A Story of Passion and Daring with the World's Last True Explorers

The Wild Trees

'The most inspiring true life adventure I have read for years'  David Bellamy

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

Impressive &hellip; these amateurs were taking their lives into their hands every time

Invokes the spirit of Darwin, Audubon and Jacques Cousteau

In writing and researching The Wild Trees Richard Preston mastered the complex techniques of climbing wild trees himself, techniques that are known by only 20 people in the world. In September 2006 he made the first ascent and measurement of the newly-discovered world&rsquo;s tallest tree, Hyperion, in a rain-forest valley in Northern California. He has also climbed in the tallest forest canopy in Australia, the so-called &ldquo;Skeleton Forest&rdquo; on the Hume Plateau, Victoria, and in Scotland. He also climbs with his children, wife and parents in the trees near their home. His goal is to reveal people and realms that nobody has ever imagined. 
 
Richard Preston, as well as climbing trees, is the bestselling author of The Hot Zone, The Demon in the Freezer and the novel The Cobra Event. A writer for the New Yorker since 1985, Preston is the only non-doctor to have received the Centers for Disease Control's Champion of Prevention Award. He also holds an award from the American Institute of Physics and there is an asteroid the size of lower Manhattan named in his honour.

When Steve Sillett was 19 years old, he free-climbed &ndash; with no safety equipment and no training &ndash; 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&rsquo;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&rsquo;s last great explorers.

Richard Preston

One of the most terrifying books I've ever read. Move over Stephen King and Michael Crichton - this really happened, within sight of the Washington Monument. And sooner or later it will happen again

Reads like a nightmarish Stephen King thriller...It will keep you awake at night because you know that this is not a figment of the author's imagination

A nightmarish scenario...dramatic...frightening

The spookiest story of 1994...A terrifying premonition of what might come out of the woods

The first chapter of The Hot Zone is one of the most horrifying things I've read in my entire life...And then it gets worse. What a remarkable piece of work. I devoured it in two or three sittings and have a feeling the memories will linger a long time

The Chilling True Story of an Ebola Outbreak

COMING TO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ON 27 MAY 2019 
_________ 
 
In March 2014, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was first reported. By October 2014, it had become the largest and deadliest occurrence of the disease. 
 
 Over 4,500 people have died. Almost 10,000 cases have been reported, across Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and the United States. 
 
 Impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone is the terrifying, true-life account of when this highly infectious virus spread from the rainforests of Africa to the suburbs of Washington, D.C in 1989. A secret SWAT team of soldiers and scientists were quickly tasked with halting the outbreak. And they did. But now, that very same virus is back. And we could be just one wrong move away from a pandemic.

Richard Preston

Praise for The Hot Zone

One of the most terrifying books I've ever read. Move over Stephen King and Michael Crichton - this really happened, within sight of the Washington Monument. And sooner or later it will happen again

Reads like a nightmarish Stephen King thriller...It will keep you awake at night because you know that this is not a figment of the author's imagination

A nightmarish scenario...dramatic...frightening

One of the most terrifying books I've ever read. Move over Stephen King and Michael Crichton - this really happened, within sight of the Washington Monument. And sooner or later it will happen again

Reads like a nightmarish Stephen King thriller...It will keep you awake at night because you know that this is not a figment of the author's imagination

A nightmarish scenario...dramatic...frightening

One of the most terrifying books I've ever read. Move over Stephen King and Michael Crichton - this really happened, within sight of the Washington Monument. And sooner or later it will happen again

Reads like a nightmarish Stephen King thriller...It will keep you awake at night because you know that this is not a figment of the author's imagination

A nightmarish scenario...dramatic...frightening

Books by Richard Preston

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