- 1981 edition. 224 pages
- Published by Simon & Schuster, USA
- Hardcover with dust jacket. Green boards. Large - approx A4 size - book.
- Very good condition. Minor scuffs to dust jacket. Small owner ex libris stamp on title page.
Indexed and Illustrated. Foreword by Hugh Jonson.
This book, an enthralling journey of exploration through the forests and jungles of the six continents, is the first to examine and celebrate the beauty, uniqueness, and crucial importance of all the world's forests.
The forest has always been vital to man's survival - for shelter, for building, for food and medicine. For thousands of years, the forest was treated as an endless resource, ultimately providing the very foundations of industries on which empires were built.
The International Book of the Forest begins with the tree, and explains how the forest works, covering photosynthesis, plants and animals, soil, and the elemental cycles that sustain nature's balance.
All aspects of man's relationships with the forest through history are examined, including the critical role forests play in the worlds ecosystem and the influence that the forest resource has on industrial, economic and social affairs from the first civilizations to the present day.
The forests themselves are then explored - in Asia, Africa, Australasia, Europe and North and South America - as coniferous forests, tropical forests, temperate woodlands, and island forests. Their trees, plants, wildlife and special characters are distilled and captured.
A complete inventory of the products derived from the forest concludes the fascinating journey, and includes not only timber, paper, plastics, rubber, cork, and other products, but food from the forest, recreation and the forest as a future resource.
Meticulously researched, superbly written and illustrated with stunning photographs, drawings and maps - most of them in full colour.
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