Honors Book Review: Wild Trees #4

4.  The book’s structure & rhetorical strategies/style.

How is the book organized?  Which primary rhetorical mode does it employ, and does that mode serve the author’s purpose? How would you define the author’s style?  Which rhetorical choices does the author use often, and are they effective?  Address the author’s point of view (1st, 2nd or 3rd person) as well.

“Redwoods spew pollen from their male cones on sunny days in winter and early spring. One day in January, Marie Antoine was climbing in the Grove of Titans, near the top of the redwood named Sacajawea, and the tree began to feel spring in the air and threw off so much pollen that she began coughing and choking. The air was yellow from the tree's pollen. "Despite its name, Sacajawea seems to be more male than female," Antoine said.”

Chapter: Newfound World. Wild Trees By: Richard Preston, Page 215

Background: Steve Sillet is mapping Atlas Grove with a team of college students and friends. During this section of the story Marie Antoine, his wife, is talking about a redwood they have named Sacajawea. Steve Sillet has found a new ecosystem on the tops of redwoods and this chapter is covering the various plants and animals found in the canopy of the redwoods.

Commentary:

Wild Trees by Richard Preston is a narration story. Preston starts the book off with a new story dealing with the same topic every chapter but as the book goes along all the stories intertwine together to make one big story about the exploring the redwoods of northern California.

Preston writes in a narrative writing style. He connects multiple stories together in chronological order. Wild Trees is a nonfiction book that includes the tales of Michael Taylor, Steve Sillet and many more. Preston talks about a character's experience on the redwoods and then switches to another characters experience. He talks about how the characters climb trees, he goes into detail on how they climb trees along where they get their experience from. He also talks about the ecosystem surrounding the trees. He goes into great detail explaining the the troubles the characters face along with their discoveries. Preston also incorporated the characters personal life within the story about trees.

Prestons main rhetorical choices are definitions and amplification. Preston really likes to talk about one big subject and then continually narrow the subject down as the paragraph keeps going. And then the new paragraph will stay within the topic of the chapter but specify in a different way than the preceding sentence. For example, this chapter is about 3D mapping Atlas Grove and in every paragraph he talks about a new discovery he makes. in one paragraph he is talking about the tree Sacajawea and how its pollen is very noxious. In another paragraph he is talking about a salamander who has no lungs or gills but thrives within the canopy of the redwoods.

Wild Trees is written in third person, talking about a group of character as they explore their ways around the massive trunks of Northren California.

Mosquito Fish

Gambusia affinis
Mosquito Fish
1. The mosquito fish does not have any legs. 
2. The fish has a upturn mouth. 

3. The fish is light tan and brown. With a dark brown line cutting horizontally across the body. It has has dull grey fins. 
4. The fish does not have an antennae.
5. The fish has fins not wings. It has a dorsal fin and caudal fins.
6. There are no other characteristics of this fish. 

English Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia
English Lavender
1. The leaf is pale light green near the roots and darker green leaves near the top. 
2. The leaf shape is odd pinnate. 
3. The tip of the leaf is round. 
4. The edge of the leaf is crenate.
5. The widest point of the leaf is .5cm and the lenght of the leaf is 3cm. 6. The structure of the veins are unknown because the mini hairs obstruct the view of the veins. 
7. Yes, there is a petiole.
8. Is the lower side different than the upper?
The top is color of the leaf varies from the bottom. 
9. The surface of the leaf is soft. 

Honors Book Review: Wild Trees #3

3. The author’s persona, tone, and intended audience Which persona does the author adopt? How does the author manipulate tone to serve his/her purpose? Who is the intended audience for this book? How does the author tailor his/her argument to suit the intended audience?

“He was a man who could find beauty in the small, hidden places that still existed on earth, the lost places that nobody had ever noticed. Michael was the stubbornest person she had ever known. He bore a resemblance to the great explorers who had lived in the earlier ages, and had been convinced that there was something wonderful still to be found on the earth.”

Chapter: Into the Groves of the Sun. Wild Trees By: Richard Preston, Page 88.

Background:

Conni Metcalf, Michael Taylor’s girlfriend, is reflecting on who her boyfriend is. Conni is reflecting on his personality and why she is madly in love with him. She is also coming to a conclusion that she does not love Michael for the things she thought she loved about him but rather she loves the passion he has towards trees.

Commentary:

Richard Preston has been able to capture the life of  Michael Taylor. Preston is able to illustrate Michael's personal life along with his scientific life. Preston does a good job describing Michael’s world as if the reader were seeing it from Michael’s point of view. The reader is able to understand Michael’s thinking process through the words of Preston. Preston does a very good job in having the reader appreciate the same qualities of trees as Michael does. Also Preston is able to create the same sense of awe as Michael feels through powerful imagery. He is able to do this by describing the and listing facts on the redwoods trees. I believe that Preston has visited the park himself and in doing so he is able to recreate what he saw in the eyes of Michael. Richard Preston is able to personally relate to all the things Michael did during this time and because of that Preston is able to manipulate the audience to feel the same things he did. Preston has created a sense of wonder and mystery surrounding the redwoods and he has used this tone to engage the reader. He has been able to depict the world Michael saw.

