Harvey Green's authoritative and fascinating book explores wood's natural and human history, celebrates its myriad forms and possibilities, and suggests the crucial roles wood has played in an extraordinary range of human endeavours. Wood matters in the human scheme, and Green understands it both as a historian and as a woodworker, whether he's admiring the humble utility of plywood or the flights of fancy unleashed by the prized whorls of bird's-eye maple. This book has rewards for all those who prize wood as a substance, appreciate its amazing history, or are concerned about its future.