Not my idea of a quiet forest
928608
This was not what I was expecting.  If I had rated it after the first listen, I would have given it a 1 star.  I was extremely disappointed.  It does not evoke the sounds or feel of a quiet forest.  I spend a lot of time in quiet forests and this isn't it.  If anything, it brings to mind the soundtrack of a light romantic comedy film.  The reason I give it a 3 star instead of a 1 is because there are one or two tracks that do bring the feeling of nature, and one or two more that in their own right are pleasant music.  A quiet forest it is not.  Something with a more classical tone is what I was expecting.  This is more of a modern sound track CD
2024683
I live in remote bear country. I recently bought this book and enjoyed the photography and fascinating details of the bear's lifestyle.

Where it falls down is on conservation. From acceptance of official bear population figures (which are highly controversial in some areas) to naive support for bear hunters, to lack of understanding about the continued logging of bear habitat here on the BC coast, I was disappointed. The hunting lobby in Ontario has done everything possible to manufacture a bad image for the bear (in hope of increased hunting opportunities), employed disgraceful measures to lure bears out of parks to be killed, and used dodgy politics to undermine conservation of species like eastern wolves. They are not the conservationist's friend.

So, two stars. While I don't doubt Mr Taylor's skills at observing bears I think he needs more appreciation of what truly threatens them today.
848727
It's easy to see why The People in the Trees seems to have polarized readers.  The narrator, Norton Perina, isn't the type of person who inspires respect or affection, and the story sometimes seems either too slow or, at the end, too fast.  Based on the real-life story of Daniel C. Gajdusek, Perina, a young doctor, travels with an anthropologist, Paul Tallent, to a remote Micronesian country (the fictional U'ivu) to study a recently-discovered tribe of people.  Perina finds that these people are somehow living to a great age, and strives to find out how, only to realize that their longevity has a terrible price.

Perina publishes his findings and achieves fame, but the cost of his fame is pretty high in U'ivu - the complete destruction of an ancient society and the destruction of their land, which coincides with Perina's fall from grace, ending with his jail sentence.

This book has some similarities to Ann Patchett's State of Wonder, which I thought was a better book, although newcomer Hanya Yanagihara is no slouch as a writer.  I think she's a terrific storyteller and her imagined world of U'ivu is fascinating.  Her narrator is another matter - Perina is sort of a borderline sociopath/narrcicist who is irritating, pathetic and despicable by turns.  He's so emotionally absent that it boggles the mind to think of him as the adoptive father of over 40 of the abandoned U'ivu children, as he is at the end of the story.  He treats the children like his lab rats that he had as a student, and in other, more disturbing ways.  I don't exactly see him as evil, but he's a very limited person, unable to form normal relationships, and very sad.  However, I'd be the first to say that to avoid a book because the narrator is unpalatable would be foolish, since it would mean avoiding some of the greatest books in literature (I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't read Lolita because its narrator is a pedophile).

I liked the book with some reservations - it was a little slow at times, and I can see the style of writing putting off some readers who want less description and more action.  The structure of the book - Perina's memoir as edited by his associate Ronald Kubodera (don't miss those footnotes - they contain a lot of information), is interesting, and recalls Nabokov's Pale Fire. The greater question in the book is at what price do we explore a new part of the world?  Where do we draw the line between leaving people to their lives in their world and using that world to make ours better?  This is a very impressive debut novel, and I look forward to more from this author.
410409
Boring.  I only read 30% which was all about woods and forests..  Not his usual at all.  I didn't finish the book and normally I love his books!
597822
This was my first book by C.J. Box, so it was an experiment.  I thought that I would like the outdoor setting, and I guess it was okay, but I just couldn't get into it.  Also, I really didn't like the game warden character much, and actually the story was more about his falcon training friend.  Although I can't fault the author's style, this series is just not my cup of tea.
648165
This was a bit far out for me and not at all scientific.  I would feel uncomfortable
leaving a pet with the author.  She's a bit too "mystical" for me.
3929039
I opened the book. The pages were made from paper that had once grown wild in the forests of Oregon, until a lumberjack with a plaid jacket started his chainsaw and cut it down.

Many years ago, I saw a tree fall. It was a Douglas fir, which had been oddly named after the naturalist David Douglas, though it was not he, but his rival who had discovered the species long ago in the mist-shrouded and verdant hills of Vancouver Island. My heart had wrenched in my chest when I saw that noble pine tumble, but I knew there would be a message in that tree's demise.

But no message ever came. Perhaps the message would be found on the paper many years later, after it was pulped and processed by humanities' machines.

---

Yeah, that's pretty much how the book went. Something small would happen--"I opened a book"--but then the narrative went somewhere else and the action was left hanging pages back.

