The Legacy of Luna by Julia Butterfly Hill

 I really enjoyed learning more about one of my favorite things in life: TREES!

I started this while Len and I were in Bigfork, Montana, and I was savoring every deep breath of PINE and loving being among the trees again. It was the perfect read for the flights back home!

Julia Hill recounts her journey to become involved in saving a particular old growth redwood tree, named LUNA. She's very naive, and passionate, and risks her life without very much background or knowledge of trees or the environmentalist movement. It reminded me of when I marched against the Viet Nam War knowing very little about any of it!

As Butterfly takes us along on her life in the upper reaches of Luna, we learn along with her about the various forces at work to destroy the forest. She is spurred on by her spiritual confirmation that she MUST save this tree, no matter what. As time goes on (she lives in the top of this tree for two years), she learns and grows and becomes even more committed to this particular tree. 

I enjoyed learning about her challenges--how to stay warm, how to survive in the storms, how to toilet, how to keep her mental health, and how to stay in a place of love when dealing with the loggers who were determined to oust her. Even though her view is definitely her view, and there's no redeeming words for the logging executives or the politicians involved, it's till worthwhile reading her story and her viewpoint, I think. I'm clearly on her side, but I'm cognizant that there is more to this fight than is presented here. 

Butterfly is a descriptive and good writer who was able to keep me turning the pages. I was also intrigued as she climbed around Luna barefoot, and felt the tree's strength. It was heartbreaking to read about her reaction to Luna's destruction. Since this book is twenty years old, I'm wondering what is going on with her and with Luna nowadays...

The Wild Trees by Richard Preston

I happened to be browsing around Barnes & Noble one hot day, and found this book on sale. I vaguely recalled reading reviews about it on Amazon years ago, and was intrigued. Since I was ready for a new read, I snapped it up. I've been reading my old journals instead of novels lately, and I was ready for some new material.

I really enjoyed this nonfiction book that is jam packed with scientific information--more than I will ever remember--and also fascinating stories of the people who have devoted their lives, careers, or time to discovering and climbing the world's tallest trees. The focus is on redwoods in northern California, and I had to think about my dad every time I picked it up to read! I wondered how many of these trees he had seen. He had a great love for redwoods and worked with Dr. Taylor, back in the day, to encourage their growth on the Archer Taylor Preserve, even before it was the Preserve.

I wondered how much of this information he already knew. I remember one really interesting hike I took with Jane, Ann, and Ludwig, where we found a grove in Redwood Creek that had interesting burls growing out of them. It took Jane awhile to find it, but she had been taken there by my dad and shared how thrilled he was to have found them. 

I found the descriptions of the climbing riveting! I literally held my breath when the climbers were foolhardy or careless. The author goes to great lengths to explain different climbing techniques, and those were fascinating too. I'd love to visit the canopy they describe! It's amazing that the canopy was so recently discovered and so little understood! It's heart-breaking to think about the amount of redwood groves that were thoughtlessly logged and destroyed. I'd really like to take a trip to see these remaining redwoods; I've never explored Humboldt County or the other sites described, but I'd like to. However, I will not be climbing! I wish there were a simpler way to visit the tops of these trees...

The redwood grove on the preserve feels like a sacred cathedral to me, and has always inspired awe in me. This book has interesting characters who the author describes very well. The author is also a climber, and I enjoyed reading about his experiences, too. I'm thinking about who else would enjoy this book when I pass it on...probably Jane is at the top of my list. Well worth the time, but not a keeper. 

The Overstory by Richard Powers

This came recommended by a California librarian that Alice Jane follows. I read her review, then others on Amazon and decided it was worth the risk to order. So glad I did. A book that totally flipped my lid...opened my view and changed it forever. It also made me want to get more into the science of trees and figure out how much of this author's interpretation of trees' power is accurate. And just to learn more.

And even though it's about trees, it's equally revealing about the people who defend them. Their stories are told up front, and at first I thought they were separate essays because they weren't connected. But as the book unfolds, these individual stories come together. They are told with such imagination and detail that you almost believe they are true. Colorful, unpredictable people with intimate details of their lives and thinking. It's so personal you realize it must be fiction because no one could know such diverse characters so intimately.

