Customer Reviews

The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The most obvious comparison to Vaillant's work is that of Jon Kraukauer. Both have chronicled superhumans in the wild, putting their main characters within the scientific, evironmental, and political context of the day.

This is a book about so many things--the natural history of British Columbia and the offshore islands, the heritage of the Haida and other island British Columbian tribes, the lives of the courageous men who felled trees for logging companies in the 1900's, and the life of logger-turned-activist Grant Hadwin, who felled a magnificent and one-of-a-kind-tree. Vaillant weaves a compelling tale of the formation of the islands and the native tribes, who first gained wealth trading sea otter pellets with the Europeans. When that business dried up, there were tough times until the logging business picked up. One tree, the Golden Spruce of myth and legend, was spared by the logging conglomerates as a publicity stunt, until Hadwin came along.

Vaillant sets up the story well, priming the reader with history and science until Hadwin comes into the picture. I only have two criticisms of the book. (1) Hadwin is kind of "snuck in" to the story. Vaillant speaks of Hadwin's uncle Angus and then brings Hadwin in without introducing him as the man the Golden Spruce story is about. Unless the reader read the inner jacket, they have no idea why they are reading about this Hadwin (or Angus) character for so long. (2) There are no pictures of the mythical Golden Spruce, other than the cover shot, which looks to be altered so that it stands out more than the other green trees. I'm not even sure if the cover shot is genuine or an artist's rendition. The description of the Golden Spruce once felled is amazing, and I was dismayed that they didn't include a picture of it after it was felled.

I learned a lot about the history of the logging industry and the super-men who work felling trees. This is not a job for ordinary men. I also learned about the necessity of participating in "evil" trades. On p. 49 Vaillant states [of the sea otter pellet trade], "the natives were hostages, first and foremost, of the trade itself: once the market for skins had been created, they really had no choice but to participate. Any village or tribe that didn't would become losers in the inevitable race for new arms, technology, and wealth. Once aboard a juggernaut like this, it appears suicidal to jump off--even if staying on is sure to destroy you in the end." In modern days, the Haida tribal natives found them caught in the search for jobs--the only two available were fisherman or logger. [p. 115] "Many Haida find themselves in a strangely familiar double bind: aid and abet the plundering of their historic homeland, or get left behind."

This is an excellent book that will teach you a lot about science, history, politics, the business of logging, and activism. Any non-fiction lover will appreciate the tale that Vaillant has woven. As a bonus, his prose and metaphors are absolutely beautiful.

John Vaillant conjures the mystery of the Pacific Northwest coast where hundred-foot waves wash fish into the limbs of trees and diving birds fly underwater, a land where the Haida people collaborate in their own near destruction through exploitation of the otter trade, a place where an indestructible and brilliant logger becomes a zealous, misguided environmentalist. The rainforest is a place of myth and transformation. If you dare to enter, you will be changed. And if you enter the world of this magical book, where trees grow 300 feet tall and live 500 years, you will be transfigured by what you know. John Vaillant has exposed a compelling story, a murder mystery where the victim is a rare spruce with brilliant golden needles. Without sentimentality, with complete reverence for the tree as a tree, Vaillant illuminates the terrible loss, and the deeper loss it represents: the desecration of old growth forests. Mr. Vaillant has done his research and rendered his tale with suspense and energy, with great beauty, in a language that approaches poetry.

This entertaining narrative is about a mythic tree in the Canadian Galapagos. Author John Vaillant carefully explains how the Golden Spruce and Grant Hadwin...the immensely talented but deeply troubled frontiersman who cut it down...were both one in a billion.

Vaillant is a majestic writer. His historical description of Canada's Northwest Coastal forest in British Columbia is superb. The author carefully details how the Northwest forests support more living tissue, by weight, than an other eco system, including the Equatorial jungle. He also reports how the Queen Charlotte Islands were the historical territory of the Haida People, who call their home Haida Gwaii. The Haida People knew the Golden Spruce was exceptional and called it "K'iid K'iyaas" for the Elder Spruce Tree.

