Basic Information : Synopsis : Characters : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation : Book Group : New Words : Book References : Good Quotes : Table of Contents : References
Basic Information:
Author:
Richard Preston
Edition:
ePub on Overdrive from the San Francisco Library
Publisher:
Randomn House
Start
Date: January 18, 2020
Read
Date: January 30, 2020
294
pages
Genre:
History, Biography, Science
Language
Warning: Low
Rated
Overall: 4 1/2 out of 5
Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
The
author takes us through three personalities in the world of redwood
tree climbing: Steven Sillett, Michael Taylor and Marie Antoine.
Taylor has a knack for finding places where tall trees grow. He lives
in Eureka and Arcata. Sillett is a professor at Humboldt State and
has refined the way tall trees are climbed. Antoine studies lichens
and marries Sillett.
Preston
goes through the struggles these people have in finding tall redwoods
and then climbing them. He goes into their personalities and
backgrounds so we know how they got to the place of climbing trees.
The
lives they live are not clean, meaning that they have some issues,
such as single-mindedness, to the exclusion of the people who love
them. They are jealous of revealing too much to too many people-some
legit and some it seems like they prefer to work on the edge. Also
their techniques are known to a few.
But
the results they get-discoveries of what happens up in the canopy of
tall trees are note worthy. Taylor and a friend find the three
tallest trees in the world at the last.
Cast of Characters:
- Stephen C. Sillett-Professor at CSU, Humboldt
- Marie Antoine (Sillett)-tree climber, studied lichens, became Steve Sillettt’s wife
- Michael Taylor
- Richard Preston-Author and tree climber
- Scott Sillett-Steve’s brother, and a more ground-bound version
- Marwood Harris-friend of Steve Sillett and early climbing partner
- William C Denison-professor at Oregon State University, Corvallis. An early investigator into what is going on in the tops of trees, mostly firs and pines.
- Ron Hildebrandt-Post Office worker and devout Christian. Like Taylor, also decided that the tallest tree had yet to be found.
- Amanda LeBrun-Came from wealthy family. Girl friend, then wife of Steve Sillett. Divorced when Marie Antoine came into the picture.
- Robert Van Pelt-tree climber, biologest
Expectations:
- Recommendation: Glen B
- When: January 12, 2020
- Date Became Aware of Book: January 13, 2020
- How come do I want to read this book: When Glen recommended the book, it was more because of the area he lives in which has Sequoia Sempervirians. He said it is about a professor at Humboldt State who goes up into the canopy to see what life is there.
- What do I think I will get out of it? I have recently read a book called The Overstory which deals with fictional aspects of what I think this professor studied.
Thoughts:
Why
look for the tallest tree? The biggest tree?
Note:
The book is dedicated to Douglas Preston, his brother. I read his
book, The
Lost City of the Monkey God.
It
is unclear of Preston goes to tree climbing school on a lark-at least
I think it sounds that way-- or on assignment, like writing the
article which lead to this book.
Book
title comes from that tree never been climbed are called Wild Trees.
Preston
does a good job of putting what happens to a particular redwood in
the context of human history.
One
of the reviewers who read spends a lot of time in the redwoods. While
he likes the book. There is a comment which he makes though is that
he has not seen Preston around or heard of him climbing tall trees
since the book came out. From the book it sounds like this is
something he is enthusiastic about. But if what the reviewer is
saying is true, then it would seem like Preston is less of an
enthusiast and more of a mercenary.
Epigraph
Author’s
Note
Of
Botanists and Trees
It
is the tradition of botanists not to reveal locations of living
things unless it is known/published. Preston honors that tradition in
this book.
Part
1
Nameless
Steve
Sillett, Marwood Harris and Scott Sillett have come across a tall
redwood and intends to climb it. Scott stays on the ground. Steve and
Marwood climb up an adjacent tree and traverse to the big tree,
called Nameless.
There
is a limited area where redwood, Sequioia Sempervirians can grow.
That is in a temperate rain forest. That would be in Northern
California, close to the coast. They grow from a cone, smaller than a
ping pong ball. I wonder why they do not grow in similar zones
anyplace in the world? Instead there are three different types of
redwoods-the sempervirians, the gigantia-in the Sierra, and the
Dawn-in China.
As
Sillett thought as a teenager, he saw that a
forest was not what it seemed to be, but a web of life extending
upward and out of sight.
