bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

The Guardian

Norwegian Wood
by Lars Mytting
MacLehose Press

It is intriguing that for decades “wooden” has been a decidedly pejorative description. Now, at last, wood is being rehabilitated. More than that: it is suddenly fashionable, and Norwegian Wood has become one of the most uplifting publishing stories of 2015.
A simple, elegant book about how to fell trees – about how to move the timber and then split and stack the logs in the most efficient, aesthetic ways – it has at last been translated into English and is one of those books, full of lush, earthy photos, that people seem to become almost evangelical about.
The reason for its appeal is clear: in this depressing age of bombs and bullets, of financial instability and screen-mediated reality, there is something honest, solid and reassuringly ancient about wood. As Lars Mytting says about the woodpile: “Its share price doesn’t fall on the stock market. It won’t rust. It won’t sue for divorce. It just stands there and does one thing: it waits for winter. An investment account reminding you of all the hard work you’ve put into it.”
Mytting makes a convincing case for the superiority of wood compared to other forms of heating: the glass doors of stoves radiate heat, he says, and the flames and glowing embers release electromagnetic, infrared radiation rather like sunlight, bringing “a feeling of well-being and security”. The intake of oxygen encourages air circulation and the stoves absorb dust. Add the smell of woodsmoke, and the hypnotic dance of the flames, and one understands “the primordial magic of the fireplace”. Something we actually need, he quips, really does grow on trees.
The book is a sort of how-to guide for amateur and professional, alike. There is plenty of intriguing advice about clever ways to move logs using nature: sliding a trunk on ice or, the oldest and easiest means of transport, floating it on water.
There are many great tips, such as the old Norwegian habit of smearing the ends of chopped logs with snow: the morning sun melts it, and come nightfall it will freeze, stretching apart the fibres so that it cleaves with the first blow of your axe.
There is lots of folklore too. In Scandinavia, he says, it is common wisdom that you can tell a lot about a person from their log store, and women looking for a potential husband would always investigate how he stacked his wood.
The Guardian


Book review: Norwegian Wood captures the allure of a woodpile

shutterstock_337625729.jpg This handout image show Mountain rural house with stone roof and firewood. IMAGE BY © SHUTTERSTOCK [03JANUARY2016 THE REVIEW BOOKS REVIEW]

This handout image shows Lars Mytting. PHOTO / HANDOUT [03JANUARY2016 THE REVIEW BOOKS REVIEW]

This handout image shows a cover from the books ' Norwegian Wood ' by Lars Mytting. PHOTO / HANDOUT [03JANUARY2016 THE REVIEW BOOKS REVIEW]

Chopped wood, the fascinating subject of Lars Mytting’s book. Photo: Corbis

Book review: Thomas Pakenham's lyrical chronicle of a year spent planting and pursuing trees is a delight

One of the Green Man carvings that Thomas Pakenham commissioned for Tullynally, his ancestral estate in Ireland. 

Magnolia blossom, one of the delights of the world of trees, about which Pakenham writes with true devotion.

An 18th-century beech at Tullynally.

Parts of Tullynally are open to visitors.

Pakenham on a trip to the Himalayas.

'Tree massacre' fears from experts as Hong Kong introduces tree handbook of rules for building managers

The falling tree on Robinson Road killed a pregnant woman last year. Photo: Sam Tsang

Picture shows the trees were cut down on Friday night and the unannounced government move triggered protests over the weekend. The cutting down of trees on Bonham Road was like a "summary execution". Photo: Sam Tsang

Tracking the health of Hong Kong's trees: an interactive map

Lifestyle

Culture

Books

Lars Mytting’s unusual bestseller is a song of praise to an honest, solid and reassuringly ancient world


Book review: Norwegian Wood captures the allure of a woodpile

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Lars Mytting’s unusual bestseller is a song of praise to an honest, solid and reassuringly ancient world

Lars Mytting’s unusual bestseller is a song of praise to an honest, solid and reassuringly ancient world