BOOK REVIEWS LOS ANGELES TIMES MAGAZINE NOV. 17 2002   by Richard E. Cheverton “Bayles images of trees avoid the easy trap of propaganda; these are not cute or angry or tragic surrogates for human politics. Instead they seem weirdly like visitors from another world, perhaps another dimension – and, in a real sense, they are. Trees no less than epoch- layered rock canyons, remind us that there are different ways of computing time; that within the frantic resh of man–made cities are eddies and rills of slowness, sureness; that there are cycles as profound as the procession of the stars. Trees reproach our temporary manias while also serving as an antidote. AUDUBON MAGAZINE Dec 2003   by Lindsay Carswell Art of the Wild   For those of us who live in cities or suburbs, nature is often an invisible backdrop. In his ethereal and amusing new book, Urban Forest: Images of Trees in the Human Landscape, photographer David Paul Bayles shows the different trees (and sometimes trunks and limbs) in our midst. Urban Forest (Sierra Club Books, 144 pages, $35) offers a revealing look at society's relationship with nature. This striking selection of photos, gathered over two decades, displays what Bayles calls ‘a tension between the organic and the geometric” and the various ways architecture and urban landscapes reflect the natural world. Urban Forest also reminds us that remnants of wild nature persist all around us; Bayles's images testify to nature's fragility and resilience. KANSAS CITY STAR December 7, 2003, Review by John Mark Eberhart (Included in holiday gift book roundup) Bayles/URBAN FOREST (Sierra Club Books) "Maybe humans can co-exist with the environment after all.   This book features some striking images of trees flourishing in places where humans live in great numbers.   Then again, there's that sorrowful color image of massive tree trunks cut down to size and thrown into a Houston Dumpster; they look like body parts." ST LOUIS POST-DISPATCH December 2, 2003, Review by Patricia Corrigan (Included in holiday gift book roundup) Bayles/URBAN FOREST (Sierra Club Books) "An uplifting book that takes note of city streets [and] pays homage to a non-human presence." CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR December 9, 2003, Review by Greg Palmer Bayles/URBAN FOREST (Sierra Club Books) "In these black-and-white and color photographs, Bayles shows us what we see and don't see every day: trees in full splendor, trees barely surviving, or in some cases, trees ready for the fireplace or landfill.   His pictures, mostly taken in California, show an eye for angle and juxtaposition, humor as well as (silent) social commentary. . . .Bayles provides simple captions under his pictures with brief descriptions in the back of the book.   It's fun to be let in on how a photo came to be.   You don't have to be a tree hugger to appreciate these urban forests." BLOOMSBURY REVIEW Nov/Dec 2003, Review by John A. Murray Bayles/URBAN FOREST (Sierra Club) "Bayles has done a fine job with this book, which reminds us all of a simple but persistent fact: Trees are as essential to human life as the oxygen they produce or the beauty they present or the shelter they provide.   Being an urban dweller for most of my life, I was struck by the innovative techniques the photographer used to reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary.   Through his lens, we perceive our surroundings in new and often instructive ways." SANTA BARBARA MAGAZINE Dec/ Jan 2004 “ In Urban Forest: Images of Trees in the Human Landscape , photographer David Paul Bayles explores the interface of trees and cities in images that are graphically real, sometimes surreal and always compelling.” SPIRITUALITY AND HEALTH Dec 2003    by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat David Paul Bayles, photographer, is interested in images that eveal the boundaries where the “alive and the inert intersect”. He has found a perfect subject in trees groein in urban and suburban settings. This collection of striking black and white photographs presents some surprising juxtapositions: a cypress contrasted with a stucco wall, a cactus by a cracked wall, trees emerging out of lobbies and parking lots, carved and cropped trees, a sapling protected by a small fence. A haunting sequence shows pedestrians walking over the stump of a tree that once grew out of the sidewalk. Another shows new growth on a stump across from Ground Zero. FROM THE BACK COVER OF THE BOOK “David Paul Bayles photographs in Urban Forest speak eloquently with a quiet intensity. The book explores the concept that the natural world exists not only in the wilderness, but in our everyday surroundings. These thoughtful photographs cause the viewer to pause and consider the delicate balance between human activity and the natural environment.” -John Sexton, Photographer “David Paul Bayles photographs embrace a story that has fascinated Euro-American artists since the beginning of the United States – the transformation of the landscape. With wilderness long since relegated to the gated preserve of National Parks, Bayles reminds us of the continued importance of nature in our twenty-first century, increasingly urbanized lives. With one eye toward the simplicity of linear geometry and the other fascinated by the narrative potential of juxtaposition, Bayles's images compel us to reevaluate the manufactured naturalism of our daily environment.” -Glenn Willumson, Director, Gaduate Program in Museum Studies, College of Fine Arts, University of Florida EAST BAY EXPRESS – NEW YORK TIMES INC., December 9, 2003, Review by Greg Palmer November 26, 2003, Review by Annie Rufus "David Paul Bayles' quirkily haunting photographs in Urban Forest reveal the heroism of trees that live among humans".