A branch of the tree of knowledge

I think this tree with its tissue-paper thin flowers is called a Paper Tree. The flowers droop like soft cotton fabric. (Click on photo to enlarge) I've chosen this photo for the visual pun as we keep our knowledge on paper, or at least until the age of the computer we have. We did our best with carving in stone and notching sticks, but things really moved forward with bark and then paper, and apparently in the first fifty years after Gutenberg invented the printing press between fifteen and twenty million books were printed. I imagine that's a huge number relative to the size of the population then, but only a fraction of the number of books that are printed now that so many people have books. That's how much we like writing and reading.

Inspired by David Weinberger (See 'Everything is miscellaneous' in my bookcase down on the right), I've been thinking about how we arrange knowledge and about the branching shapes of trees.

We can categorise things so that from a general trunk of knowledge the branches, well, branch out. So from the trunk of 'bread ' we can reach branches for brown bread, white bread, organic bread, tea bread and so on, or there could be two main branches, brown bread and white bread, from which smaller branches grow on out, and further out from brown bread you'd find organic, non-organic, rye bread, multigrain...... and so on and so on. So much knowledge branches out like that.

The photo shows just one branch of the Paper Tree with flowers and leaves and it's a wonderful moment finding it, just as it is opening a new book that is full of promise.

In the digital 'world' that we have created knowledge can be arranged in so many ways. For example, when I googled for 'Paper Tree' to check if that really is the name before writing this blog, I found endless entries about all sorts of things, but couldn't get to anything as simple as the name of a tree. I had no luck with 'Identifying trees' either.

And after all that thinking about the complexities of how we arrange knowledge it's good to look outside and see real trees growing, rich with summer leaves and branching up into the sunshine. It's a way of finding balance after an hour or two immersed in thoughts, writing and computer tasks. 

Comments

[Simone Nelson]

Hi Judy

Its the Handerkerchief or Dove tree but in reality the Davidia - a glorious one at Holehird over Windermere and until recent storms at Inverewe when a falling Eucalyptus sat on it - I love them!

[Judy Barber]

Thank you Simone. With those names I could conjure up quite different metaphors, for the same beautiful tree! :-)