Valet Reader

The Wild Trees by Richard Preston

Compelling in an “I don’t know why this book was written kind of way.”

Whenever I attempt to answer questions regarding what this book is about the first response/question back to me is  ”So… is it about those environmental radicals (or hippies) who climb trees and live in them to protest something?” I can’t fault that response, I mean what else would there be to write about when it comes to trees and people climbing them.

Well, clearly Richard Preston decided that there was more to trees than radicals and hippies. Basically  here is a story, of sorts, about pursuing the largest living organism on the planet which just so happens to be a tree, climbing those trees and studying those trees. Living so close to the California Redwoods (and not having seen them since I was 15) I thought it would be a good read and I would learn some things about trees that I never would have learned otherwise. I guess I got a bit ahead of myself.

In reality all I learned is that the author obscured the locations of all these trees so that scrubs like me and you could never find them, scared me from climbing another one and taught me that a tree has a crown. Pretty exciting stuff. I have come to the conclusion that so long as a book is promoted well it will sell and once it sells it can claim to be a “New York Times Bestseller” and then eager beavers like me will see it at the bookstore and purchase the book regardless of how good it may be. My new strategy will be to buy books  before they become tainted with praise from a newspaper reviewer or Oprah. Honestly, that won’t really happen, I’ll still read those books. Nevertheless, I’m pretty surprised that this book has had such a tremendous readership.  

It’d be pretty hard for me to recommend this book to anyone. If you’re into botany and trees I’m sure it’s up your alley and I’m sure I know some people that fit that description. Yet, I still don’t know if I would buy them this book as a gift. If you’re hoping for a really good, exciting, true story of adventure in a tree canopy thirty stories from the forest floor  this isn’t  the book for you.