The woodcutter has been the point man for Western civilization. Some loggers are good, considerate road builders. Unfortunately, most loggers are extremely wasteful and rape the earth. Grant Hadwin was a rugged woodcutter and intelligent road builder who detested the giant corporations that destroyed vast forests with little concern for fundamental environmental considerations. Over time Hadwin leaves his wonderful family...becomes mentally unglued...and commits a great crime. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

In my opinion John Valliant's book is improperly equated to Krakauer's works. I believe this is done as a marketing effort. The considerable difference is in the main subject of the work - in Krakauer's it's the man, in Valliant's it's the Nature.

This book is a manifesto, a cry for worldwide attention of the destruction forces of human nature, against the mindless consumerism that exterminates the landmarks of the natural world.

I loved this book. I enjoyed reading about the intricacies of a profession, which claims more lives each year than many other high risk jobs. I was captured in the narrative on the delicate nature of this very complex organism - the tree. I was amazed to learn of another miracle of the Earth - the Golden Spruce, this landmark of biology that survived despite all odds. I was saddened to find out of yet another disappearing Indian nation, that of the Haidas.

Beautifully written, containing a wealth of information on an industry I knew little about, it narrates a story about the act of a sick man and his effort to attract worldwide attention to the right issue via the wrong deed. But in the end, the story begs the question - Is sometimes the sword mightier than the pen? You decide, reader.

This book is wonderful and should be on the reading list of all high schools. Young adults must learn about the consequences of logging, the result of defaced lands and their effect on the world's environment.

- by Simon Cleveland

This is an incredibly well written book and I loved it. I have to say that I wish they (publicist or who ever) had not compared John Vaillant to Jon Krakauer because aside from the subjects being something they both would be interested in, they are not comparable in their writing styles and I think it does Vaillant an injustice not to let him stand on his own. I think that if you like Krakauer you might be let down by Vaillant simply because they have different writing styles. John Vaillant is more of a historian; his book is very detailed and technical; whereas Krakauer's writing is much more haunting and emotional and pulls you in the way a novel does. Also, when you buy this book keep in mind that Vaillant goes into a lot of history of the logging industry, the Golden Spruce, and the Haida as well as the story of Grant Hadwin. If you are interested in all of those things you will enjoy this book immensely. On another note, if environmentalists could articulate their cause the way that Vaillant has, more people would be interested and sympathetic to their cause; this book definitely opened my eyes. Although this book is not a novel, it is definitely a tragedy on many fronts; the Greeks would applaud.

I'm always up for a book on adventure, whether it's Redmond O'Hanlon lost in a jungle or climbers gasping for breath as "Into Thin Air." Having an interest in animals and nature as well, I might be inclined to read "The Geese Of Beaver Bog" (which I loved). So, it was in this vein that I was drawn to this book. However, what has surprised me greatly is that it has become a sort of segway to some other books that I have wanted to read, but, have so far avoided. "Collapse" being one and the other being "A Short History of Progress." In a way, this book has a bit of the same message, it seems. John Vaillant has managed to elegantly weave the hard-edged history of man surviving and pillaging the resources of the Pacific Northwest with science, mythos, and modern ethical dilemmas. We learn, as others have pointed out, about the history of loggers, a bit on otter hunting, the Indigenous cultures, the lore and science of trees and forestry, the origins of Greenpeace, and the fine edge of reason and madness that rarely balance themselves in the quest for power and riches. I love the personal explorations of madness as it taunts the rope and drags you to the final question, which is "will we survive our own disengagement with reality?" In the end, one hopes that the people of the Queen Charlotte Islands will catch themselves in time and not go the way of Easter Island. As we explore the broken hearts of the Pacific Northwest, let us explore our own collective broken heart and divine how we might heal those wounds.