In a lot of ways, tops of trees were a mystery to him. He saw the web
of branches and wondered about them. His grandmother nurtured a lot of
this. Because of this fascination, Sillett understood that in the
forest there was a difference in how time is appreciated. To a
redwood, a year is like a day to us.
It
becomes apparent, that Sillett does not have a rational sense of
fear. When he climbs the tree, he is determined to reach the goal of
going to the top, even taking flying, untethered leaps across open
spaces.
When
dropping above fifty feet level, this is the death line. There is a
tendency to turn head down.
The
Kingdom
The
rest of the climb of Nameless. Particularly about what was found in
the crown. Also the trek back down the tree and meeting up with
wasps.
From
his grandmother, Sillett learned about lichens and the function they
played in relationships with trees.
Scott
Sillett while listening to what it was like climbing the tree thought
that he might be losing his brother. There was a sense of
restlessness in him. Scott was wondering where would Steve’s story
end.
Island
in the Lake
Early
life of Marie Antoine. A tomboy type female. Climbed rocks and trees.
Father was somebody whom she could talk to about the natural stuff
she found. Also that her mother very influential. But developed bone
cancer while Marie was of a young age.
Preston
says that about four years old is when memories could be formed and
become permanent. That would be Marie’s mother’s gift to her.
The
Start of the Hunt
Preston
goes through a history of the habitat of the redwoods.
Interesting
comment about the Native Americans burning the forests to keep the
redwoods at bay. They wanted to make oaks with their acorns were more
abundant. Oaks were a source of food for them.
Unexplored
Michael
Taylor’s story and how he started finding tall trees. Taylor’s
family is wealthy, but Taylor turned his back on this to pursue what
he wanted to do. His father eventually cuts him off. Taylor has an
intuitive sense of what is a tall tree.
Rumors
of a Lost Continent
Humans
are the only primate which does not spend their time in trees. Looks
at the early explorers of tops of trees.
The
Naming
Sillett
starts to learn both what scientific value is in climbing tall trees
and how to do it safely. The lichens up in Nameless were common and
identifiable, but not know to inhabit redwoods.
Sillett
while talking to his professor talked about reasonable risk.
White
Pines
More
about Marie Antonie.
The
Grocery Clerk
Since
his funding got cut off, Taylor started to self-fund through various
jobs. He eventually started working as a clerk in a grocery store in
Eureka. He meets a store shopper and they move in together. He started
having dreams of finding the tallest redwood. Tall trees generally
grew in remote places which are hard to get to. Taylor has a knack of
finding these places. In doing so, he found the Atlas Grove,
described as the Sistine Chapel of redwoods.
The
discoverer of a big tree has the right to name the tree. Taylor
started coming up with some pretty exotic names.
Michael
Taylor started getting better equipment to measure the height of
trees.
Into
the Groves of the Sunday
Taylor
asks a US professor how he found the tallest tree-he thought there
could be others. The professor said to look in the low, flat places.
(It turns out the tallest tree was on the side of a steep slope.) He
was also told about a tree of trees called the Three Peas in a Pod.
This
is a line which I would not mind having said about me, but without
the strangeness of character. Or maybe the two goes together. He
was a man who could find beauty in the small hidden places that still
existed on earth, the lost places that nobody had ever known.
I
like Preston’s terms that in supporting Taylor, his girlfriend was
making scientific
grants.
The
Skywalkers
Sillett
starts to refine his tree climbing skills. Acquires a girlfriend who
will go up in the trees with him.
To
be admitted to friendship with Sillett, you had to climb a tall tree
with him.
LeBrun,
his girlfriend, noted that Sillett is a commanding presence. But if
he feels he does not have control of a situation, he does not do well.
But when he saw a superior means of tree climbing, he adopted it.
Marriage
is about rope management. You have to take care to avoid knots and
snarls in the rope that joins you together. You can’t keep the rope
too tightly but you can’t let it get too loose either. Each of you
have to give your partner enough slack for freedom of movement, so
that you both can reach the top together.
William C Denison
Part
2
Headache
Tales
of people falling from trees and dying, and not.
Crater
Follow
up on the story of a person whom Sillett was climbing with falling a
long ways and living, mostly because he did not turn upside down
through his own thinking and had his arm break his fall. Also he
landed in duff. And survived and went back to climbing trees.
Ninja
Ascent
Taylor
is looking for the tallest tree still. Comes across a 371’ tree he
calls the Humboldt Tree in the middle of the Rockefeller Forest.
