02596cam a2200301 i 4500 449640582 TxAuBib 20201222120000.0 201014s2020||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u bl2020068791 9781982114732 HRD 28.00 1982114738 HRD 28.00 TxAuBib rda Ennos, A. R. The Age of wood [BOOK] : our most useful material and the construction of civilization / Roland Ennos. First Scribner hardcover edition. New York : Scribner, 2020. xvi, 318 pages, [8] unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier As the dominant species on Earth, humans have made astonishing progress since our ancestors came down from the trees. But how did the descendants of small primates manage to walk upright, become top predators, and populate the world? How were humans able to develop civilizations and produce a globalized economy? Now, in The Age of Wood, Roland Ennos shows for the first time that the key to our success has been our relationship with wood. Brilliantly synthesizing recent research with existing knowledge in fields as wide-ranging as primatology, anthropology, archaeology, history, architecture, engineering, and carpentry, Ennos reinterprets human history and shows how our ability to exploit wood’s unique properties has profoundly shaped our bodies and minds, societies, and lives. He takes us on a sweeping ten-million-year journey from Southeast Asia and West Africa where great apes swing among the trees, build nests, and fashion tools; to East Africa where hunter gatherers collected their food; to the structural design of wooden temples in China and Japan; and to Northern England, where archaeologists trace how coal enabled humans to build an industrial world. Addressing the effects of industrialization—including the use of fossil fuels and other energy-intensive materials to replace timber—The Age of Wood not only shows the essential role that trees play in the history and evolution of human existence, but also argues that for the benefit of our planet we must return to more traditional ways of growing, using, and understanding trees. Provided by publisher. 20201222. Wood. Trees. Woodwork History. Building, Wooden History.