The Encyclopedia of Wood: A Tree-By-Tree Guide to the World's Most Valuable Resource

by Aidan Walker, John Makepeace, Bill Lincoln, et al.

Book Overview

This reference work portrays the range of qualities and uses of over 150 of the world's most popular and frequently used types of wood. Arranged alphabetically, the book details the anatomy and life... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816021597
• ISBN13: 9780816021598
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Checkmark Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 2.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 10.4" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

Wood properties

This book is loaded with facts about wood and its preservation. Also, the pictures of various woods are outstanding. It is better than four other books (similar ones) THAT I LOOKED AT It is very useful

Good Photographic Reference for Preliminary Identification

This book fills the need for a color reference that can quickly help in the identification of both softwoods and hardwoods. The charts showing the home range of the species greatly helps with ID. I highly recommend this book for use by the interested layman. The color photographs, while small, are a great aid to wood identification for the non-professional. It is an excellent resource. Scotty Drye, Wood Scientist

Excellent book for the money, but ...

To start, this is a very nice book, lots of nice pictures of things made from wood, location shots, and as much information as almost anyone would want to know about wood, in general. My problem is with the title word "Encyclopedia". "Thorough Introduction" would have been a better choice. As for the individual woods covered, the author selected about 150 which he expanded on nicely. Considering the thousands of woods in the world, 150 could hardly be considered encyclopedic (unless of course this was just volume one). There is a mixture of common and very obscure woods. I can only assume there was a reason behind the selection process. There was also a considerable bias toward European wood over the western hemisphere. The wood ID photos seemed a bit small at 1.25 inches square (about 3.3 centimeters for the Europeans). So to sum up: excellent photos (except the tiny wood examples), lots of interesting information, reasonable price, wish there were more woods covered (which would have obviously impacted the price). Knowing what I know now, would I still have bought the book? Yes.

Great coffee table book. Nice photos. Basic information.

While the book could have been a little more dense it was a good read overall. I would have liked to have seen more focus on North American hardwoods, but that aside the book was very informative. About 150 different woods are described in detail with acompaning pictures. There is also a nice section on fine furniture. This book is an excellent introduction into the world of wood working and would make a fine gift for anyone with even a passing interest in that direction.

A truly excellent book

This is a truly comprehensive encyclopedia, liberally illustrated with large photographs--a must for any wood lover. It includes precise descriptions of grain, pattern, figure and color, as well as the relevant harvesting locations, processes and uses. Interesting historical tidbits also add to its richness. Attributes such as stiffness, density, workability, crushing strength, and hardness are specified for each wood. It is a remarkable and beautiful book that I STRONGLY recommend.