What Book Are You Reading Now?

[hjmick]

The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston

From Publishers Weekly:
Reviewed by John Vaillant

In this radical departure from Preston's bestsellers on catastrophic diseases (The Demon in the Freezer, etc.), he journeys into the perpendicular universe of the world's tallest trees. Mostly California redwoods, they are the colossal remnants of a lost world, some predating the fall of Rome. Suspended in their crowns, hundreds of feet above the forest floor, is a primeval kingdom of plants and animals that only a handful of people have ever seen. Now, thanks to Preston and a custom-made tree-climbing apparatus called a "spider rig," we get to see it, too.

According to Preston, it wasn't until the 1980s that humans made the first forays into the tops of "supertall" trees, in excess of 350 feet high. The people who pioneered their exploration are a rarefied bunch—equal parts acrobat, adventurer and scientist. The book revolves around botanist Steve Sillett, an exceptional athlete with a tormented soul who found his calling while making a borderline suicidal "free" climb to the top of an enormous redwood in 1987, where he discovered a world of startling complexity and richness. More than 30 stories above the ground, he found himself surrounded by a latticework of fused branches hung with gardens of ferns and trees bearing no relation to their host. In this Tolkienesque realm of sky and wind, lichens abound while voles and salamanders live and breed without awareness of the earth below. At almost the exact moment that Sillett was having his epiphany in the redwood canopy, Michael Taylor, the unfocused son of a wealthy real estate developer, had a revelation in another redwood forest 200 miles to the south. Taylor, who had a paralyzing fear of heights, decided to go in search of the world's tallest tree. Their obsessive quests led these young men into a potent friendship and the discovery of some of the most extraordinary creatures that have ever lived. Preston's tireless research, crystalline writing style and narrative gifts are well suited to the subject. Sillett, Taylor and their cohorts, who include a Canadian botanist named Marie Antoine, are fascinating, often deeply wounded characters. Their collective passion and intensity have illuminated one of the most vulnerable and poorly understood ecosystems on this continent. Preston adds a personal twist by mastering the arcane tree climber's art of "skywalking" and partnering with Sillett and Antoine on some of their most ambitious ascents. As impressive as this is, Preston's cameo appearance disrupts the flow of the main narrative and somewhat dilutes its considerable power.

From Booklist:

Preston's previous galvanizing best-sellers, including The Hot Zone (1994) and The Demon in the Freezer (2002), deal with catastrophic viruses and biological weapons. Here he turns to a more uplifting subject, the world's tallest trees. Writing with his signature clarity and drama, Preston profiles a trio of champions of the coast redwood, "the blue whales of the plant kingdom." Botanist Steve Sillett developed acrobatic techniques for reaching the crowns of redwoods more than 300 feet tall. There he discovered an unknown world, the teeming temperate forest canopy, which Preston describes as "coral reefs in the air." Maverick Michael Taylor has discovered redwood giants in nearly impenetrable wilderness areas. So important are his finds, the locations of these redwood groves, some 3,000 years old, are kept secret. Marie Antoine also answered the call of redwoods and married fellow scientist Sillett in an arboreal ceremony. As for Preston, not content to merely watch from the ground, he underwent tree-climbing training and has assisted Sillett and Antoine in their invaluable, gravity-defying work. Preston's hands-on perspective, suspenseful chronicling of the adventures of these vividly portrayed redwood experts, and glorious descriptions of the tall trees' splendor and ecological significance make for a transfixing read. - Donna Seaman

 

[akiboy]

Prey by Michael Crichton.

 

[Semper Fi]

Some questions:
What book are you reading now?
Do you read for education or entertainment? Both? Mostly one or the other?
How many books do you read per month?
How do you decide what to read? Does your reading concentrate on a particular subject?
Do your friends read very much?

1. My Men Are My Heroes by Nat Helms (about SgtMaj Brad Kasal)
2. Both. What I consider entertainment educates me, but entertainment is the factor that gets me to open the books up.
3. About .5 books per month. I don't read religiously, and I'm a pretty slow reader, and I tend to take a week break here and there.
4. About 90% of the books I read have something to do with the military, the other 10% is usually for school. An overwhelming majority of the military books I read center on leadership. I usually look at some books at the store and read Amazon reviews for them. Or they get recommended to me (by my brother).
5. They didn't, they do now after going to Barnes & Noble became a social event for us, heh heh.

 

[Annie]

Great Expectations by you know who. Going to make the students compare and contrast with A Christmas Carol.

 

[Semper Fi]

Great Expectations by you know who. Going to make the students compare and contrast with A Christmas Carol.

Typical teacher....couldn't you make class more fun and have them cut out snowflakes or something?

