Information about "life" in the tree canopy was very interesting and fascinating - up to a point. The descriptions about lichen and other plant life in the canopy contained too much detail for the average reader - I glossed over many of these parts. While the author did an admirable job of interleaving detailed scientific sections with stories about the people involved in exploring the trees so that the reader did not get too bored, I felt there were too many side characters (in addition to the main ones) that got introduced and I couldn't keep them straight. As a non-fiction book, this was one of the better ones I have read. As I mentioned, the subject matter was fascinating and educational and the author did a great job of adding elements of suspense at several times in the book as he described a number of dangerous incidents that occured during the climbing of the trees.

Our book club had a wonderful discussion about this book. We learned a lot about redwoods (who knew there was an entire forest in and of itself in the canopies of redwood trees?!). We learned a lot about trees. A lively discussion.

But, part of our discussion centered on how this book could have been improved with the main consensus being: it should have been shorter. Billed as "an adventure book", there was just too much technical information about the tree climbing apparatuses, too much detail about the lichen that lives in the trees, etc. We would have given this book higher marks had it been shorter.

In my view, this book read like an exciting novel. As a non-fiction book, it is also filled with scientific detail about rainforest canopies. I love to learn as I read and I found all of the subject matter both worthwhile and interesting. Although if a reader doesn't like too much scientific detail, it may seem a bit dragged out. Still the book is very informative and interesting. And the stories of the people involved are fascinating.