Arborist Books & Training Materials

Buying guide

Why every crew needs a small library

Gear wears out and gets replaced. What a climber knows stays on the truck every day. A short shelf of good arborist books gives a crew a shared language for how work gets done: what a proper pruning cut looks like, what a safe drop zone is, how a rigging load really behaves when a piece comes off the stem.

Books also settle arguments. When two climbers disagree about a tie-in point or how to set a lowering line, the answer is usually already written down by people who have spent decades studying it. Keeping the current standards in the cab means the crew leader can point to the page instead of relying on whoever talks loudest.

Books matter for crew leaders and business owners too. Bidding municipal work, writing a pruning spec or answering a client who asks why you will not top their tree all go better when you can cite the standard and the reasoning behind it.

The standards: ANSI Z133 and ANSI A300

ANSI Z133 is the American safety standard for arboricultural operations. It covers climbing systems, connectors, rigging, chainsaw use, electrical hazards, aerial lifts and traffic control. If you climb or run a crew in the US, it is the baseline your gear and procedures are measured against, and it is updated periodically, so make sure the copy you train from is current.

ANSI A300 is the tree care performance standard. Where Z133 is about keeping people safe, A300 is about doing right by the tree: pruning objectives, cut placement, support systems, lightning protection and more. Many municipal and utility contracts reference A300 directly, so knowing it is part of winning and keeping that work.

Study guides and climbing references

The ISA Certified Arborist Study Guide is the standard prep text for the Certified Arborist exam. It covers tree biology, soils, identification, pruning, diagnosis, safety and more, and it stays useful long after the test as a desk reference for the parts of the job that are not climbing.

For climbing technique, The Tree Climber's Companion by Jeff Jepson is a classic pocket guide that a lot of climbers started with, and it is often the book people mean when they ask for arborist books for beginners. Pair a field guide like that with hands-on training from a qualified instructor. No book replaces time on the rope under someone who can watch your system and correct it.

Rigging and tree risk assessment each have their own references as you move up. Add them when the work calls for it rather than buying a whole shelf at once.

How to use books on a real crew

Pick one topic a week for the tailgate meeting and read a page or two out loud: tie-in points, drop zone communication, chipper safety. Keep the standards in a dry bag in the truck so they do not turn into pulp. When a new climber joins, hand them the study guide and the climbing reference before you hand them a saddle.

Remember that books explain the why, while manufacturer instructions govern each specific device. Read both, follow both, and inspect life-support gear before every climb.