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73 reviews for:
The Age of Wood: Mankind's Most Useful Material and the Construction of Civilization
Roland Ennos
3.55 AVERAGE
73 reviews for:
The Age of Wood: Mankind's Most Useful Material and the Construction of Civilization
Roland Ennos
3.55 AVERAGE
Dnf at page 117 when a book about the history of wood gave only a passing glance to the boatbuilders of Polynesia. Also after harping on about the greatness of metallurgy and European boat builders for the majority of the chapter.
The strongest part of this book was the beginning. I really enjoyed the fist couple chapters and was happy that Ennos really did start at the beginning of time when discussing the uses of wood. For some reason, I was expecting this book to focus just on the history of wood, but there was quite a bit of science mixed in, which I liked.
The book slowly went downhill for me though. I think metals were focused on too much. I get that wood is used when melting metals down, but I didn’t need a lengthy discussion of everything that metal was then used for. And this discussion happens several times as Ennos moves through time and more metals are discovered.
The deforestation discussion was also really disappointing. The way that it’s written makes it seem like Ennos believes that deforestation is a myth. Which it is not. But really the only thing that Ennos discusses in relation to deforestation is soil erosion, but that is only one of many effects from deforestation.
While this book isn’t very long, just over 300 pages, I think most people will struggle to finish it. It’s not an exciting read, which I think is expected, but I think this really is written for a niche market.
Thanks to Scribner and Ennos for providing me a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
The book slowly went downhill for me though. I think metals were focused on too much. I get that wood is used when melting metals down, but I didn’t need a lengthy discussion of everything that metal was then used for. And this discussion happens several times as Ennos moves through time and more metals are discovered.
The deforestation discussion was also really disappointing. The way that it’s written makes it seem like Ennos believes that deforestation is a myth. Which it is not. But really the only thing that Ennos discusses in relation to deforestation is soil erosion, but that is only one of many effects from deforestation.
While this book isn’t very long, just over 300 pages, I think most people will struggle to finish it. It’s not an exciting read, which I think is expected, but I think this really is written for a niche market.
Thanks to Scribner and Ennos for providing me a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Trees and other trees, if you like deep dives into obscure areas of knowledge then this book is for you.
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
The first half dragged quite a bit but it picked up a lot more by the end (relatively speaking). Very informative.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Interesting and well researched book. It starts in prehistoric times and uses that as a really strong set up on how man has been influenced by wood, taken advantage of wood and excelled because of wood.
I have to admit, I read this based on the cover without reading any information about it. I was mostly disappointed because I thought that it would be a microhistory of the uses of different kinds of wood. It was still interesting, just a much wider scope than I was looking for.
This might as well be titled “The History of Humanity” as wood and trees have enabled us to be who we are. Wood is the Rodney Dangerfield of commodities. It gets no respect. Age of Wood is the Age of Man. We are a lignocentric people.
The author traces our movement from the trees to hunter gatherers and farmers while using wood for tools, shelter, heat, and weapons. Even when iron and bronze came into fashion they stimulated demand for wood and were used to make wood even more useful. During the Iron Age wood dominated people’s lives. Iron enabled us to do more with wood. Wooden barrels were the equivalent of today’s tin cans, plastic bottles, and shipping containers.
There’s an interesting discussion of wood imposing conservative values. Ancient knowledge was revered at the expense of growth and confidence in the present. Guilds stifled innovation and dissemination of information. Mistakes were repeated.
Lots of deforestation myths. There was no shortage of wood either. Wood distribution was the problem. Roads were limited. Rivers used to float wood. Why most of towns that grew were on rivers. Industry located in rural areas- that’s where the wood and minerals were. Coal changed things and the steam engine allowed industry to relocate away from rivers and rural areas.
Tree farming is a problem. Not natural. Monoculture. We’ve lost our attachment to the forest. Finland is the nation with the strongest forest culture. Trees have been with us since prehistory. When they are gone, we will be too.
The author traces our movement from the trees to hunter gatherers and farmers while using wood for tools, shelter, heat, and weapons. Even when iron and bronze came into fashion they stimulated demand for wood and were used to make wood even more useful. During the Iron Age wood dominated people’s lives. Iron enabled us to do more with wood. Wooden barrels were the equivalent of today’s tin cans, plastic bottles, and shipping containers.
There’s an interesting discussion of wood imposing conservative values. Ancient knowledge was revered at the expense of growth and confidence in the present. Guilds stifled innovation and dissemination of information. Mistakes were repeated.
Lots of deforestation myths. There was no shortage of wood either. Wood distribution was the problem. Roads were limited. Rivers used to float wood. Why most of towns that grew were on rivers. Industry located in rural areas- that’s where the wood and minerals were. Coal changed things and the steam engine allowed industry to relocate away from rivers and rural areas.
Tree farming is a problem. Not natural. Monoculture. We’ve lost our attachment to the forest. Finland is the nation with the strongest forest culture. Trees have been with us since prehistory. When they are gone, we will be too.
A good book that is well written and researched. Author did an excellent job as an overview, however, I felt that there was a lot more that could have been said about wood and how it shaped society and how society shaped it.
I'm a sucker for a single-item "history of" books. The best books of this nature, I've found, are those that are telling a *story* of the history versus those that are simply a history. Books like Salt (Mark Kulansky) or Longitude (Dava Sobel) are terrific examples of the narrative nonfiction that will pull the reader in to the world of the subject, riding along like a time traveler following a single strand of history.
There were instances where I felt that same tug from The Age of Wood, but unfortunately, I found them to be rare. The book is still quite interesting, chasing down the use of wood over the centuries and to the current day, assuming you're interested in a rather dry overall tone.
Those with an acute interest in wood, or people just looking to learn something on the subject will likely be more willing to get through an almost textbook-like reading than the casual reader, and it's worth it, in my opinion. It's relatively short, which brought to my mind the question of whether the storytelling was not enough to push it to a longer page count and more relaxed narrative, or whether the publisher or author decided about 300 pages was all they were willing to venture into the subject. Either way, the book suffers for it.
There are numerous discussions of things built with wood versus metal, and a somewhat questionable (to me) passage about Amazonian deforestation, and into the modern time period, quite a bit of page count given over to metal - not what I was here for.
Overall, it isn't terrible, but it isn't great, for a book about a resource indispensable to humans ancient and modern, which I'd think is a fascinating topic.
Three out of five stars.
Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the review copy.
There were instances where I felt that same tug from The Age of Wood, but unfortunately, I found them to be rare. The book is still quite interesting, chasing down the use of wood over the centuries and to the current day, assuming you're interested in a rather dry overall tone.
Those with an acute interest in wood, or people just looking to learn something on the subject will likely be more willing to get through an almost textbook-like reading than the casual reader, and it's worth it, in my opinion. It's relatively short, which brought to my mind the question of whether the storytelling was not enough to push it to a longer page count and more relaxed narrative, or whether the publisher or author decided about 300 pages was all they were willing to venture into the subject. Either way, the book suffers for it.
There are numerous discussions of things built with wood versus metal, and a somewhat questionable (to me) passage about Amazonian deforestation, and into the modern time period, quite a bit of page count given over to metal - not what I was here for.
Overall, it isn't terrible, but it isn't great, for a book about a resource indispensable to humans ancient and modern, which I'd think is a fascinating topic.
Three out of five stars.
Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the review copy.