For those who dream of faraway forests and those who fight for their
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many thanks to my dad for giving me the names of the trees and to my mom for opening my mind to these marvelous forests Thanks to Dolores Mannix for sharing her love and knowledge of the rainforests of South America architect Geoff Miles for teaching me about the architecture of buttresses and Kevin Russell founder of the Rainforest Awareness Project for his insights on the Borneo rainforests Special thanks to Lisa Rosenthal and Cynthia Sherry for their enthusiasm and support And always to Dean and Lucie for their constant love and
INTRODUCTION In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous Aristotle The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote these words over 2 000 years ago And although Aristotle may never have traveled to a rainforest his words cer tainly resound in the minds of all who have experi enced these truly marvelous places Rainforests are the oldest kind of forest They have been growing on our planet for millions of years They are home to the largest concentration of animals birds and insects on earth In fact some rainforest creatures haven't even been named yet Rainforests give our world enormous amounts of oxygen and store two thirds of its fresh water They give us medicines spices fruits nuts and chocolate What could be more marvelous Most rainforests are near the equator Those are called tropical rainforests Others are farther away from the equator and are called temperate rainforests These are found in places such as the Pacific North west of the United States and in parts of New Zea land Both types of rainforests have a tremendous amount of rainfall each year and the same layers including the forest floor understory canopy and
