A Forest Journey: The Story of Wood and Civilization

John Perlin

Sep 2005 · The Countryman Press

About this ebook

A contemporary view of the effects of wood, as used for building and fuel, and of deforestation on the development of civilization. Until the ascendancy of fossil fuels, wood has been the principal fuel and building material from the dawn of civilization. Its abundance or scarcity greatly shaped, as A Forest Journey ably relates, the culture, demographics, economy, internal and external politics, and technology of successive societies over the millennia.

The book's comprehensive coverage of the major role forests have played in human life--told with grace, fluency, imagination, and humor—gained it recognition as a Harvard Classic in Science and World History and as one of Harvard's "One-Hundred Great Books." Others receiving the honor include such luminaries as Stephen Jay Gould and E. O. Wilson. This new paperback edition will add a prologue and an epilogue to reflect the current situation in which forests have become imperative for humanity's survival.

About the author

John Perlin has also authored A Golden Thread: Twenty-Five Hundred Years of Solar Architecture and Technology (with Ken Butti) and From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity. He researched and wrote the narrative for the film Power from the Sun with Nobel Laureates Drs. Walter Kohn and Alan Heeger. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.