This book is chock full of information. The reader learns much about the Pacific Northwest, large trees, logging, the Haida and other tribes, and weather and sea conditions surrounding the Charlotte Island, BC.

The subtitle, however, is "A true Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed". There is much on the greed of lumber companies and loggers. There is little about the myth and not very much about the "madman" who cut down the golden spruce. By the end I was tired of the tree primer. There is actually more devoted to explaining photosynthesis than there is about the Haida's myth about the golden spruce.

The basic story is of a mutant ancient spruce that is golden rather than green. It is on the Charlotte Islands, home of the Haidaa. The tree is cut down by a logger who apparently has gone off the deep end and fells the tree as a protest. The story line gets lost in all the many digressions and other information. At the outset, the information was interesting, since it was captivating background. Unfortunately, very little was presented beyond background information. The book is terrifically researched on all the other grounds. I got the feeling when I was done that there just was not a lot to the main theme of the book. It was mostly filler/background to fill pages since the chief theme could not fill more than 50-60 pages.

The writing is good and there is a lot of information about a little known part of North America. Just don't come to this book thinking that it will be primarily about a myth and madness.

Golden Spruce, by John Vaillant, is a book about many things. It is quite a few history and biology lessons, an example of how people can be driven to want to destroy something they love, and a damnned good story - all at the same time. The last book that I can think of that I thought I was reading for a good story and not only got the story but ended up knowing a lot more about nature and my own self in the process was Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. Vailant was praised in reviews by authors who have a lot of nature cred (get it? Not street cred, nature cred - I think it is funny...), such as Sebastian Junger and his storytelling was compared to John Krakauer.
Vailant's primary theme throughout the book seems to be pain. He argues that humans can cause themselves less in the long run by aiming towards sustainability and living off the resources available to them at the time rather than depleting what is around them for export and profit. The context of this message in Vailant's book is timber, but can be applied to a broader range when the reader starts to think about the moral dillemas that Vailant describes loggers and the Haiida face.
What stood out most in Vailant's book is the imagry. As a native Northerwestern myself I often times wanted to put down the book and go for a walk in the woods. There is passage in the begining of the book that I sent to a friend of mine who is now living in Europe because I knew when she read it she could be standing in a patch of Oregon old growth.
Little of the book focuses on Grant Hadwin, the man who fell the Golden Spruce. What is mentioned of him gives the reader a sight of a man determined, perhaps mentally ill, and with a passionate yet skewed cause. He is compared to Timothy McVeigh.
Vailant's research into multiple disciplines makes for a comprehensive picture of the dense Pacific Northwest. Readers are schooled in botany, marine biology and climatology - all in the context of the story being told. Never did it feel like a lecture, like a tangent or like Vailant was trying to make his research count for something. It was all relative and helpful to what he was trying to explain to us, which he said best in one sentence towards the end of the book, "Most of us are led to believe that we have more freedom and choice than ever before when in fact we are driven by the real, if short-sighted, demands of our wallets, sophisticated advertisers, increasingly large and powerful conglomerates, and a reactive response to the clock."

The amazing and surprisingly gripping tale of the Golden Spruce is one of the best books I've ever read. From the seed of a story about a magnificent and mysterious tree, in a way not unlike the Golden Spruce itself, John Vaillant's story grows into something much more than an interesting and informative book.

To help the reader fully understand the strange sequence of events, Vaillant's book is loaded with historical and factual detail, interwoven into a compelling and vital narrative. Rarely have I learned so much about things around me that have a direct impact on my life while fully enjoying the entire process.

The result is a fascinating and truly important book. And the best investment of my reading time in many, many years.

This is a book for anyone who has spent time in the woods or forests of North America. The writing is outstanding. The story unfolds in a logical and interesting manner with the author bringing together many different facets of the story -- a little history, a little mystery, great characters, and the perfect ending for a story such as this. I have read so many books lately that just didn't hold together. This is a refreshing and informative book, and I look forward to more by this author.