Sillett gets to know Taylor. This will be the first redwood has
climbed since Nameless. The story of NewTribes
is told as well-maker of tree climbing equipment. When they climb the
tree and measure it, if comes in at 357’ because of the lean.
Does natural things follow Aristotle's thinking that all things tend to
move toward their natural state of being? Their full potentials?
Detonation
Zone
A
team, including Taylor and Sillett are camped in the tree still when
a storm comes across them. Other redwoods are swaying and the tree
they are in goes circular. A month after their climb and the storm,
another storm passed through. This time the tree fell.
Sillett
realizes that redwoods fall when they are still alive. Their root
systems are intertwined. One tree falling will bring down others.
After
the tree fell, Taylor and Sillett go back and inspect the tree.
There are rare lichens. Sillett’s thought is that there is a whole
world which will die now that the tree has fallen.
Time
in the redwoods moves slowly, except when it moves very fast. This
is Preston’s comment after the tree fell. Sillett had thought that
the tree would out live him by many a year. My thought is that all
things mortal will die, including ourselves. Long living trees like
redwoods and Sequoias are there to give us a measure of how short our
lives are. Even these long living trees are short when compared to
that which is immortal. Take into account that even the grander of
our times is like dust in the wind. Think about what is immortal.
Part
3
The
Threads
Preston
goes to tree climbing school.
Tree
climbing is an art where you need to be conscious 100% of the time of
the need for safety. One instructor says that if you are not, The
ground rushes up surprisingly fast.
Whipper
Back
to Marie Antoine, Her mother has died. This changes how she grew up.
She started climbing until she fell, a whipper. She went to Oregon
State University and changed majors from nutrition to biology so she
could study lichens.
High
places were a lure to her, even though she had had a major fall while
rock climbing and had grown afraid of climbing.
Cathedrals
in the Rain
Taylor
and Silletts form an informal team. Taylor showing Sillett the places
he had found tall trees. Sillett gets a professorship at Humboldt
State. His classes start taking up most of his time. His marriage is
on the rocks. He climbs Atlas. He establishes a two and a half acre
study area in which he will look at everything in the area and make a
3-D map. They buy a house in Arcata, then a month later get divorced.
In Mednocino, Taylor comes across what is the tallest known tree at
367.5’. The tension at home leads Sillett to do dangerous ascents.
Marie
Antoine comes into Sillett’s life. LeBrun sees what is happening.
When confronted, Sillett says that it was just physical, nothing
more. Can sex ever be just physical?
A
tree that has never been climbed is called a Wild Tree.
A detention zone is when a redwood tree has calved-split-and it has
fallen down. This leaves an area which has been destroyed, a debris
ring.
Spider
rope-a combination of ropes and pulleys which allows the climber to moving any direction. It usually is 60’ long.
The
marriage dissolves because Steve is pretty much into himself, leaving
LeBrun on the sidelines. Sillett kept the impending divorce a secret,
not telling anyone, even his brother of the troubles they are having.
He felt a need to do penance, shaving his head and eyebrows.
Tears
Taylor
gets married. Preston goes through a mini-history of Redwood National
Park. There are places in the park which have been clear cut and now
is a ramble of brush, hard to get through. Taylor and Sillett started
to explore these. LeBrun leaves Sillett. Taylor is the one who is
there to comfort Sillett and get him through it, Taylor comments that
it seems like the trees are almost like sentient beings.
When
Redwood National Park was created, lumber companies did what they
could to get the most lumber out of the area before it became a park.
In doing so, there are clear cut places.
Taylor
observes that Sillett seems like a person who does not respect
himself. That is an interesting and deep observation. How can a
person who does not respect themselves keep themselves alive.
Part
4
The
Lost Valley
Taylor
and Sillett continues their search for the tallest tree. Searching
parks in the area. They were probably the first Europeans in a
particular area as there was no trace of human markings. They find a
grove of really big trees. This in the biologist folklore is called
the Day of Discovery.
On
an exploration to Jedidiah Smith State Park, they decided not to take
food or jackets or any other preparations. This was to be a short
outing. Turned out to be an all day trip, one which they almost paid
dearly for. The usual Boy Scout warning: Be Prepared! Even if you are
experienced.
New
term: timber cruisers-lumber people who survey and leave marks on
trees.
