The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring

I'm sorry. I usually like books about the natural world, and I wanted to like this one. But the prose is so clumsy that I had to put it aside after three pages as an act of self-preservation. The text is an unending procession of compound sentences. Reading it is like walking over miles of identical sand dunes. And long, long paragraphs. One looks in vain for an oasis of a simple sentence. Maybe you are hardier than I and will like it. Good luck. Bring a canteen.

As an avid reader, I like a great variety of books, but this book is in a class all by itself. I had just finished reading The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, which was a frighteningly good read, when I saw this book at my local library. It was so different from any of the other books that Mr. Preston had written, that I decided to give it a try. Who in the world would have believed that a book about trees and the people who climb them could be so riveting? Steve Sillet, the first man to ascend to the top of the redwood canopy, turns out to be one of the most interesting characters you will ever read about. His work in the canopy and the toll it took on his personal life reads like a great novel. The most intense part of the book deals with the stormy night that Steve and his fellow researchers spent in the upper reaches of a mega tree, that appeared to be ready to topple at any moment is worth the price of the book alone! This book should be in every high school science classroom. Strike that, EVERY classroom. It is now in my top three books I have ever read. Not bad when you consider my #1 is John Steinbeck's Cannery Row! Read and enjoy this astounding and outstanding book! You will not be disappointed! I live within a 4 1/2 hour drive to the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park and this book has given me a whole new appreciation for the trees and the ecosystem that they reign supreme over. Truly the most beautiful place on earth.

I loved this book because it brought me back to many of my most loved places from living in Oregon and California, including the lost coast, J Smith state park and up the Olympic peninsula where the douglas firs and spruce trees amaze. Lake Quinault is one of my favorite places on earth (in the summer!). I haven't traveled to many places but of the places I've been, these forests of trees ferns moss and fog hold some of my strongest memories. I miss them a lot. So that's the reason I wanted to read the book. Plus I really enjoying some of Richard Preston's other books (the hot zone, panic in level 4). I really liked the character development and reading about the ways these vagabond types got started on their studies of the trees and then how they banded together to make a true academic study. But after awhile the tree measuring and narrow escapes started to get monotonous. And one chapter seemed liked the author just wanted to stuff in fact after random fact, much like freshman Biology (boring). So I started to lose interest. I don't know if there's going to be any grand wrapping up at the end or some stunning find, but I can't get too excited about one tree being somewhat bigger than another. Really interesting all the things up in the canopy, and remind me never to climb any tree in Australia or even go there, with all those awful leeches. The book does make you want to go to that Tree Climbing camp and sleep in a tree hammock so introduces you to a lot of interesting characters, ideas and brings back the feeling of the NW forests big time, great imagery. It's awful that loggers went crazy cutting once they knew the regulations were coming. We keep raping the land and never learn. I do recommend this book, even with 3 stars, good read.

I grew up close to the redwoods. My first home purchase was a tiny cabin in the deep redwoods. I love those magnificent trees and have climbed one but I had no idea of their secret life in the canopy. The many twists in this true adventure left me agog.This copy was a gift for a woman coming from Texas to see California's redwoods on the north coast for her 40th birthday. She's staying in one of our vacation cabins on the Trinity River before heading a few more hours west and this book is such an eye-opener, I figured she had to read it. (She agreed.)I got my copy from another guest who was taking friends from NYC to see the redwoods and he couldn't believe I knew nothing about their secret life so he sent me this gift. It made sense to pass on the joy by sending a copy to someone else.

I enjoyed this book. I'm a rock climber, I kayak, and I generally try to journey into nature as often as possible. I love nature. I've climbed trees since I was a kid ... still do, but not to the degree laid out in this story. I was able to envision myself as the characters in this story, wished that I had their experiences. I was inclined to visit the areas they saw, and still may one day. I was very happy to have had the dangers of the ungodly terrain that had to be bushwacked through laid out for us. It stalled my impulse to pack up and go. When I do go, I'll be at least a little prepared to keep my companions and myself alive. I want to eat freshly picked berries at height some day in nature's secret gardens.

Great, journalistcally crafted non-fiction read about trees we must treasure , and those who discover and climb them. I'm so glad I read this informative and delightful book, for all that I learned about our beloved Coast Redwoods and a very heightened (no pun intended) respect for those who study them. These were the pioneers. They're still at it. I'm thankful Preston wrote about it now, while they're still in their prime, and love that he climbs hundreds of feet up with them, too. The real deal just wrote the story for you with the perspective of an insider. He gave us a treasure about what we really need to treasure: the trees!

If you you well written books on the countryside arts and skills this is the book for you.

Fantastic trees. Interesting and informative book. I have a friend with some in her garden.

Brilliant book, a pity that someone had written derogatory comments in the book.

adventurous!

Romance with the redwoods, a timeless story that explores the forest in the same way some people explore space. Fantastic