I enjoy Koontz's work, usually. He's always added interesting bits of info into his story lines, but that info never seemed to get in the way of the story. I can't say the same for this book. The descriptions became tedious. It wouldn't have been so bad if those descriptions had moved the story forward or revealed more about a character or the horror of a situation, but they didn't -- and pages would pass before the story moved forward again.

I liked the concept. I liked the reveal. I could have done without the endless descriptions of every building, tunnel, and location the characters visited. It seemed that half of the flashbacks could have been removed and the paragraphs of descriptions pared to a few sentences without altering or damaging the story.
1491239
I wanted to use this as a pocket guide to my local area, but a lot of the flora and fauna that I noticed do not make it to the book. There were a variety of ducks and spiders that did not make an appearance to the pages which left me wanting for something more. However, what is in the field guide is well described and pictured.
1432946
I didn't like this book.  Perhaps I am not very familiar with the part of the world where the novel takes place.  It was haard to understand Aritomo.  The gardening part got a bit boring.
3744872
Still adjusting to being a single mom, Rachel takes her 8-year old son and his dog on their usual Sunday walk in the woods. He asks if he can run ahead to the swing just out of view, and her decision to allow him haunts Rachel when she reaches the swing and he isn't there.

After a frantic search, the police are called in to conduct a more thorough search of the woods, without success. The book is told from the point of view of Rachel and the lead detective, Jim Clemo, and includes fictional online blog commentary, emails, and therapy reports, as well as non-fictional statistics and other terrifying information from real-life organizations regarding child abductions.

This book was kind of a struggle for me, mostly because I expected it to be a suspenseful tale of the search for the culprit in hopes of safely returning the child, but it actually dragged in places. It seemed less a story about the missing child, and more about how the disappearance is handled by the parents, the police, the press, and most frightening, the public. It is sad commentary on how easily social media can take on a life of its own and turn ugly, fueled by cruel cowards hiding behind their online identities, quickly going from aiding in the investigation to being a useless obstacle. It wasn't what I was expecting, but it wasn't bad.
4620268
I rarely buy books (prefer free/library books), but after I heard the premise of this one--the story of a boy who grows up in a land without books--I was intrigued. I kept thinking about it for a year and finally caved and bought it. However, it turns out it's not the fantasy adventure I expected. First of all, I feel like I barely learned anything about Jevicks's land, the land without written word. It's basically just the countryside. Secondly, I love travel tales, so I thought his journey to the elegant capital Bain would be super exciting, but it was just kinda boring because the descriptions were dry and the main character Jevick doesn't have a personality. Also I never liked really old classic literature, and this book is full of fake classic literature written by the old people of Bain. Interesting concept, but I just found myself skipping allll of it because it didn't really add anything to the story. I felt bad because the author must've spent so much time and really enjoyed making up classic literature, but I guess this fantasy land and its classic authors were just more realistic and similar to the real world than I had hoped.
696058
this wasn't what I expected - thought it would be soothing music not an annoying droning voice.  It does teach you a relaxation technique but it didn't work for me.
3388082
I got through this book very slowly.  I didn't enjoy the read.  Windrow stuck in a lot of scientific/biologic info about owls that was a bit boring.  I didn't like the story much.  I don't think owls should be for sale and I guess it's not legal to sell them anymore.  I didn't care for Windrow's persona much.  He seemed rather selfish and self-centered but as the book progressed it was clear that he loved his owl and I appreciated seeing his softer side.
1382933
A friend asked me why a particular national park is my favorite.  When I said that it was because of all the good times there with friends and family through the years, she said that I should read "Lassoing the Sun".

OK, after reading it, I see her point.  But there really wasn't much more there to offer.  The details of the author's hospice care and grieving process were not what I had in mind.  His passing conversations with other visitors were not particularly enlightening.  And some of his new agey tales I found a bit too much.

In the epilogue, the author says "This is just my national parks story.  There are, of course millions like it."  He's right.  Our national parks are extraordinary places for many people for many reasons.  I already knew that.
2995103
Carl Hiaasen's non-fiction is not, to me, anywhere near as interesting as his fiction and I am a giant fan of non-fiction.  I think that his fiction explains the complex environmental situations in Florida better, including the immense problem of bribery.  His non-fiction, from the few items I have managed to read so far lack much interest and/or humor.  But that"s just me, others might get a real kick out of it.
1319975
Too long, choppy and characters not believeable.  The use of the New Forest as a setting was interesting and congruent with,experience there i.e. Horses, flora, fauna and a tourist setting.
2392001
REALTREE...I wasn't paying attention.  More camo than I would like.