Who
or what is Ruthlor or Ruthlor Gulch? This describes its ruthless and
unforgiving nature.
In
this wander, they find the largest redwood in the world-not tallest
or bigger than the General Sherman. This is bigger than the Stout
Tree which is said to be the biggest in the park.
Taylor
Diet: I
realized I was eating a lot. So I stopped eating a lot.
Windigo
More
on Marie Antoine. She graduates from Oregon State. She talks about
the Wind River Canopy Crane. But that was not answering questions
about lichen at the top of the canopy. Sillett told her to go up the
tree with ropes-he showed her how. She shows Sillett some mettle by
not complaining about an injury to her hand. Her father dies. Her
work refined Dennison’s work in that she understood that under
different conditions lichen give off different amounts of nitrogen.
Taylor started to explore with a guy named Atkins. Atkins started measuring the growth of redwoods and realized that they were growing
faster than they ever had. Why? Atkins finds the world’s tallest
tree and names it Stratosphere. It comes in at 368’. Sillett and
Antoine are doing a dance about their relationship, unsure where it
is going. Antoine breaks up with her boyfriend. She and Sillett climb
a redwood and have sex in it.
Tall
trees have a stratified environment where some things happen at
different levels
Windigo-an
Ojibwa legend.
Through
Antoine’s work, she shows that an old forest does not regrow just
because you have trees which appear to be growing large. Example is
the lichens may not full recover for another 500-800 years. So the
nitrogen will not be restored to the soils until then. Her desire was
to have an impact on science.
Antoine
is puzzled by the people who surround Sillett. They seem a bit odd
and wonders how they come to him. She wonders about herself as well.
How
can anybody who is in nature not have read
The Lord of the Rings?
Antoine had not and had to have names referencing it explained to
her.
Antoine
is having troubles remembering her mother.
Interesting
differences. Sillett gets to the ground and feels released and
relaxed. Antoine now feels conflicted.
Antoine
questions the nature of love she has for her boyfriend. Also the
relationship with Sillett. She felt that even though there was
nothing physically romantic between the two, when they were in the
trees with ropes that it felt they were in some sort of form making
love through their actions. When her boyfriend did not pay attention
to her excitement of being in the redwoods, she knew it was time to
leave.
Newfound
World
Antoine
and Sillet start to live together. She starts to go to the next level
of tree climbing. They and a team worked on building a model of the
Atlas Grove-a large undertaking. One tree called Iluvatars is the
most complex living organism known with 220 trunks. The study included
all living matter they could find, even with a type of aquatic life
at the top of trees. Preston describes the system of the tree’s
ecology. He talks about how redwoods reproduce and the animal life
found in the trees. Sillett and Antoine marry. They wanted to be
married in the trees. Problem finding a person who could do the
ceremony.
Redwoods
are like snowflakes-no two the same. But with fractals a good model
can be made.
That
a redwood seems to be growing slowly is merely an illusion of human
time.
Red
Tree Vole
found living in the top of some redwoods-before known only in Douglas
firs.
Redwood
trees are both male and female. The sperm is held in particles inside
of pollen. The seeds are the female part within the cones.
Part
5
The
Garbage
Tree
climbing with Sillett becomes personal for Preston. Preston had come
to Arcata to write a story about Sillett and tree climbers for the
New
Yorker.
No locations were to be printed so that the trees were not to be disturbed.
The
Fire Caves of Adventure
Preston
will do a climb with Sillitt and Antoine to a tree called Adventure.
It has caves where fire has burnt out the inside of it. Preston describes his climb and the feelings of detaching from the main line
and going the final distance to the top with his own spider rope.
Preston
observes that
in order to see a giant tree you need a magnifying glass.
This is in particular the lichens and small animal life.
Antoine
feels like she has a one-to-one relationship with a tree she is
climbing. She feels she can learn the answer to questions about tall
trees by doing this. When asked, why is this important, she answers
that when the forests are in trouble, we may be able to help. She
also feels it is mutual.That as
long as we still have these tree, there’s hope for us.
Beyond
the Redwoods
Preston
teaches his children how to tree climb and one gets certified. The
family goes to Scotland and tree climbs there as well. Preston notes
that it seems like the upper parts of the trees had certain
similarities to those in the redwoods. There is some specialized
equipment such as a grappling hook to snag rope and fishing reels to
reeling lines. Money is an issue for redwood research. Over 10
years, Sillett has spent less than $500,000. He secures a $780,000 to
study tall trees. Preston volunteers to be a tree climber.
