Mythic Woods: The World's Most Remarkable Forests [Hardcover]

Jonathan Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2005

These magnificent and evocative color photos reveal why forests have been a source of inspiration to humankind throughout the ages. The bestselling author of Meeting with Remarkable Trees has chosen 15 "mythic woods," from the famous Sherwood Forest (so unlike its legendary image) to the little-known Valley of the Giants in Tasmania, home to some of the world's tallest trees. Some are huge and ecologically vital, like the Amazon and Canadian rainforests; others are tiny remnants, like the Black Wood of Rannoch. The rich and diverse gallery includes the Petrified Forest of Arizona and the towering underwater groves of the Californian Kelp Forest. If anyone questions the need to nurture and protect Earth's forests, these images offer a supremely eloquent answer.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Rich prose and lavish photography...' THE FIELD

About the Author

Thomas Pakenham is the author of the critically acclaimed THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA which won the W.H. Smith Award and the Alan Paton Award. He is also the author of THE BOER WAR, THE MOUNTAINS OF RASSELAS and THE YEAR OF LIBERTY. He lives in County Westmeath, Ireland and is chairman of the Irish Tree Society. He plants trees both for profit and ornament. Jonathan Roberts was born in Connecticut, USA, in 1943 and grew up in Gloucestershire. He read Greats at Oxford University, before spells as a teacher in Africa and as a freelance journalist and writer in London. From 1973 he fish-farmed in south-west Scotland, and in 1993 moved to a sheep hill-farm in Dorset, where he now lives. In 2001 he published CABBAGES AND KINGS (HarperCollins), an account of how fruit and vegetables originated from wild species. He is married, with a wife and three daughters. Thomas Pakenham is the author and photographer of the bestselling books MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE TREES and REMARKABLE TREES OF THE WORLD. He lives in County Westmeath, Ireland and is chairman of the Irish Tree Society. He plants trees both for profit and ornament.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: WN (March 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0297843524
• ISBN-13: 978-0297843528
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 9.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,252,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars not great, March 17, 2006

By 

Ms. Dorotka Sapinski "MISS SAPINSKA" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mythic Woods: The World's Most Remarkable Forests (Hardcover)

Great fron cover an internal cover, but that is where all the fun stops with this book, unfortunately. The rest of the book consists of strangely chosen and bad quality photographs with lots of huge text. I do not recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a great photograhic book on forests - it is very deceiving!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Green splendour revealed, November 20, 2004

By 

Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Mythic Woods: The World's Most Remarkable Forests (Hardcover)

Approximately one third of the earth's land area is covered by forest habitats. Some are well-known, but there are magnificent forest areas that have not gained major attention. Mythic Woods explores the individual character of both familiar and unknown forests on all continents, revealing new worlds of majestic beauty. The forests include:

The Amazon
Black Wood of Rannoch
Sudarban mangrove forests of the Ganges delta
Cloud forests of the Andes
Blue Cedar forest of the Atlas Mountains
Taiga of Northern Russia
Valley of Giants, Tasmania
Mediterranean Maquis and Garigue
Petrified forest of Arizona
Sherwood Forest
Kauri Pine Forest of New Zealand
Baobab woods of Madagascar
Great Bear rainforest of Canada
Ancient rainforest of Cape York Peninsula

The engaging text comes alive through the breath-taking full colour photographs and the book concludes with a Forest Fact File that lists factors such as the Area, Rainfall, Temperature, Access and the most interesting trees and animals for each forest. The absence of maps in a book of this nature is baffling, though. Besides that omission, Mythic Woods is a classy and informative guide to some of the most impressive forests of the world.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Slightly disappointing., June 15, 2005

By 

S. Simonetti "fuzzyrainbow" (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mythic Woods: The World's Most Remarkable Forests (Hardcover)

I bought this book with the expectation there would be many more detailed photographs in it. Though the photos that were there were stunning to be sure, there were too few of them! More photos, maps to said forests, etc. would have caused me to give this a full five stars.