Oak: The Frame of Civilization

By: William B Logan

320 pages, Illus

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.

Click to have a closer look

ISBN: 9780393327786 Paperback Aug 2006 Out of stock with supplier: order now to get this when available
£12.99
#160869

Price: £12.99

About this book Customer reviews Biography

Images Additional images

About this book

The oak tree is found throughout the temperate zones of the world; knowing how to use it has made an astonishing difference to human history. Acorn-eating has sustained humans and animals; oak has been central to religious rites, heating, homemaking and travel by land and sea; the ink from oak galls advanced the written word; oak casks have made possible food and drink storage and transport; oak ships have fought the dramatic naval battles that determined political and economic history. William Briant Logan combines science, philosophy, spirituality and history with a quirky curiosity about why the natural world works the way it does. In lively literary prose, he narrates the biography of the tree that since time immemorial has been a symbol of loyalty and strength, generosity and renewal.

Customer Reviews

Review this book

Biography

William Bryant Logan is a certified arborist and award-winning writer. He previously wrote a column for the New York Times and contributed to numerous gardening magazines.

By: William B Logan

320 pages, Illus

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.

Media reviews

His underpinning achievement in this book is to make us appreciate just how central one family of trees has been to a whole spectrum of human activities and achievements... wise and excellent... Mark Cocker, The Times Literary Supplement * "There is no talk of hugging trees in the extraordinary little book, Oak: The Frame of Civilization, but I feel sure that Logan is a tree-hugger." Stephen Anderton, Literary Review * "A dazzling book, full of knowledge and rare wisdom, too." Thomas Pakenham"

Current promotions