Timber - What life is made of

Rose Martin picks up a copy of William Hall’s latest block buster, which frames the building materials that make up our world. This time he concentrates on timber.

Even the cover of this stunning, coffee table book has the texture of wood, the material that is the subject of the latest volume from William Hill, and follows on his successful overview of other basic construction materials in Concrete and Brick.

And in the first paragraph of an introduction by Richard Mabey, (broadcaster and journalist who covers the conjunction between nature and culture), the essence is encapsulated in the story of an freak event some years ago when a 200-year beech was blown over onto a 400-year old timber-framed farmhouse in Mabey’s village.