The Museum of the Wood Age

by Adams, Max | Humanities
Published 14/09/2023 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (Apollo) in the United Kingdom
Paperback | 464 pages, 60 integrated b&w
197 x 128 x 26mm | 358g

A passionate and imaginative exploration of wood - the material that shaped human history.

Wood - humankind's long-term partner in our evolution from woodland foragers to engineers of our own destiny - has no equal in strength, resilience, adaptability and availability.

The Museum of the Wood Age investigates the influence of basic devices - wedge, inclined plane, screw, lever, wheel, axle and pulley - to reveal the myriad ways in which wood has been worked throughout human history. From the simple bivouacs of hunter-gatherers to sophisticated wooden buildings such as stave churches; from the decorative arts to the humble woodworking of rustic furniture; Max Adams fashions a lattice of interconnected stories and objects that trace a path of human ingenuity across half a million years of history.