From Living Woods Issue 49 Keen camper, former Brownie and firm believer in the power of matches, DONNA CAMERON reviews The Art of Fire. THE ART OF FIRE Daniel Hume Arrow Books Paperback £9.99 ISBN: 978-1784758424 Daniel Hume’s book is a joy to look at with a stylish design. It’s a pick-up-and-browse kind of book…

From Living Woods Issue 49 Woodworker MAURICE PYLE reviews a Scandinavian classic, recently translated into English, Slöjd in Wood. SLÖJD IN WOOD Jögge Sundqvist Lost Art Press Even on a superficial level, there is nothing to dislike about this book, which is full of vibrant colour photographs, unique instructional hand-drawn black and white line drawings…

From Living Woods Issue 50 GOD’S TREES Trees, Forests and Wood in the Bible Julian Evans Patula Press 198 pages ISBN 978-1-84625-410-9   The second edition of Julian Evans’ absorbing book is slightly revised and updated with extra material. This is the first authoritative book to focus on arboreal imagery in the Bible, how it…

From Living Woods Issue 50 Woodland worker and no mean craftsman himself, RICHARD HARE casts an admiring eye over Ben Law’s new book on green woodworking. WOODLAND WORKSHOP Tools and Devices for Woodland Craft Ben Law GMC Publications 208 pages ISBN 978-1784943431   Ben Law’s latest offering is a nicely presented and personal account of…

From Living Woods Issue 50 AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 TREES Jonathan Drori Laurence King Publishing 240 pages 80 illustrations ISBN 978-1-78627-161-7 In this thoroughly engaging book – beautifully illustrated with pen-and-ink illustrations by French artist Lucille Clerc – Jonathan Drori makes a selection of 80 of the world’s 60,000 tree species, starting in the…

From Living Woods Issue 50 Woodland owner DUNCAN DAVIDSON is inspired by the long-term study of Lady Park Wood. WOODLAND DEVELOPMENT: A LONG-TERM STUDY OF LADY PARK WOOD George F. Peterken and Edward P. Mountford CAB International, 2017 302 pages with colour illustrations ISBN 978-1780648651   This book is about an unmanaged, ancient wood in…

From Living Woods Issue 50 CLARE GIBSON enjoys the arboreal and the artistic in this wide-ranging and beautifully illustrated survey of trees in art. TREES IN ART Charles Watkins Reaktion Books 256 pages 203 illustrations, 201 in colour ISBN 978-1-780239-309   No coffee-table book this, all flashy pictures and minimal text, which is not to…

From Living Woods Issue 50 Londoner ANGUS HANTON reviews Ghost Trees, which he thinks will be as ‘popular as the poplars in Poplar’. GHOST TREES Nature and People in a London Parish Bob Gilbert Saraband Books ISBN 978-1912235278   Bob Gilbert was parachuted into Poplar in the East End of London because his wife Jane…

From Living Woods issue 39 Not Just for Woodies Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way by Lars Mytting MacLehose Press Review by Angus Hanton   If men have two big secrets – porn and firewood – this book has at least given them permission to talk openly about the latter and…

Dirk Sporleder: Woodland management services in NE Scotland Dirk studied forestry in Germany (at the University of Applied Forest Sciences Rottenburg am Neckar, Baden Württemberg) and graduated as an Engineer for Forestry. His degree focused almost entirely on Continuous Cover Forestry. Since moving to Scotland in 2007, Dirk has planned and implemented the Perthshire Coppice…