This is a spellbinding story of discovery. The almost unexplored world of California's Redwood canopy once thought to be almost lifeless, teams with beautiful hanging gardens of epiphytes, reefs of lichen, small animals, and undiscovered species of flora & fauna. This is a biography of the trees, of the explorers who first began climbing them, & of discovery herself. Enjoy the adventure told in novelistic prose & detailing this enormous new world! ( )

i listened to this. i like richard preston but i couldn't follow this book. too many characters/names to remember. the narrative seemed to be all over the place. i don't know who did what. ( )

Nonfiction adventure story which combines an interesting storyline with info about trees and the sport of tree climbing. ( )

OK, so I've always loved old, tall, and large trees. I expected to skip over the stories of the people to get to the top of the trees and find out how it was done. I did very little of that, however, as the bizarre assortment of misfits who discovered many new redwood giants and figured out how to climb them are quirkily presented by Preston and the book makes a good case without whining about it for tolerating goofballs in our species as well as for preserving the remaining forest giants and their magical canopies. From the amazing first, free climb through a wasps' nest, to love in the canopy, to the fall you will find this book well written, engrossing, spiritual, and occasionally thrilling. The tops of these trees (above 250') open up into a virtual forest of limbs, complete with dirt, blueberries, and plant species endemic to this unique ecosystem, that was unexplored until this hodgepodge of students, botanists, convenience store clerk, et al "discovered" it only about 20 years ago. ( )

Although I enjoyed Wild Trees, I was expecting a novelist to tell more of a story. Although he gave details about the backgrounds of some interesting scientists -- so those were stories -- there didn't seem to be much else. No beginning, middle, end. No conclusion, just a tapering off. I thought the chapters that featured the author's tree-climbing adventures were out of place. Wild Trees did engender good discussion at my non-fiction readers' group. ( )