Customer Reviews

A Forest Journey: The Role of Wood in the Development of Civilization

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A Forest Journey first reminds us of the absolute importance of wood to human history: how much we have depended on wood for our very existence:

"Throughout the ages trees have provided the material to make fire, the heat of which has allowed our species to reshape the earth for its use. With heat from wood fires, relatively cold climates became habitable; inedible grains were changed into a major source of food; clay could be converted into pottery, serving as useful containers to store goods; people could extract metal from stone, revolutionizing the implements used in agriculture, crafts, and warfare; the builders could make durable construction materials such as brick, cement, lime, plaster, and tile for housing and storage facilities....

"Transportation would have been unthinkable without wood. Until the nineteenth century every ship, from Bronze Age coaster to the frigate, was built with timber. Every cart, chariot, and wagon was also made primarily of wood. Early steamboats and railroad locomotives in the United States used wood as their fuel...

"Wood was also used for the beams that propped up mine shafts and formed supports for every type of building. Water wheels and windmills ­ the major means of mechanical power before electricity was harnessed ­ were built of wood. The peasant could not farm without wooden tool handles or wood plows; the soldier could not throw his spear or shoot his arrows without their wooden shafts, or hold his gun without its wooden stock. What would the archer have done lacking wood for his bow; the brewer and vintner, without wood for their barrels and casks; or the woolen industry, without wood for its looms?"

Perlin then thoroughly documents how all past nations declined once their forests were depleted. Today, with the world's forests in jeopardy, A Forest Journey provides much needed information that can help us avoid another needless repetition of history.

This is one of the most important books I have ever read.

The relevance for our times of this highly engaging history of how the earliest civilizations to late 19th-century America have exploited wood (primarily as fuel, then as building material) and cleared forests cannot be overstated. Again and again, Perlin shows that the tragedy of the commons repeats itself throughout the patterns of human history, and the cycle has continued to the present day when we have the choice to break it by developing renewable, clean energy.

Beginning with the Mesopotamians, and continuing unabated to the present day, civilizations have access to forests previously admired and considered sacred. Greed for economic gain and/or military power, not the necessities of life (for which the forests amply provide) motivates Man to cut down forests at an increasingly alarming pace, as everyone wants to get in on the profits. Enormous quantities of wood are often cut down to produce a small quantum of finished products, such as a few kilograms of iron or refined sugar. The exploitation of forests is almost completely unregulated until it is too late for governments to do much about it. Often governments themselves dismiss or respond insufficiently to concerns by educated citizens, who warn of economic and ecological devastation if the free-for-all logging continues. And often this is because government members are well-placed to make personal profits from the wood/fuel trade. The individual cutters don't think to replant what they have taken, or even to spare saplings and young trees - why, when there's so much of it for oneself? Within several hundred years, there is little or no wood left (the latter situation was more common). The civilization declines for environmental devastation (such as large-scale erosion) and lack of fuel (as they are no longer able to compete with other civilizations and their militaries who still have access to wood, and there is little or no wood left for basic necessities such as heating and cooking). We see that the only civilizations which have exploited wood on a large scale and yet escaped this cycle were the modern-day civilizations that began to rely on coal and other polluting fuels, such as Industrial Revolution-era Britain, and eventually the United States of America.

The book goes into far more detail than this, crammed with information on the key role wood has played in wars, alliances, the building of civilizations, the power of civilizations and, again, their decline.

I found this book fascinating and read it from cover to cover. Its relevance for today is in showing us that fuel shortage problems are nothing new, and that the survival of civilizations has always depended on fuel not running out, and likely always will, for as long as we aspire to live beyond the bare necessities of life. Our present-day civilizations are no exception, but as we all know, the human population and therefore the human need is much higher than it ever has been before, and many of us are not aware of the ecological implications of our lifestyles, as we are so far removed from the natural ecology in cities. But we can make a difference before it is too late. Not only is an awareness of history a wake-up call if we choose to educate ourselves, which would encourage us to live more wisely in taking care of the environment around us, but environmentally-friendly fuel technologies are emerging for us to live at an even higher level of comfort and health than ever before.

The author, along with his Nobel-prize winning collaborators at UCSB, Drs. Walter Kohn and Alan Heeger, are avid researchers and promoters of solar and other renewable energy sources: watch this space! The author is also affiliated with a great website promoting solar energy, explaining solar technology and delving into some of the history of solar energy use (which goes back to the time of the ancient Greeks!): www.californiasolarcenter.org.

I cannot recommend this book more highly. We all live in a world which continues to be so unwisely exploited on our behalf that it could mean the decline of us all - this book is therefore essential reading for every single person in our time.

A Forest Journey should be required reading in every school. It thoroughly documents the absolute importance of wood to human history and how all nations declined once their forests were depleted. In his introduction, John Perlin reminds us of something taken for granted: the importance of wood to our very existence...At a time when we have lost touch with the basis of much that makes us human, this book can help us avoid the downfalls suffered by nations that have gone before us. As Lily Tomlin supposedly said, "If we would just pay attention, history wouldn't have to keep repeating itself."