Preston
notes that even in calm air, trees are in motion.
Skeleton
Forest
In
Australia to study tall trees there-eucalyptus. This study includes
redwoods and douglas firs as well to find out what trees are
naturally the tallest.Encounters with leeches.
Web
site run by Michael Taylor-I could not find it and he may have
stopped using the website..
Sillett:
One
trick for getting an arrow correctly through a tree is to be
extremely stubborn.
That could be said about a lot of things.
Leeches
seemed to be everywhere (Australia). Sillett notes that there is
something sinister about leeches. These leeches do not need to be in
water. Sillett makes sure he is leech free before going up in the
tree.
One
scientist noted that all of the eucalyptus trees in that forest where
they are climbing are the same age. They started 60 years before
James Cook found the place. Probably started after a fire. You wonder
what the current fires will bring 300 years from now.
Journey
to Kronos
Kronos
had a broken off top which made climbing it dangerous-the top had not
fallen yet. But there was damaged scientific equipment still in the
tree. Sillett wanted to recover it to restore the tree back to its
natural state. A lot of the description of the climb. These tree had
meaning for Sillett. He probably would not be able to climb them
again since they were starting to rotten out.
Sillett:
There’s
always a moment during a climb when you lose yourself. You don’t
have a name anymore. When you find yourself in a place in nature
where if you make a mistake you will die, you become open to what’s
around you. You start feeling the limits of your perceptions as a
human being. You perceive time more clearly in redwoods and you see
time’s illusory qualities.
There
is a discussion about is a tree an individual. That can be a source
of legalness, such as can a river be an entity. Then it has rights
and should be respected.
I
am including this long quote because it seems to be the heart of
another book called Overstory.
It’s
[a
redwood]
a being. It’s a person, from a plant’s point of view. A tree is
not conscious, the way we are, but it has a perfect memory. This is
because the trunk continually records everything that happens to it
as it grows.
Sillett
points out that a redwood can be severely damaged and still keep on
living and actually grows more beautiful. What does that teach us
about living?
Michael
Taylor’s Dream
According
to Mario
D Varden,
this chapter was added in after the book had gone to press. Varden
also notes that Once the story was written, Preston has not been
back, nor has climbed a tall tree.
Taylor
had a reoccurring dream of finding the world’s tallest tree. He and
Atkins went into “Fog Canyon”-a fictional name and found three of
the tallest trees.They named them Hyperion, Helios and Icarus.
Taylor
says that he has found the secret of making dreams come true: don’t
stop
Who
is Pat Grediagin? Chief Ranger in Redwood.
A
Note on Tree Climbing
A
warning that in order to climb tall trees you need the right
equipment, knowledge and practice.
Evaluation:
The
Wild Trees
is a book to read to gain understanding of so many things on so many
levels. Things like why old forests are close to irreplaceable and
why they should be kept, how tall trees are discovered and why the
locations are kept secret, and many other things.
Preston’s
writing is clear and engaging. As one person said he may hype a story
a bit, but what he writes is true. For that matter, it is well worth
the read. You will not count the time wasted.
Notes from my book group:
When
Sillett is talking with his professor at Reed College, he said that
he knew what risks he was taking and that the risks were reasonable.
Define what is a reasonable risk. In what context is risk reasonable?
Do you think Sillett took a reasonable risk in climbing Nameless? Did
he have an alternative to climbing Nameless that day?
Why
look for the tallest or biggest trees? What drives people like Taylor
and Sillett to find these, even at the risk of their own safety? Do
all driven people have that singleness of focus? If not how come some
of them have it and some do not?
Jim
Taylor was worried about his son Michael. Do you think that Jim
Taylor had a valid concern? Would you be worried if he was your son?
How would you have directed Michael into something which he was
interested in and still met your standards? Or should you?
When
confronted by his wife about the place Marie Antoine was taking,
Steve Sillett responds that it was only physical. What do you think
of that answer? Can a deep physical attraction be only physical? What
do you think was running through Sillett’s head? Was he true in his
thinking or hiding?
Atkins
started measuring how much growth was going on in redwood trees. He
realized that they were growing faster than normal. How is this
explained? Why do you think this was occurring? Statistical anomaly?
Climate change? Natural variation of earth cycles?