I believe that the intended audience is a biologist who is interested in trees, specifically the redwoods of Northern California. I also believe that this book is meant to be read by a reader who enjoys reading about a world we have never discovered. I personally choose this book because I have visited the park and I want to learn more about it. I wanted to learn about the ecosystem along with the history of the park.

Preston has set up this book as two stories intertwined with each other. I believe in the end both stories will match up and become a one story based on a single love of the trees in Northern California.  

Woodland Skipper Butterfly

Ochlodes sylanoides
Woodland Skipper
1. 3 pairs of walking legs: 2 cursorial front legs, 2 cursorial side legs and 2 cursorial hind legs.
2. The woodland skipper has a siphoning mouthpart.
3. The woodland skppier are an overall orange color with brown borders. They have a green-like center and several patches of brown/black on wings. In the center the end has several black lines. 
4. The butterfly has capitate antennae.
5. This butterfly has a scaly wing type. 
6. There are no other characteristics of this butterfly. 

Honors Book Review: Wild Trees #2

1. The author’s credibility and background

Do you think this author has the authority or experience to speak about this issue?

What are the author's credentials? What might bias the author's argument?

“Humans are the only primates that do not spend time in trees. All other primates’ are arboreal or partially arboreal creatures. They live and move in the canopy forest…

Humans are the only primates I know of that have an inborn fear of heights. Other primates, when frighten, instinctively run up a tree, where they feel safe and at home.  Hominids who felt insecure in trees, more afraid of heights, and perhaps more willing (in their behavior) to move out across the open ground have a better chance of surviving and producing offspring. Open ground would have seemed as terrifying to many primates as heights do to humans.”

Chapter: Rumors of a Lost Continent. Wild Trees By: Richard Preston, Page 50.

Background:

Richard Preston is writing this book as Michael Taylor hikes his way around the redwoods of northern California.

Commentary:

            I believe Richard Preston has the experience to talk about this subject. Richard Preston was writing this book at the same time Michael Taylor was on his quest to find the tallest tree. Preston has took it upon himself to learn how to climb the redwoods before he wrote the book to give an accurate detail account on what goes through the mind of a climber while climbing the massive redwoods. He took this experience and climbed the tallest tree on Earth, Hyperion. He climbed this tree to build a since of life in his characters. Preston has also visited the Redwoods; because of this he is able to paint the picture of what it is like to see towering redwoods for the first time. I have personally visited the trees and I got the same vibe reading the account as I did when I saw it in person. 

            Preston took his first hand experience of exploring the redwoods and climbing Hyperion to build a perfect description of what it is like to be in Northern California and seeing the trees for yourself. He is able to build a vivid account on what it is alike to climb 300 feet tall tree. Preston has been able to cause the reader to have a gut wrenching while reading the book. He is able to portray what it is like watching your best friend and brother free climb a 300 foot tall tree with no harness. He is able to cause the reader a sense of panic and helplessness.

Preston graduated from Princeton with a Ph.D in English, writing his dissertation on nineteenth-century American narrative nonfiction writing. He also graduated from Pomona with a summa cum laude.

Preston’s stories might be biased because he is a eco-friendly, Because of this he might paint a negative picture of logging. But I do not believe that his stories are biased because he as immersed himself within the environment and has written first hand accounts of what eh saw.  

Honors Book Review: Wild Trees - Week 1

Entry 2: Thesis/Purpose

Quote:

“Steve became sensitive to the movement of time in a forest. Time has a different quality in a forest, a different kind of flow. Time moves in circles, and events linked, even if its not obvious that they are linked. Events in a forest occur with precision in the flow of tree time, the motions of an endless dance.”

Chapter Nameless: The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston, p. 11

Background:

In every single chapter Richard Preston writes about a different experience that people have with northern trees. In this chapter a trio of friends camp and explore an area of Northern California surrounded by giant redwood forest. Marlon, Steve and Scott ventured into Northern California to observe the Giant Redwood Forest. Steve is interested in the lichens of the forest while Scott is interested in the giant trees.

Commentary:

Throughout the first section of this book Scott and Steve along with their friend Marlon venture into Northern California to view the magnificence of the redwood trees. The thesis so far in this book is how the environment intertwines itself into the lives of many humans. My quote falls right in the middle of this chapter when Richard Preston flashes back to when Scott was young. Scott saw how time in the forest moves differently than time moves for humans. Scott also sees how time flows in a circle and how every event in the forest is directly linked to another. I have never felt the same way Scott felt within the forest. I did not see time flow in a circle but I could see how he did. Just sitting down and observing my surroundings I can see how one thing will directly affect another thing but i never saw it go in a circle. A tree falling and taking out a bush, which essentially destroying the home of a rabbit does not come in a circle. I see it is linear. But reading this chapter has opened me to try to see everything moving in a circle. I have never tried to see things in this light but by reading this chapter I am open to trying to see it that way. I do not have the luxury of sitting in a forest and trying to see how every event is linked in a circle but i will keep it in mind next time I am in a forest. And hopefully I am as amazed as Scott is with this life changing experience.