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Books on Wooden House:
Wood: Craft, Culture, History
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Manufacturer: Viking Adult
List Price: $27.95
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Average Customer Ratings:
A superbly entertaining, wide-ranging investigation of wood through history, culture, art, and science
We build our houses with it, burn it for warmth, carve it for beauty, sail in it, sit on it, play with it, and fight with it—yet how much do we really understand about the history and culture of wood? In this rich and fascinating book, Harvey Green examines how wood in all its variety of form and function has contributed to an extraordinary range of human endeavors.
Wood reveals the history and culture of a substance that has been a central part of human life throughout the world for thousands of years. From the prized whorls of bird’s-eye maple to the oak and pine that made navies and empires, from the breathtaking stave churches of Norway to the enduring popularity of the Windsor chair, from the magic of turning to the grace of a Chinese chair, and from the botany of the baseball bat to the stunning carving of Native Americans of the northwest coast, Wood decodes how a seemingly common material has come to signal class, status, and authenticity. Using the historian’s craft and the woodworker’s hand, Green has fashioned an authoritative book sure to interest all who love this amazing material, appreciate its history, and care about its future.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS:
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 620.12
EAN: 9780670038015
ISBN: 0670038016
Label: Viking Adult
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 496
Publication Date: 2006-10-19
Publisher: Viking Adult
Studio: Viking Adult
SIMILAR ITEMS:
• A Splintered History of Wood: Belt Sander Races, Blind Woodworkers, and Baseball Bats
• The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter
• Oak: The Frame of Civilization
• Understanding Wood: A Craftsman's Guide to Wood Technology
• What Wood Is That?: A Manual of Wood Identification (Studio Book)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS:
Excellent overview -
I can appreciate the other reviews criticisms that this is an ambitious book. Green seems quite conscious of this fact in his writing. Instead of making an attempt to cover every complexity of the topic, he selects several diverse examples to demonstrate the ubiquity and importance of wood.
This work is worth a read for any craftsman or student of material culture.
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Overambitious? -
This book addresses a huge topic, so huge it is difficult to review a book on it. FWIW a few notes:
The easiest way to approach the topic is by organizing it around good illustrations: in this book the illustrations are limited to line-drawings and b&w photographs, printed on the same paper (not glossy) as the text. The illustrations do add to the book but not all that much.
Some browsing proves to be rather hurtful: whenever the author touches on an aspect I know something about I am noticing mistakes. By this time I have come to accept that a book like this will muff the distinction between hard- and softwoods, but it also happens when the author discusses more mundane matters.
All in all, I would recommend finding a copy of "The International Book of Wood" rather than buying this.
Material issues -
An interesting book which is difficult to pigeon-hole in any particular category. Not precisely a history book, yet it examines the history of wood, and its importance and symbolism to different times and cultures. I found it a little long winded, and yet there is much of interest here, such as the history of wood in sporting equipment, hunting and war weapons, housing, religion, furniture, musical instruments, etc. Chock a block full of quaint facts and sharp insight, I would recommend this book. One of those books which will make you appreciate much of the world around you normally taken for granted.
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