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Oak: The Frame of Civilization | 
 enlarge | Author: William Bryant Logan
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $9.49
You Save: $6.46 (41%)
New (31) Used (10) from $8.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 174406
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0393327787
Dewey Decimal Number: 634.9721
EAN: 9780393327786
ASIN: 0393327787
Publication Date: July 24, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW
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Product Description
From ink to sailing ships, a biography of the essential tree. "A dazzling book, full of knowledge and rare wisdom, too."—Thomas Pakenham, author of Remarkable Trees of the World
Professional arborist and award-winning nature writer William Bryant Logan deftly relates the delightful history of the reciprocal relationship between humans and oak trees since time immemorial—a profound link that has almost been forgotten. From the ink of Bach's cantatas, to the first boat to reach the New World, to the wagon, the barrel, and the sword, oak trees have been a constant presence throughout our history. In fact, civilization prospered where oaks grew, and for centuries these supremely adaptable, generous trees have supported humankind in nearly every facet of life. "With an unabashed enthusiasm for his subject" (Carol Haggas, Booklist) Logan combines science, philosophy, spirituality, and history with a contagious curiosity about why the natural world works the way it does. At once humorous and reverent, "this splendid acknowledgment of a natural marvel" (Publishing News) reintroduces the oak tree so that we might see its vibrant presence throughout our history and our modern world. 30 illustrations.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Compelling creative non-fiction read December 27, 2007
William Logan, in "Oak: The Frame of Civliztion," creates a vivid and compelling portrait of of the ubiquitous oak tree, including its botanical history, as well as its cultural one. Well paced, engaging, and well illustrated, I unequivocally recommend this book.
Well-Burnished Love of Knowledge May 27, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
A sweeping traversal of the oak's progress through history side by side with humankind, Logan's book is a far more satisfying essay in ethnobotany than many books aimed at a general audience. His deep knowledge of botany, forest history, and civilization informs every page. His prose is fluid and nuanced, and he interweaves his themes in wholly satisfying fashion.
Read this book through, and it will always be with you February 6, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is most like the "New Yorker" at it's best. Which was when a writer looks at some prosaic part of life and opens his eye wide; then writes about it clearly, with the full power and the real art of a bright and deep understanding of the utter complex beauty of the seemingly simple. Mr Logan, please do more.
Fascinating May 5, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is a book that I would have liked to have written myself! It is a wonderful tale about the place of oaks throughout civilization. I found the linking of so many European family names to oaks and other trees very fascinating. The descriptions of the wooden structures, coppicing, early inks, acorns as food, oaks as foundation for many early technologies, and many other details brought a richness to the history of our ancestors and the beginnings of civilization. I live in an oak-hickory region of the eastern U.S., and this book has given me a greater appreciation of our national treasure.
 Oaks Compose the Frame of Civilization. November 19, 2005
6 out of 18 found this review helpful
No tree has been more useful to human beings than the oak. In most of the temperate world, oak is the primary, the 'titular tree of the forest.' What is most impressive about the oaks is that you can go from Massachusetts to Mexico City and find them readily available. When all the other trees were cut down to make room for farm fields, some of the oaks were left to make the boundaries.
The PTA uses the oak leaf and acorn as their symbol of strength and ability to endure. There are many different types of oak, like the California white oak, the Valley Oak, the Live Oak in the South; the Angel Oak in North Carolina is a version of the live oak with hollow trunks making it the easiest wood to split and shape. Memory, reason, and skill wove a world of oak. The people understood, valued, and worshipped the tree that was 'their most intimate compannion' and source of much of thier livelihood.
An illustration shows the different acorns, from the Northern Red Oak, Black Jack Oak, Sawtooth Oak, Scarlet & White Oaks, and the Holm Oak. The first oak was discovered in Thailand; sine then, they have spread to Europe, Asia, North America, and Mexico. He gives an analogy to the Eiffel Tower and an oak as being their internal structures. Eiffel used a skeleton of iron with an empty space to create a form similar to the sixty-five-million-year history of the oaks. The Eiffel Tower is one large skeltal iron cone. The mature oak is composed of hundreds and hundreds of cones from the roots, trunk, to the branches. They are similar in strength and strength, and yet dissimilar as to the reason for their being on this earth.
William Bryant Logan has previously written DIRT: THE ECSTATIC SKIN OF THE EARTH. "A great tree infuses empty space with memory and turns it into a place." On a summer day, it is up to ten degrees cooler in the shade of a great oak. They were removed from the Whittle Compound which the U.S. Govt. now calls their own because of the roots, I was told, and after a big hullaboloo from some of the citizens, replaced with the dogwood. This town does not like trees or birds, and more and more asphalt pavement is replacing the cooling branches of trees which create oxygen. Thanks to my years of volunteer work for the PTA, I have grown to appreciate the tall, strong Oak tree for all it means to such a magnificent organization.
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