Many
of the people in this book are not professional biologists. How do
these amateurs make contributions to the knowledge of the science?
Are they normal people? If not, in what ways are they abnormal? If
they are normal, in what ways can normal people like us contribute to
expanding human knowledge?
Preston
makes a comment about Marie Antonie’s mother giving the gift of
memory of her to Marie. This was when she was four years old. Later,
she had troubles remembering her mother. What is the earliest memory
you have?
Preston observes that in
order to see a giant tree you need a magnifying glass.
How so? What have you learned about the life which goes on on top of,
in and around a tall tree?
Sillett
talks about that a tree is a
being. It’s a ‘person’.
This is from a plant’s point of view. He does not think it has
consciousness. Is he right? If so, what is the consequence of this?
Sillett
points out that a redwood can be severely damaged and still keep on
living and actually grows more beautiful. What does that teach us
about living?
Many
of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
- Why the title of The Wild Trees?
- How does this story work ?
- Did the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?
- Which character was the most want to succeed?
- Which character did you identify with?
- Which one did you dislike?
- Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
- In what context was religion talked about in this book?
- Why do you think the author wrote this book?
- What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
- What “take aways” did you have from this book?
- What central ideas does the author present?
- Are they personal, sociological, global, political, economic, spiritual, medical, or scientific
- How did this book affect your view of the world?
- Of how God is viewed?
- What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
- Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
- What was memorable?
New Words:
- There are many new and techincal words in this book. Fortunately Preston has included a glossary of terms to help with these words.
- Leader-the top of a tree which finds its way to the sun.
- Epiphyte-growth of plantlife which is not ground based, such as lichens. Aerial plants
- misanthropy-a dislike of humankind.
- Branchwalking-hanging from a rope while walking lightly on a branch
- bat hang-suspended from a rope, being able to manuever in all directions, even upside down
- skywalking-the mechanism which allows a tree climbing to manuever in whatever direction so desired
- headache-something is falling
- clear-the incident no longer is in action
- cratering-when a climber falls, usually to their death
- The Simmarillion by JRR Tolkein
- Unfinished Tales by JRR Tolkein
- The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant byu Stephen R. Donaldson
- Watership Down by Richard Adams
- Metaphysics by Aristole
- Forest Giants of the Pacific Coast by Robert Van Pelt
- Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolein
- Illiad by Homer
- Paradise Lost by John Milton
- Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
- The Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson
Good Quotes:
- First Line: Botanists have a tradition of never revealing the exact location of a rare plant.
- Last Line: Tree climbing instruction is available through several organizations.
- Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder
- He was a man who could find beauty in the small hidden places that still existed on earth, the lost places that nobody had ever known. Chp Into the Groves of the Sunday
- That a redwood seems to be growing slowly is merely an illusion of human time. Chp Newfound World
- In order to see a giant tree you need a magnifying glass. Chp The Fire Caves of Adventure
- As long as we still have these tree, there’s hope for us. Chp The Fire Caves of Adventure, from Marie Antoine
- The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve. The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences by Eugene Wigner
- Epigraph
- Author’s Note
- Of Botanists and Trees
- Part 1
- Nameless
- The Kingdom
- Island in the Lake
- The Start of the Hunt
- Unexplored
- Rumors of a Lost Continent
- The Naming
- White Pines
- The Grocery Clerk
- Into the Groves of the Sunday
- The Skywalkers
- Part 2
- Headache
- Crater
- Ninja Ascent
- Detonation Zone
- Part 3
- The Threads
- Whipper
- Cathedrals in the Rain
- Tears
- Part 4
- The Lost Valley
- Windigo
- Newfound World
- Part 5
- The Garbage
- The Fire Caves of Adventure
- Beyond the Redwoods
- Skeleton Forest
- Journey to Kronos
- Michael Taylor’s Dream
- A Note on Tree Climbing
References:
- Publisher's Web Site for Book
- Author's Web Site
- Wikipedia-Book
- Wikipedia-Author
- Amazon-Book
- Amazon-Author
- GoodReads-Book
- GoodReads-Author
- New York Times Review
- Kirkus Review
- TED Talk: Richard Preston: Climbing the world's biggest trees, Dec 3, 2008
- Mario D Varden’s review-he has a web site on redwoods
- Stephen C. Sillett:
- Mario Varden’s page
- YouTube has several videos on or by him
- Marie Antoine
- Michael Taylor
- Mario Varden’s page
