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The Wild Trees : A story of Passion and Daring By Richard Preston.

I have been a pretty big fan of Richard Preston’s work. Perhaps his best know work is The Hot Zone. He has also written The Demon in the Freezer, and The Cobra Event. I have read each of those titles and I really enjoyed all of them. So when I saw a new Preston book out, I figured that I should go ahead and read it.

The Wild Trees is a departure from the “Dark Biology” series that is The Hot Zone, Demon in the Freezer, etc. The Wild Trees is a story about tall trees and the people that are drawn to those trees. Giant Redwoods, Sequoia’s, Mountain Ash are among the largest living organisms on the planet. The only thing that is bigger is the Great Barrier Reef (which in my opinion should not really count as a single organism). These trees are so tall that you can not see the top of them most of the time, because they are shrouded in a mist, literally. One of the sad things this book brings to light, is that fact that these trees may not be around much longer. Much of the habitat that they live in is being, or has been destroyed.

The book is a story about the Trees themselves, but also about the people that study and devote their lives to understanding these trees. People like Steve Sillett, Michael Taylor and Marie Antoine. These people are just a few of the elite group that have dedicated themselves to learning more about these giant organisms. They have developed specialized gear that allows them to climb in these trees with out causing damage, they have developed a whole new set of methods allowing them to move among the crowns (think of the top part of a tree) of the trees with ease.

When this group finds a remarkable tree they give it a name, names that fit the massive stature of these trees. Some of the names include Telperion (tree of the moon), Elwing, El Viejo del Norte, Iluvatar, Rhea, etc. They discovered a large collection of these giant trees and named it Atlas Grove.

These trees are so huge that we really know very little about them, or the things that live in them. When climbing in these trees, above 200 feet it appears as if there is a whole new world up there. These trees are so massive, that in the crowns of the tree, are smaller trees growing on the giant trees. In fact there are bushes, and mosses and lichens all growing up in the crowns, things that have never seen the ground. Along with dust collected overtime and rotting wood, these canopy forests thrive.

Overall the book is a pretty good read. I did not like it quite as much as I liked the “Dark Biology” series that Mr. Preston has done before, none the less, it is worth your time to read.