaping from eras past, and the innumerable ways individuals have personalized their homes and gardens over the years . . . the book could be read from cover to cover, or it could be used to take a particular walking tour of a particular area, or it could just be dipped into to read about one particular tree.
--MyNorthwest History

About the Author

TAHA EBRAHIMI is director of Tableau Public, a free platform to explore, create and publicly share online data visualizations about publicly available data. She is also a "celebrity" judge of Iron Viz, the world's largest virtual data visualization competition. She is passionate about the storytelling power of data visualization to democratize the understanding of complex data insights. Taha is also the co-chair of the Cal Anderson Park Alliance and a contributor to Crosscut where she writes about things like local mapmaking. She began her career as a journalist at The Seattle Times, has taught writing at the University of Pittsburgh, and has been a recipient of fellowships granted by The Thomas J. Watson Foundation (IBM) and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.