The Wild Trees

Oct 4, 2024 5:11 PM

Author:Richard Preston

The Wild Trees

When Steve Sillett was 19 years old, he free-climbed – with no safety equipment and no training – one of the tallest trees on earth, in the redwood forests of Prairie Creek, California. 30 storeys above the ground he glimpsed an undiscovered ecosystem, and his passion for that astonishing world would transform the rest of his life. Over the next twenty years, Sillett and a close group of friends charted this system, discovering mosses and lichen never seen before, and travelling among branches so densely interwoven they form incredible sky-high walkways.

There are only twenty people on earth who have climbed the world’s tallest trees and who know their location. In writing The Wild Trees, Richard Preston not only managed to gain access to this group, but began to climb these hidden giants himself, putting his life in danger in order to understand the powerful connection between the massive trees and the world’s last great explorers.

Reviews

A fascinating adventure story

—— The Sunday Times

Combines the thrill of exploration with the quirkiness of those who chose it as their lives' work

—— The New York Times

Impressive … these amateurs were taking their lives into their hands every time

—— London Review of Books

Invokes the spirit of Darwin, Audubon and Jacques Cousteau

—— Washington Post

Heartbreaking...poingnant

—— Robert Philip , Daily Telegraph

One of the finest autobiographies to be written by a footballer... a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows, gain and loss, of loneliness, of fear, of self-loathing, and of guilt.

—— Birmingham Post

It is funny. It is sad. It is brilliant.

—— Hyder Jawad , Birmingham Post

The travails of Tony Adams, Paul Gascoigne and even George Best pale when compared with McGrath's horrors.

—— Paul Rowan , The Sunday Times

McGrath's book is voyeuristic and gruesome... sheds light on one of sport's last great taboos.

—— Rick Broadbent , The Times

Gripping [and] unflinching... His story is as complex as it is moving, as vulnerable as it is brutal.

—— Donald McRae , Guardian

Genuinely absorbing... harrowing and honest... his is a story truly worth telling.

—— Adam Marshall , Eurosport

Amid the basketful of bland post-World Cup books, McGrath's life story stands out a mile... Fascinating reading.

—— Evening Standard

The Republic of Ireland's most popular sportsman, still adored by fans of Manchester United and Villa.

—— BBC Sport

An all-too honest account of a playing career that just got better and better, despite threatening to go off the rails.

—— Sunday Mercury

An extraordinary book.

—— Irish Independent

Harrowing and brutally honest...a gripping story.

—— Derby Evening Telegraph

Brutally honest.

—— The Irish Post

Less a football autobiography, more repentant confessional.

—— Kevin Hughes , FreeSport

stunning

—— FourFourTwo

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