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Slow Wood

Greener Building from Local Forests

By: Brian Donahue

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Hardcover | 26 November 2024 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover
296 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.49 x 15.55 x 2.7

Hardcover

$56.95

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A counterintuitive proposal for healing the relationship between humans and forests through responsible, sustainable use of local wood in home building

American homes are typically made of lumber and plywood delivered by a global system of ruthless extraction, or of concrete and steel, which are even worse for the planet. Wood is often the most sustainable material for building, but just as we desperately need houses, so do we need to protect and promote diverse forests.

Brian Donahue addresses this modern conundrum by documenting his experiences building a timber frame home from the wood growing on his family farm, practicing "worst first" forestry. Through the stories of the trees he used (sugar maple, black cherry, black birch, and hemlock), and some he didn't (white pine and red oak), the book also explores the history of Americans' relationship with their forests.

Donahue provides a new interpretation of the connection between American houses and local woodlands. He delves into how this bond was broken by the rise of a market economy of industrial resource extraction and addresses the challenge of restoring a more enduring relationship. Ultimately, this book provides a blueprint and a stewardship plan for how to live more responsibly with the woods, offering a sustainable approach to both forestry and building centered on tightly connected ecological and social values.

Industry Reviews

"Beautiful, insightful, and written for the ages, Slow Wood asks us to stop seeing the woods as a warehouse for future two by fours or a living painting. Instead, Brian Donahue asks us to use trees as the best way to know them, appreciate them, and conserve them."-Steven Stoll, author of Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia

"These are enjoyable and very much informative tales of one family's journey along the right path. Using local wood, timber framing, and masonry heaters, does it get any better?"-Jack A. Sobon, author of Hand Hewn: The Traditions, Tools, and Enduring Beauty of Timber Framing

"Brian Donahue makes a passionate and innovative case for the responsible use of forests as a place to ground a sustainable future."-Nancy Langston, author of Climate Ghosts and Sustaining Lake Superior

"Slow Wood is an honest and elegantly written work that explains the tie between forest use and house construction, and shows how to live more productive, less environmentally costly, and more beautiful lives."-Mark Fiege, author of The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States

"An engaging and thought-provoking insight into nature, community, and human responsibility to both that draws from Donahue's deep knowledge of history, ecology, and conservation and lifelong commitment to working and living the land of farms and forests."-David R. Foster, author of A Meeting of Land and Sea: Nature and the Future of Martha's Vineyard

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