Maybe it's a sign of my declining cognitive abilities, but I had trouble connecting the later characters with their earlier stories. I kept getting two of them confused...I read at night when I'm sleepy, and this story was so good, I read when I should have been sleeping and I think I zoned out or couldn't keep them aligned. I am ready to begin again at the beginning and enjoy it all over again, keeping the characters straight. Because I know the end.

The vocabulary in this book is challenging. Second time through I will pause to look up more words, like "arhat." I believe it will be worth it. One of my favorite parts is Powers' description of the time two characters live in the top of a tree. It's an incredible description the makes me want to fly up to the treetops and experience it. So many wonderful descriptions of inner landscapes as well...these people are fascinating, passionate, and human.

I could easily see how they went "over the edge" into radical action. I want to be better as a result of what I learned here... like use less, want less, conserve more, recycle more carefully, pay my respects to trees more often.

I'm not sure I understood the ending. It gets rather dystopian and dark. I don't believe our future is dark, and I'm not sure that's what Powers is saying. Not sure who or what the "listeners" are. Or the world that Neelay, a computer programmer created...not sure what's going on there either. But I will take it on again and see if I can figure it out.

I'm proud of the times I have listened to trees, loved and appreciated trees, and tried to protect them. I'm remorseful about my paper usage, my wanton cutting of them in Cleghorn Canyon, and my ignorance. I will do better.

Here are some quotes that I highlighted:

Page 260 - "The tree runs straight up like a chimney butte and neglects to stop."

"She spreads her arms against the furrows. She's like a flea trying to hug its dog. Her face tilts straight up the titanic trunk. "I can't believe it. I can't believe there's no other way to protect this thing except with our bodies.""

Page 264 - They look together: high-wire surveyors of a newfound land. The view cracks open his chest. Cloud, mountain, World Tree, and mist--all the tangled, rich stability of creation that gave rise to words to begin with--leave him stupid and speechless. Reiterated trunks grow out of Mimas's main line, shooting up parallel like the fingers of a Buddha's upraised hand, recouping the mother tree on smaller scales, repeating the inborn shape again and again, their branches running into each other, too many and fused to trace."

Page 339 - "If people knew what went into making trees, they would be so, so thankful for the sacrifce. And thankful people don't need as much."

Page 443 - "You and the tree in your backyard come from a common ancestor. A billion and a half years ago, the two of you parted ways. But even now, after an immense journey in separate directions, that tree and you still share a quarter of your genes..."

Page 455 - "When you cut down a tree, what you make from it should be at least as miraculous as what you cut down."

Page 545 - "If we could see green, we'd see a thing that keeps getting more interesting the closer we get. If we could see what green was doing, we'd never be lonely or bored. If we could understand green, we'd learn how to grow all the food we need in layers three deep, on a third of the ground we need right now, with plants that protected one another from pests and stress. If we knew what green wanted, we wouldn't have to choose between the Earth's interests and ours. They'd be the same!"


June 2020
I just reread this book and like the ending better and stayed with the characters better. And it still fascinated me and taught me a lot. So glad I took it on again! And my favorite quote, that haunts me every time I rip a paper towel is this one:

Page 455 - "When you cut down a tree, what you make from it should be at least as miraculous as what you cut down."

The Wild Trees by Richard Preston

Both my dad and my sister Jane recommended this book to me. My dad is famous for his love of redwoods, and that's what this book is all about. It's one of the most engaging nonfiction, scientific books I have ever encountered. I also learned a lot about my home state of California. It was interesting to me that Reed College students figure prominently in this tale, which focuses not only on the redwoods, but also on the people who pioneered climbing them. The story of different climbimg methods and the world they discover up in the canopy is enthralling. There are also good illustrations that help clarify some of the descriptions.

I was also hoping to use this book to increase my knowledge and understanding of nature. There is so much to learn and so much applicability to LIFE! For instance, I know redwood roots are very shallow...but they are interconnected and entwined to help support each other. How long would it take you to come up with a metaphor for THAT!? The problem is, I read this book on a very long flight...and while it made the flight go very quickly, I was also tired, and didn't take notes or do as much focusing on the nature lessons as I should have. I will definitely have to give this a second read and glean more. It will be a pleasure!