In this Tolkienesque realm of sky and wind, lichens abound while voles and salamanders live and breed without awareness of the earth below. 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. 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. The people who pioneered their exploration are a rarefied bunch-equal parts acrobat, adventurer and scientist. Now, thanks to Preston and a custom-made tree-climbing apparatus called a 'spider rig,' we get to see it, too.Īccording 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.

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. Mostly California redwoods, they are the colossal remnants of a lost world, some predating the fall of Rome. , etc.), he journeys into the perpendicular universe of the world's tallest trees.

In this radical departure from Preston's bestsellers on catastrophic diseases ( The Demon in the Freezer

Richard preston panic in level 4