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Meet the man who climbs trees for a living.? In this adventure memoir, Aldred carries us with him across the globe and up to the top of these towering forest titans as he recalls his most memorable encounters with trees and their inhabitants.?
Every child knows the allure of climbing trees. But how many of us get to make a living at it, spending days observing nature from the canopies of stunning forests all around the world?
As a wildlife cameraman for the BBC and National Geographic, James Aldred spends his working life high up in trees, poised to capture key moments in the lives of wild animals and birds. Aldred's climbs take him to the most incredible and majestic trees in existence. In Borneo, home to the tallest tropical rain forest on the planet, just getting a rope up into the 250-foot-tall trees is a challenge. In Venezuela, even body armor isn't guaranteed protection against the razor-sharp talons of a nesting Harpy Eagle. In Australia, the peace of being lulled to sleep in a hammock twenty-five stories above the ground— after a grueling day of climbing and filming—is broken by a midnight storm that threatens to topple the tree.
In this vivid account of memorable trees he has climbed ("Goliath," "Apollo," "Roaring Meg"), Aldred blends incredible stories of his adventures in the branches with a fascination for the majesty of trees to show us the joy of rising—literally—above the daily grind, up into the canopy of the forest.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 22, 2018 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781328473530
- File size: 22594 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781328473530
- File size: 23696 KB
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Accessibility
Publisher statement (EPUB)
The publisher provides the following statement about the accessibility of the EPUB file supplied to OverDrive. Experiences may vary across reading systems. After borrowing the book, you may download the EPUB files to read in another reading system.
Ways Of Reading
No information about appearance modifiability is available.
Not all of the content will be readable as read aloud speech or dynamic braille.
Conformance
No information is available.
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Kirkus
April 1, 2018
An expert tree-climber and wildlife cameraman introduces readers to a handful of his favorite trees and related adventures.Aldred has vast filming experience with National Geographic and other outfits, and his specialty is climbing massive trees to set up blinds or just get the shot that a particular scene demands. Here, the author highlights 10 serious climbs--from England to Borneo to the Congo to Costa Rica to Morocco to Peru--detailing the lengths he and his colleagues have gone to arrange for such shoots. Each chapter is a stand-alone story in its own right, with drama, shocks, grimy interludes, and unparalleled views. While Aldred is clearly obsessed with trees, he also respects them greatly and takes all the caution necessary to climb trees that sometimes reach more than 300 feet. The book wouldn't be complete without the author's facing plenty of physical and mental challenges, including cerebral malaria, maggots crawling under his skin, and trying to get a footing on the perfect, thorn-laden branch to get a photo of a harpy eagle nesting--as its mother attempts to poke at his eyes. Aldred does two things particularly well: He avoids being unnecessarily macho, and he pauses to commune with the trees and to appreciate their history and the sanctuary he finds in their sky-high branches. "Whether the soft shimmering glow of a beech canopy in springtime, or the vast sun-blasted canopy of a tropical giant," he writes, "each tree has a unique character, and it is the privileged feeling of getting to know them a little better--of physically connecting with them, if only for a short while--that draws me back into their branches time and time again." Truly connecting with these behemoths might mean encounters with dangerous creatures or the pleasure of admiring a gorgeous poison-dart frog carrying its tadpoles on its back "high up into the canopy to deposit them within water-filled bromeliads."An addictive book for nature lovers.COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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Library Journal
May 1, 2018
Wildlife cameraman and experienced tree climber Aldred presents a memoir detailing his lifelong devotion to the wonders of trees and the animals that live in the forest canopy. Aldred's expertise in rigging climbing ropes and capturing footage atop giant trees allows him access to a rich and hidden natural world. Describing his many intense adventures working on documentaries in rainforests and jungles around the world, Aldred provides a view of both the hardships and joys of capturing the beauty of rare flora and fauna while dangling from ropes at precarious heights. Buoyed by his deep appreciation for wild creatures and the natural landscape, Aldred faces charging elephants, swarms of biting insects, malaria, and the ever-present risk of falling. While some sections are engaging and dramatic, this memoir also includes long descriptions of various tree climbs, which can become repetitive. VERDICT Aldred's life story will interest aspiring tree climbers, wildlife documentarians, natural history aficionados, or armchair adventurers interested in the challenges of filming nature programs such as Planet Earth.--Ingrid Levin, Salve Regina Univ. Lib., Newport, RI
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Formats
- Kindle Book
- OverDrive Read
- EPUB ebook
subjects
Languages
- English
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