• The Golden Spruce

  • A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed
  • By: John Vaillant
  • Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
  • Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (453 ratings)

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The Golden Spruce  By  cover art

The Golden Spruce

By: John Vaillant
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
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Publisher's summary

A tale of obsession so fierce that a man kills the thing he loves most: The only giant golden spruce on earth.

As vividly as Jon Krakauer put readers on Everest, John Vaillant takes us into the heart of North America's last great forest, where trees grow to eighteen feet in diameter, sunlight never touches the ground, and the chainsaws are always at work.

When a shattered kayak and camping gear are found on an uninhabited island, they reignite a mystery surrounding a shocking act of protest. Five months earlier, logger-turned-activist Grant Hadwin had plunged naked into a river in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands, towing a chainsaw. When his night's work was done, a unique Sitka spruce, 165 feet tall and covered with luminous golden needles, teetered on its stump. Two days later it fell.

The tree, a fascinating puzzle to scientists, was sacred to the Haida, a fierce seafaring tribe based in the Queen Charlottes. Vaillant recounts the bloody history of the Haida and the early fur trade, and provides harrowing details of the logging industry, whose omnivorous violence would claim both Hadwin and the golden spruce.

©2005 John Vaillant (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about The Golden Spruce

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting story but ??

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I loved John Vaillant's book "the tiger" . This book, does not match up to that book in my opinion. He does a great job telling the story, but it's just too long. There is way to much bashing of the logging industry. I am a tree hugger by nature, I believe trees have spirits, and I liked how he discribed this, the First Nation people, and all the characters. He also does a good job discribing the horrible practices of some in the logging industry. But he keeps going back to bashing the logging industry. Toward the end of the book, I felt like he was trying to manipulate the reader and fill pages. Get his book The Tiger, but wait on this one until it's discounted. Then listen to the first 75% and move on.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fascinating history

This book stretches out a what seems like a simple story of environmental terrorism by giving a ton of background. Going back not just centuries, but providing events in the context of millennia - weaving the disparate facts, opinions, and myths into one fascinating book. While at times the historical diversions seemed a little long winded, especially in the middle of the climactic act, it didn't annoy me & somehow worked. I really enjoyed the thorough exploration and deep history of the story presented in this book. My one complaint about the audio book performance is the mispronunciation of "Weyerhaeuser" - this was grating, plus there's no excuse because they have commercials on the internet where this can be checked.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating from start to finish.

Gripping right from the beginning. Fascinating human and ecological history expertly woven together through the whole book. Left me with chills at the epilogue. I learned so much about the logging industry I did not know, and the story of Hadwin was suspenseful and well told. I very much appreciated the detailed history of the northwest and the Haida people. The narrator is one of my Audible favorites. You can't go wrong with this book. It may leave you itching to travel straight to B.C. or southeast Alaska to see where this all took place. I highly recommend this book!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An amazing, moving book!

If you have any interest in the preservation of trees, forests or our planet in general, this book is for you. A moving, captivating read to say the least.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

My Fav

in my preference for non-fiction, this story is supported with a copious quantity of qualifiable research. Additionally, the subject matter supported stories from both my father and my husband's father's early years as loggers. The gentlemanly manner that this author addresses the hard-core individual of a logger compliments the humanly kind characters of the men who, like our fathers, scratched together a meager subsistance to sustain their families is commendable.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Epic

I so love this book, packed with history and written in eloquent prose to which any writer would aspire and all readers can benefit. I have now read this book twice. A rare thing for me, reserved for only the best where one reading is just not enough.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Vaillant is a master!

Vaillant is one of the greatest writers of his generation! His writing style and rhythm makes is stories an unforgettable experience! I first fell in love with "The Tiger," which is one of my favorite books of all time! I then backed up to his earlier work, "The Golden Spruce" and was able to appreciate his work all over again! Thanks!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Captivating, breathtaking and spiritually shaking

This is the first time I’ve listened to this book and the second time I’ve “read” it. Mr. Vaillant is the reincarnation of F Scott Fitzgerald if Fitzgerald was in our time. The story keeps you “turning the page” and procrastinating with your life - in a good way. I highly recommend. The reader gets off to a rocky start but I learned to like his voice.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

One of my all time favorites!

What made the experience of listening to The Golden Spruce the most enjoyable?

I love this audio book! It's easily one of my top 5 favorites. The story is terrific, the writing is wonderful and the performance is a perfect match for the text. This is one of the very few audio books I have listened to 3 times.

What other book might you compare The Golden Spruce to and why?

Boy's in the Boat. Unbroken. Seabiscuit. The Tiger

What about Edoardo Ballerini’s performance did you like?

His voice is wonderful and he seamlessly takes the listener into the world of the story.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

not quite

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Good story with a tragic ending

Narrator was good and not overpowering. John Valiant wrote a great book that told stories of immense exploitation while also staying impartial to the horrible events that occurred.

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