I wasn't surprised today when I found, while looking at something else, an email I had saved that linked me to this book and article.
The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring
Did I mention that Sillett, like many of the other men and women we meet in this book, suffers from acrophobia?
Preston takes the reader on a compelling journey into a world experienced only by a limited number of scientists and outdoorsmen (Preston himself included). The forest canopies of the earth hold roughly one half of all the species that exist in nature. Preston calls trees "the earth's secret ocean ... inhabited by many living things that don't even have names, and are vanishing before they have even been seen by human eyes." As a species, the modern redwood is believed to be 20 million to 50 million years old – in other words, perhaps as much as 80 times older than modern man. "Wild" trees (the kind that fascinate the seekers in this book) are trees that are believed never to have been climbed by man. No wonder this secret, dreamy world has the power to fascinate. Larry Sears
You can read the whole article here.
There is something compelling about a living idea that stays rooted, yet is free and wild, touched by the wind and sky, unconfined. Lessons for my life.
Karin
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