I love this story! It's consistent with everything I learned interviewing Marwood Harris ... Marwood actually told me a much briefer version of the story, if I remember correctly i.e., that he got scared sh**less one day during a freeclimb with Steve, and got paralyzed. When I was in Portland last week I gave a talk at Powell's Bookstore, and retired Reed botany professor Bert Brehm showed up--the professor who warned Steve that Marwood or somebody could die climbing redwoods with him, and then got all interested in Steve's lichens collected in the top of a redwood. Anyway... cool story.

Originally posted by gnarl
I love this story! It's consistent with everything I learned interviewing Marwood Harris ... Marwood actually told me a much briefer version of the story, if I remember correctly i.e., that he got scared sh**less one day during a freeclimb with Steve, and got paralyzed. When I was in Portland last week I gave a talk at Powell's Bookstore, and retired Reed botany professor Bert Brehm showed up--the professor who warned Steve that Marwood or somebody could die climbing redwoods with him, and then got all interested in Steve's lichens collected in the top of a redwood. Anyway... cool story.

Did Marty tell you why he freaked out in that tree? Heh. Obviously, he has a reckless streak. He once reached under a running lawnmower to remove some wet grass, and so also removed the last digit of one of his fingers. He also sounds a bit like Kermit the Frog. Good ol' Marwood.

[PaulHarvey]And now you know ... the rest of the story.[/PaulHarvey]

Yeah, I got the idea. Re some of the above postings: It was really pleasant meeting you Nick in LA. Nice photo -- well, you're better looking than I am ... Ponderosa Harv Teitelbaum took me up his "Gramps" ponderosa in Denver last week. There was snow on the ground but the air was warm. Climbing a tree with Harv was a whole lot nicer than schlepping around doing media interviews. Thanks Harv!
Cheers, Gnarl (Richard Preston)

Hey, one other thought -- Moss got a real compliment from Janet Maslin, the notoriously tough and picky New York Times book reviewer. She obviously liked his drawings in The Wild Trees. She said that Andrew Joslin’s (Moss’s) “plain line drawings of redwood structure are astonishing.”
That doesn’t happen every day with Janet Maslin.
--cheers, Richard

Originally posted by gnarl
Yeah, I got the idea. Re some of the above postings: It was really pleasant meeting you Nick in LA.

I can be a real dolt sometimes. Sometimes I don't read posts quite as closely as I could/should. I was reading this "gnarl" guy's posts, and I couldn't quite figure out who he was. Then I wondered why he has ALSO interviewed Michael Taylor...then he said he met ME....and now I was totally confused.

Then today I was finishing up The Wild Trees and I got to page 276 where Preston mentions "a lump of bloated gnarl as big as a sofa." Richard, this is NO COMMENTARY ABOUT YOU....but that was the moment when it hit me.... Gnarl = Richard Preston.

It was a pleasure to meet you, too. Perhaps we'll meet again in the future. Maybe at the Rendezvous?!?!?!?!?

Oh, I have a question for you about something in the book....I'll send you a U2U.

love
nick, who is on page 278 of the book.

Did anyone catch Richard on The Colbert Report last night? Enviro-porn! Dude, check out the lobaria on that one ...