Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always wanted to travel and have always been obsessed with exploring the natural world with my camera. Over the past 30 years I’ve been lucky to film in 120+ countries and meet thousands of inspiring people in the most unlikely of places. Experience has taught me that there are certain core positive traits that unify us all and help bind us to the natural world within which we live. The books I’ve chosen remind me of how complicated, beautiful, and precious; and how full of wonder and mystery our planet is. They have helped inspire me to pack my bags and get out there to explore it for myself. 


I wrote

The Man Who Climbs Trees: The Lofty Adventures of a Wildlife Cameraman

By James Aldred,

Book cover of The Man Who Climbs Trees: The Lofty Adventures of a Wildlife Cameraman

What is my book about?

Meet the man who climbs trees for a living. As a wildlife cameraman for the BBC and National Geographic, James spends…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Trees of Britain and Northern Europe

James Aldred Why did I love this book?

Mitchell is the grandfather of all things tree in Britain and this book is a unique gem that lists most of the nation’s most noteworthy, old, and impressive specimens.

It lit a childhood passion in me for big tree hunting. Growing up in Britain where there are few truly wild forests remaining, it showed me where to look to find the best trees and how to appreciate their size, age, beauty, and importance to all life on earth. 

By Alan Mitchell, John Wilkinson (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Trees of Britain and Northern Europe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This work illustrates in colour every tree regularly found in Britain and northern Europe. The text complements the paintings, stressing the important identification features of each tree. The keys are easy-to-use, designed to help even the beginner identify any tree they see in any season. A special section gives the locations in Britain of the finest specimens of each species.


Book cover of The Hidden Life of Trees

James Aldred Why did I love this book?

Wohlleben’s book is nothing short of revolutionary and made an incredibly powerful impression on me.

It reveals the way that all trees within a forest are connected via their roots and commensal relationships with fungi. This enables groups of trees to share nutrients, help others that are struggling, and to communicate the presence of disease and pests via chemical signals.

The Wood-wide-web revealed, explored, and explained in an exciting and easy-to-read format. Will change the way you see trees and forests.

By Peter Wohlleben, Jane Billinghurst (translator),

Why should I read it?

13 authors picked The Hidden Life of Trees as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A paradigm-smashing chronicle of joyous entanglement that will make you acknowledge your own entanglement in the ancient and ever-new web of being."--Charles Foster, author of Being a Beast Are trees social beings? In this international bestseller, forester and author Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. Wohlleben…


Book cover of The Songlines

James Aldred Why did I love this book?

Chatwin’s classic is a must read for anyone interested in the concept of the human relationship with landscape and spirituality.

A deeply thoughtful book that made me think very hard about my own place in the world, about how I connect to and interact with nature, and where my life’s journey may be leading me. By focusing on the quality of journey the destination will take care of itself.

By Bruce Chatwin,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Songlines as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This Moleskine-bound edition is sold together with a blank Moleskine notebook, for recording your own thoughts and adventures. Perfect for the travel writers of the future.

The Songlines is Bruce Chatwin's magical account of his journey across the length and breadth of Australia, following the invisible and ancient pathways that are said to criss-cross the land. Chatwin recorded his travels in his favourite notebook, which he would usually buy in bulk in a particular stationery shop in Paris. But when the manufacturer went out of business, he was told "Le vrai moleskine n'est plus". A decade after its publication, on…


Book cover of A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush

James Aldred Why did I love this book?

Newby’s adventure classic tells the story of two unassuming friends who decide to go mountaineering in one of the world’s most remote and forbidding regions.

This book helped show me that anything is possible; all you need is the positivity of spirit and focus of drive to take on seemingly overwhelming physical and mental challenges.

His self-deprecating humour and ability to communicate and share the grandeur and beauty of Afghanistan is a must read for anyone who would rather make up their own mind about an oft maligned and feared region of the world.

By Eric Newby,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A classic of travel writing, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush is Eric Newby's iconic account of his journey through one of the most remote and beautiful wildernesses on earth.

