Wood: The Internal Optimization of Trees

Rating:
Summary: Beyond 'Understanding Wood'
Review: 'Wood, the internal optimization of trees' is an excellent book for those who want to understand how the mechanical properties of wood come about, but only for those readers who are somewhat theoretically minded. For the practical purpose of how to handle wood and to predict how a given piece of wood will behave R.Bruce Hoadley's 'Understanding Wood' is the book to read and to have. For those who want to go beyond the directly practical this is the book. It is reasonably easy to read, at least for those who remember some physics from high school, especially because it is lavishly illustrated with clarifying drawings. The book takes a look at the mechanical forces that trees are subject to and explains how the tree counters by optimizing its wood to deal with those forces. It does this at several levels, from the tree as a whole down to the orientation of microfibrils in the cell wall. By looking at a tree as a mechanical machine it complements explanations of a tree as a machine to transports fluids, such as put forth by Zimmerman e.a.

Note that this book is one of several by Mattheck e.a. which all have the same basic content, and even the same drawings, but which differ in the groups targeted. There is a very similar one aimed at those involved in tree upkeep, which shows how defects in trees can be diagnosed from looking at the tree, the patterns in the bark, etc.

However, this book is definitely the one to read for those primarily interested in wood, and its mechanical properties. It might well be destined to become a classic in its field!