The Man who Climbs Trees is an interesting look at the life of tree-climber James Aldred who has worked for the BBC, climbing trees in forests throughout the world.

I enjoyed the book a lot more than I initially thought I would; it’s very well written with beautiful imagery and interesting stories. Although his words do a good job of firing up your imagination, I was a little disappointed that there are no pictures which would have been good to look at, even on my black and white kindle. A few photos per chapter of the trees, views and wildlife for example would have really helped to bring the book to life, particularly as most of James’ jobs were as a photographer! I was expecting to have a lot of images at the end of the book instead of interspersed throughout but to have nothing at all was quite disappointing.

There is a little bit of embellishment on a few stories that I thought could have been done without – in particular setting the scene of the men in the 1800s planting a few of the great trees just felt very unrealistic and out of keeping with the rest of the book. A warning that a few of the more interesting stories are a little gruesome – for example, the maggots and the bees! A few of the stories aren’t quite as interesting and more about climbing a specific tree where I thought having pictures would have helped. It’s very easy to section the story off and read it in chunks if you prefer as well though. It opens you up to a whole new industry and gives a sad perspective on the future of these great forests which are being destroyed by either climate change or human industries.

Overall The Man who Climbs Trees is an interesting read – it just could have benefitted from some visual aids to accompany it. Thank you to NetGalley, James Aldred and Penguin Random House – Ebury Publishing for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was amazing. I work in the TV industry and have always been incredibly interested in nature documentaries.

Aldred opens a window that we rarely get to see in this book and shares a few interesting secrets with us (I'm not going to tell you, you'll have to buy and read it yourself!).

A really good book where the trees are the stars, although I could have done with less of the full and frank medical detail!

Full review on my blog linked below

https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/james-aldred-the-man-who-climbs-trees/

This starts off really interesting with the author explaining how he got into climbing trees.
Unfortunately there are only so many times you can read about how to climb trees before it becomes repetitive.
I just lost interest.

The Enchantment of Trees

I was entranced from the first page of the Prologue and by the time I had read that and the Introduction, my abiding thought was ‘Oh boy, am I going to LOVE reading this book’! The author’s love affair with trees begins when he is 13 and in the branches of an oak tree in the New Forest. It deepens with every tree he climbs.

From the New Forest to the eucalypts of Australia, the massive Atlas Cedars of Morocco and the rainforest giants of Borneo and the Amazon, his idea of total joy is to spend time 200 feet up watching the passing show. I can only gasp in awe as I am acrophobic and can’t even wear high heels! He is fortunate in that he has been able to turn his passion into a very successful career helping to film documentaries for the BBC (and others). Amongst the many highlights (of varying degrees of scariness!) is the occasion when he was responsible for the safety of Sir David Attenborough in Costa Rica as he was hauled 150 feet up into the tree canopy, and from a similar tree nearby, sending a twenty-kilo camera towards him at thirty miles per hour down a 300- foot- long cable ...

The chapters read like a thriller and each relates the story of his involvement with a particular tree. In an almost mystical way, he is at one with every tree he climbs: “The Ironwood was a joy to climb, radiating nothing but good vibes the entire time I was up there.” I am a tree hugger with an enormous respect and love for all trees growing in their natural environment, and I feel a total empathy with the author as his passion shines through, not only for the trees themselves and for the self-sustaining ecosystems they support, but also for the habitats that surround them and for their myriad inhabitants.

While climbing in the rainforests and quite apart from having to deal with the often unfriendly and unpleasant weather conditions, there were many close encounters of the scary kind – coming face to face with bad-tempered chimpanzee males while on a small canopy platform 150 feet up in the Congo, being chased by an enraged male forest elephant in musth “emitting a gut-twisting primordial scream”, meeting prowling leopards in the dead of night, close shaves with snakes, being stung by a swarm of African honeybees while hanging from a rope 70 feet up, being pestered by sweat flies and all kinds of biting and stinging insects, being infested with bot fly maggots (you don’t want to know!) and contracting cerebral malaria. Amongst others!

Perhaps his worst experience was being mobbed by a pair of Harpy Eagles guarding their nest high up a tree in Venezuela. Harpies can weigh up to 10kg (22 lb.) with a wingspan of up to 224cm (7 ft. 4”), and with wicked claws up to 13cm (5.1” long). They are amongst the biggest and most powerful raptors in the world. Being a professional tree climber is definitely not for the faint-hearted!

He climbs with ease and fluidity but with total love and respect for the trees he climbs and with an awareness of the many dangers associated with such a high-risk pastime. He feels empathy with the natural world and is in awe of its complexity, always seeing it as an integrated whole. To him, total joy was to spend a night in the canopy of a big tree, alone and far from so-called civilisation and sleeping in a hammock rigged between the branches. He saw the magic of the forests, and describes it in an almost lyrical way - for instance, when reaching the topmost canopy of a tall tree, he wrote: “I laughed out loud with spontaneous pleasure at the view that greeted me”. I read and re-read his descriptions of many such food-for-the-soul spiritual moments.

I am devastated to have come to the end of this amazing book. I just wanted it to go on and on. Thank you, Breakaway Reviewers, for giving me the opportunity of reviewing it. James Aldred, I’d love to meet you one day! Please write a sequel!

Bennie Bookworm

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Like most boys I once found the joy of climbing trees and came to realise the importance they play in our lives. This book can only be described as a love story about the arboreal canopy, written by a man who still retains the excitement we had as youngsters when we shinned up a tree. Beautifully descriptive taking you with it up to the highest branches. Recommended.

The Man Who Climbs Trees or as I like to call it "How much does nature hate James Aldred?" Two things blew my mind in this book, the scale of some of these trees and how many times James came close to being killed by wildlife. The scene with the bees was stunning, how he got out of that situation shows just how tough he was. I once got stung on the foot by a bee and was limping for ages, not sure how I would handle a swarm attacking me whilst dangling in a tree.

I loved how the book is laid out, you're thrown right into a scene with James' first desperate climb to safety and you see something click in his head and the obsession begins. Him climbing trees must be destiny as he meets the right people and gets the start in a wonderful career rigging ropes into trees for documentaries, eventually recording video too.

The writing is very good, James' love of trees really comes across with each tree he picks to climb, the book is essentially tree after tree but somehow each tree's personality is captured and this keeps your interest going. One thing the book is missing is photo's I read it on the kindle and there were none, I found his website which has some interesting stuff and makes a great addition to the reading experience.

A really exciting nature read.

Wow! What a book. James Aldred’s love for trees oozes out of the pages. Absolutely fascintating, absorbing and at times extremely toe curling. A brilliant read and one I won’t forget. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to review it, I will most definitely recommend it to others,