But he does talk about his passion, ash trees, with encyclopedic depth and you can feel his reverence for this particular brand of tree. It's a bit much at times, in a "we get it, ash is very useful and has been forever" kind of way, but the best bits of this book are the points where he meanders through an unkempt history of the way ash was used in such and such country or region, and it is overall interesting and informative. A eulogy to the importance of ash throughout human history . . . Fascinating (Tobias Jones Guardian)

Over the next two years he travelled across Britain, to Europe and the USA, to the workshops and barns of a generation of craftsmen committed to working in wood. He watched them make over 45 artefacts and tools that have been in continual use for centuries, if not millennia.There is some redundancy that was annoying. Structural & crushing strength of wood was one of these areas. He covered cell structure several times for the same reasons in arrows, tool handles, baseball bats. A eulogy to the importance of ash throughout human history . . . Fascinating’ – Tobias Jones, Guardian

this book is going to be expensive. I am fairly committed now, to learning how to turn bowls. On an electric lathe, though, not a footy. No one obsesses like the English. In this book, Penn gets it in his head to find a perfect Ash tree, cut it down, and have as many things possible crafted from it. You get to follow him through the woods of Wales where he resides, looking at stands of Ash trees, none quite right, until he finds his perfect 100 year old tree. Robert Penn cut down an ash tree to see how many things could be made from it. After all, ash is the tree we have made the greatest and most varied use of over the course of human history. Journeying from Wales across Europe and Ireland to the USA, Robert finds that the ancient skills and knowledge of the properties of ash, developed over millennia making wheels and arrows, furniture and baseball bats, are far from dead. The book chronicles how the urge to understand and appreciate trees still runs through us all like grain through wood. kept a more consistent depth among the various "technical" bits (sometimes it's very technical, sometimes you feel it could have been more exhaustive)Description: In 2012, Robert Penn felled (and replanted) a great ash from a Welsh wood. He set out to explore the true value of the tree of which we have made the greatest and most varied use in human history. How many things can be made from one tree? A soothing, somewhat rambling read that floats in the aether between something like travel writing and meditations on woodworking. Broadly inoffensive stylistically, and contains a number of tidbits of trivia about wood, woodworking and other related subjects. Reflections on the honest pleasures of craftsmanship make it all pretty easy to digest.

Penn is a fine writer, and the mix of research, reportage and personal reflection is persuasive . . . A lovely book (Ed Cumming Observer) There is something special about the stuff – using it, holding it, smelling it, walking around it – that connects us to our history and with which we risk losing touch. From his tree Penn has made a lovely book: part elegant history, part anxious lament. He meets, among others, a hurley maker, a bowl turner, a toboggan maker and a cabinet-maker, in a journey that takes him two years and includes visits to Austria, the US and Ireland (the hurley maker, unsurprisingly). Many of the craftsmen are in family businesses and are in the main a dying breed. Penn writes that Tom Mareschall, an arrowsmith, is one of only six men left in the UK who can draw a longbow. It’s a long way from Agincourt, where clouds of ash arrows unhorsed ranks of French knights. Beautifully crafted, [ The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees ranges] freely over intellectual territory - masculinity, nostalgia, identity . . . Fascinating . . . Never have the benefits of getting your chopper out appeared more obvious (Robert Crampton, Books of the Year The Times)I don't think I'm the first person to react about halfway through the book with the thought that this book should have been named 'The Men who made things out of A Tree'. The author is a good writer and talks to lots of interesting people and does cover a lot about woodworking. But the only thing he actually makes is firewood, so.... My favourite part of the book has to be Robin Wood and his bowl making, he uses a pole lathe, no electric lathe with CNC programming or big kilns for drying the wood, this is all done with man power. I've seen a pole lathe in action before and it is mesmerising, the fact that the wood worker can't see what he is doing as the wood turns and yet somehow create something smooth and beautiful is insane, I own a Spurtle (porridge stirrer) that was made on a pole lathe and it is a thing of beauty. That's being a bit harsh. It was OK. I just got far less from it than I had wished being misled by the cover and title. I should say this book was bought for me though. I was hoping to get some cool whittling or woodworking tips from the book but the author doesn't actually know any of the crafts he discusses. Nevertheless he has skill as a wordsmith. When people think of making things from wood, the one that springs to mind is oak. But as magnificent as that tree is for buildings, ships and furniture, through the ages people have relied on another tree for tools, household objects, paddles and bats. That tree is ash.