Perlin's Forest Journey traces civilizations from the Fertile Crescent to Colonial North America and how their rise and fall is related to the health of their forests. His knowledge of history is extensive and his writing style is enjoyable. The surprise is that we have yet to learn the lessons of history.

This book is what is says it is: the story of wood and civilization. That sounds a bit odd, but you will be amazed to see how many ways wood contributed to the growth of civilization, as fuel, material for houses, ships and wagons, as support for digging mines, molds for crafting other materials, and so on. Only when coal and oil become available as alternative fuels, and especially when coal can be used to smelt and forge iron, does wood recede somewhat in importance.

The basic structure of the story is simple. Some city or state develops because it has ready access to forests. It eventually destroys the forests, with no thought of the future. At that point, it goes abroad to purchase or conquer new lands with virgin forests. But someone in those new lands manages to build up their own civilization and defeat the old-timers. The new civilization then repeats the pattern.

The first half of the book tells this story in a lively but necessarily superficial way for ancient civilizations from Mesopotamia to Rome. Presumably something similar was happening in China, India, and the New World civilizations of the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas, but we hear very little about those. The stories are compelling, and they will make you see these civilizations in a new light.

The second half of the book focuses on England, some New World colonies such as Madeira and Brazil, and the United States. These chapters become much more detailed - - we meet individual foresters, iron forgers, and learn about particular pieces of legislation. Here Perlin has written a much more traditional history, with a less vigorous story.

Thus, the two halves of the book are unbalanced: the first half sweeping, the second half unnecessarily detailed. Perlin also gives no thought to case selection: why talk about England and not Sweden? Why not Russia? Without such considerations about the overall structure of his narrative, he tends to give us a collection of anecdotes more than a compelling argument.

Oddly, the book leaves off exactly where you wish it would continue. Perlin gives only passing attention to 20th-century forest policy in the United States. US forests have grown in size over this century, even as the Forest Service and private landowners have clearcut huge swaths of our forests. Is this an example of successful management, or not? Why or why not?

Perlin should provide a similar analysis of tropical deforestation today. Will Brazil, Indonesia, and others follow the US example and reforest their lands a few decades after clearing them? Or will the follow the example of civilizations such as Persia and end up trying to survive in denuded semi-deserts?

Those are the real questions for such a book, and it is a shame that Perlin did not address them.

This book is an amazing find. After reading it several years ago we have been giving it as a gift to everyone we know. You will not be able to put it down once you start reading it. So thoughly researched, it will change the entire way you think about the role or forests and trees in the history of man.

This book is a study on the rise and fall of civilizations, as caused by their management of wood resources, or in other words energy resources. Perlin tells a convincing tale on what makes a civilization tick. This is a very good book to read for anybody who cares about what the world is coming to, and perhaps even for those who don't. It is filled with fascinating historical material.

The limitations of the book are that Perlin is not as great a storyteller as DC Peattie (many of the stories here would make a sweeping tale in the hands of a truly gifted writer) and that the choice of civilizations treated is very much oriented towards the US.

I've read a number of books on the subject of humanity's relationship to forest and have gotten used to putting them down wishing for more depth.

Or wishing that the book would stay on topic.

I didn't with this book.

This book is right up there with Jared Diamond's "Collapse" in its breadth. From the ancients to the present, "Forest Journey" makes the reader aware of an much overlooked fact: the momentousness of wood.

"Forest" goes out on a limb several times to point out a probable link between several civilization's decline and their declining forests.

As an American, you cannot read this book without coming away seeing your country not so much addicted to oil as it is to wood.

If you have ever wondered about western civilization, this book is absolutely essential. What exactly is it and how is it different from what came before? How has it spread and why? You will not be bored with densely packed trivialities and dates in this history book. Rather, you will get a truly enlightening overview of what, exactly, has been happening to our planet and the people who have lived on it for the last 8,000 to 10,000 years. It is an absolutely fascinating and therapeutic read.

This is a truly empowering book for those who seek to understand current world affairs. My worldview has been radically altered and things that perplexed me before now seem quite simple to understand. There is absolutely no reason to be surprised about the current U.S. military/industrial situation in regards to oil. The U.S. is doing what all empires have done before, from Sumer to Istanbul to Rome to Cairo to Venice to Amsterdam to London to D.C. Although energy has always equalled timber before the last century, the game is unchanged: the monopolization of energy. This book is powerful because it demonstrates obvious trends that I have never really encountered before and makes connections that are self-evident to provide an coherent view of world affairs that cannot be forgotten once it is grasped.

I would recommend reading Howard Kunstler's "The Long Emergency" and "The Upside of Down" by Thomas Homer-Dixon before or after this book. These three books together have really opened my eyes and have provided an excellent platform for contemplating the future of our planet and its nations.

This is a game changer. If you want actionable intelligence, read this book. You will be a much more effective citizen for the effort.

Perlin's book is an ambitious overview of the use of wood in world civilization. Therein lies the both the book's strengths and weaknesses. Like any work that attempts to do a global history, inevitably some regions and some eras get very short shrift. Still, A Forest Journey is interesting, and well worth reading by anyone with an interest in environmental or forest history.