It was 1956, and Eric Newby was earning an improbable living in the chaotic family business of London haute couture. Pining for adventure, Newby sent his friend Hugh Carless the now-famous cable - CAN YOU TRAVEL NURISTAN JUNE? - setting in motion a legendary journey from Mayfair to Afghanistan, and the mountains of the Hindu Kush, north-east of Kabul.

Inexperienced and ill prepared (their preparations involved nothing more than…


Book cover of Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life

James Aldred Why did I love this book?

A no-punches-pulled look at the way we look at the countryside and compromise its ability to support the nature we love but often harm through placing our own interests first.

It is also, however, a very positive book that offers solutions and challenges the reader to question the way things have always been done in the name of tradition.

This book made me realise that I’d been taking a lot of assumptions for granted and helped me think outside of the box and ask my own questions about how best to nurture and help the wildlife and landscape around me. Extremely inspiring stuff.

By George Monbiot,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Feral as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

To be an environmentalist early in the twenty-first century is always to be defending, arguing, acknowledging the hurdles we face in our efforts to protect wild places and fight climate change. But let’s be honest: hedging has never inspired anyone.
 
So what if we stopped hedging? What if we grounded our efforts to solve environmental problems in hope instead, and let nature make our case for us? That’s what George Monbiot does in Feral, a lyrical, unabashedly romantic vision of how, by inviting nature back into our lives, we can simultaneously cure our “ecological boredom” and begin repairing centuries of…


Explore my book 😀

The Man Who Climbs Trees: The Lofty Adventures of a Wildlife Cameraman

By James Aldred,

Book cover of The Man Who Climbs Trees: The Lofty Adventures of a Wildlife Cameraman

What is my book about?

Meet the man who climbs trees for a living. As a wildlife cameraman for the BBC and National Geographic, James spends his working life high up in trees, poised to capture key moments in the lives of wild animals. His climbs have taken him to the most incredible trees in existence. In Borneo, home to the tallest tropical rainforest on earth, just getting a rope up into the 250-foot-tall trees is a challenge. In Venezuela, even body armor isn’t protection against the razor-sharp talons of a Harpy Eagle.

In this vivid memoir, James blends incredible adventure stories with a fascination for the majesty of trees to show us the joy of rising up into the canopies of some of the most spectacular forests on earth.

Book cover of Trees of Britain and Northern Europe
Book cover of The Hidden Life of Trees
Book cover of The Songlines

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Subjugation: Zanchier

By S.G. Boudreaux,

Book cover of Subjugation: Zanchier

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Why am I passionate about this?

I've always loved fiction, fantasy, and adventure stories. Growing up in the Star Wars generation, I was seven when A New Hope was released at the theaters. Living in the hollows of West Virginia there weren’t libraries close by, and movies were a great, though seldom, treat. Suggestive material and cursing was not something that we saw in books or movies growing up in a more simple period of time. I still thoroughly enjoy many well-written, clean, books or shows. As an active member of the body of Christ, I now serve with my writing, and hope that kids of all ages can enjoy epic fantasy and adventure books from a clean and wholesome perspective.

S.G.'s book list on clean-reading fantasy with religious undertones

What is my book about?

Harper Brinley is running for her life.

After escaping from a government holding facility where she, along with other scientists, was being forced to build a deadly weapon. She headed for the most remote place she could think of, the wild Xantifal Mountains.

The one place where no one would think to search for her. There, she found a massive hollowed tree in which to survive the harsh mountain winter. If she can survive the four-legged, fire-breathing firebirds and the equally large wildcats of the mountain ridge, then maybe she can find her way back to her children. She was…

Subjugation: Zanchier

By S.G. Boudreaux,

What is this book about?

Harper Brinley is running for her life. After escaping from a government holding facility, where she along with other scientists were being forced to build a deadly weapon, she headed for the most remote place she could think of, the wild Xantifal Mountains. The one place where no one would think to search for her. There she found a massive hollowed tree in which to survive the harsh mountain winter. If she can survive the four-legged, fire-breathing firebirds, and the equally large wildcats of the mountain ridge, then maybe she can find her way back to her children. She was…


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