 

[Annie]

Typical teacher....couldn't you make class more fun and have them cut out snowflakes or something?

Slap you silly! You think that the kids should think I could be human? No way!

 

[Semper Fi]

Slap you silly! You think that the kids should think I could be human? No way!

As good students, they should. Remember the phrase "know thy enemy?"

 

[padisha emperor]

The Dosadi experiment, by Frank Herbert (father of DUNE).

A great novel, science fiction, political and philosophical reflexion, a real good book.

 

[midcan5]

"Our Modern Times, The New Nature of Capitalism in the Information Age," Daniel Cohen. Brilliant essay on the changing nature of work.

"Galatea 2.2," Richard Powers, a modern day computer Pygmalion.

What is your dangerous Idea? edited John Brockman, thinking about the unthinkable.

http://www.fullpolitics.com/viewthread.php?tid=27723

Finished first two since this was posted, both brilliant. Starting 'The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by CrackpotEconomics' by Jonathan Chait and 'Wittgenstein's Mistress' by David Markson.

Read for knowledge and enjoyment. Too much work today, only read a book or two a month but today I stop and start books and sometimes read through some on a topic that interests me. Just ordered 'The Persistence of Poverty: Why the Economics of the Well-Off Can't Help the Poor,' by Charles H. Karelis. One of those complex topics.

Friends? mostly for entertainment or history.

 

[Shogun]

Just finished Fight Club


Just started Contact

 

[roomy]

Just finished Fight Club


Just started Contact

Don't you mean you've just finished looking at the pictures in your 'ABC' book and you are about to start listening to 'Goldilocks and the 3 bears' as read by your mammy?

 

[Shogun]

Don't you mean you've just finished looking at the pictures in your 'ABC' book and you are about to start listening to 'Goldilocks and the 3 bears' as read by your mammy?

um, nope. That's not what i meant at all.


I guess you are going to follow me around this board and show me how much you wish you were me now?


I would ask what book you read last but I'm pretty sure no one wants to hear your notes on the abridged Nambla handbook.

 

[roomy]

um, nope. That's not what i meant at all.


I guess you are going to follow me around this board and show me how much you wish you were me now?


I would ask what book you read last but I'm pretty sure no one wants to hear your notes on the abridged Nambla handbook.

Too late with your comeback slowpoke, but look what you did, you almost copied me, you stayed loyal to the theme anyways

I couldn't help but notice you say you read books that are also movies, good call maestro, it might help if anyone wants to discuss them.Hahahahahha

 

[Shogun]

Too late with your comeback slowpoke, but look what you did, you almost copied me, you stayed loyal to the theme anyways

I couldn't help but notice you say you read books that are also movies, good call maestro, it might help if anyone wants to discuss them.Hahahahahha

Indeed, I don't guess it's a shocker that you don't understand how a literate individual might want to read a book to compare to it's movie. It's that kind of critical thinking that you missed out on after you ate all those fish and paint chips. Stick with the bedtime stories, lil guy. It's so rare that movies get made from books that anyone who now reads Beowulf should probably run from The Queen's scathing criticism!

HA!

I know I know... im sure you read War and Peace and A Tale of Two Cities in between homework time and when the ice cream man gets into the neighborhood.. I know..

 

[roomy]

Indeed, I don't guess it's a shocker that you don't understand how a literate individual might want to read a book to compare to it's movie. It's that kind of critical thinking that you missed out on after you ate all those fish and paint chips. Stick with the bedtime stories, lil guy. It's so rare that movies get made from books that anyone who now reads Beowulf should probably run from The Queen's scathing criticism!

HA!

I know I know... im sure you read War and Peace and A Tale of Two Cities in between homework time and when the ice cream man gets into the neighborhood.. I know..

I can understand how a literate individual might wish to make such comparisons, I lose the connection in your case

 

[Shogun]

I can understand how a literate individual might wish to make such comparisons, I lose the connection in your case

im sure you lose the connection in MOST cases.

But it sure is fun to watch you pretend that you comprehend at the same rate as everyone else in the class...

 

[roomy]

im sure you lose the connection in MOST cases.

But it sure is fun to watch you pretend that you comprehend at the same rate as everyone else in the class...

Numpty

 

[Adam's Apple]

A Woman in Charge by Carl Bernstein and Prince of Darkness by Robert Novak. These are both lengthy tomes, but well worth the time to read.

 

[maineman]

"On Mexican Time" by Tony Cohan

 

[hjmick]

Finished recently:

The Wild Trees by Richard Douglas

I Am Legend and Assorted Short Stories by Richard Matheson

The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Currently:

True Evil by Greg Iles