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The Wild Trees

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The Wild Trees
AuthorRichard Preston
LanguageEnglish
SubjectTree-climbing
GenreNon-fiction
PublisherAnchor Books
Publication date
2007
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Paperback and Hardback)
Pages294
ISBN1400064899

(Hardcover)

Arborist standing next to a redwood named Screaming Titans, described in a chapter of the book – The Lost Valley – within section 4: Love in Zeus. This redwood tree is located in the Grove of Titans

The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring is a non-fiction book by Richard Preston about California's coastal redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) and the recreational climbers who climbed them. It is a narrative-style collection of stories from climbers who pioneered redwood climbing, including botanist Steve Sillett, lichenologist Marie Antoine, and Michael Taylor. They inadvertently discovered a thriving ecosystem hidden among the tree tops, 60–90 meters (200–300 ft) above, of redwood lattices, berry bushes, bonsai trees, epiphytes, lichens, voles, and salamanders.

The book was #83 on Amazon's Best Books of the Year. It was illustrated by Andrew Joslin.

The Wild Trees introduces several characters and provides backgrounds for them, as far back as their childhoods. Throughout the book, information about trees, forests and logging is woven into the story.

Several of the largest and tallest known redwoods are introduced, including descriptions. Details are provided about how these trees are climbed, explored and studied, although many of their specific locations are not given.

Omission

The book omits the fact that author (and climber) G. F. Beranek (and a few others before him) successfully pioneered ascent into old growth coast redwood canopy over a decade before Sillett and Antoinne. Beranek is well known as a climber and author among many in the tree-climbing arborist profession. It is unknown whether Preston (a tree climbing hobbyist) was unaware of that significant detail.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.mdvaden.com/redwood_book.shtml
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