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The Gospels have much to offer, not only to those who believe in a traditional God. This selection stresses the ethical message and leaves out the supernatural. The Gospels presented in this way are more clearly seen as a moving story beautifully told, and as a code of conduct which is still very relevant.

Have you ever wondered how the Black Death affected forests and climate in Europe? Do you know which are the oldest trees, and which are the biggest? These questions and many others are answered in this book.

The theme of this paper is that proper pricing supported by new concession policies can encourage and support sustainable management and conservation of the forests of West and Central Africa and finance forest management. Until the forestry departments, which are under-funded and under-equipped, can be strengthened, a simpler system of forest fees that emphasizes bidding and concession fees is recommended. The forest revenue and concession policies proposed involve the following components: annual concession rent, which should be the major revenue source, to replace the multiplicity of forest fees, that are often not collected; competitive bidding system; and replacement of logging concessions by forest management concessions.

This is an alphabetised offbeat miscellany of short entries, each one dealing with some aspect of trees, forests, forestry or wood, but at the same time also connecting with some other subject such as history, legend, medicine, religion, literature, environmental science, art, architecture, law, warfare and so on. It begins with entries like 'Acid rain' and 'Acoustic properties of trees', and it ends with 'Yule-log' and 'Ziama and its people', Ziama being a sacred forest in Guinea where the author worked on and off for years. This is anything but a boring academic thesis. The book was written for entertainment, for whiling away a few minutes or hours of the reader's time. You will find a new surprise each time you open it. Did you know that... the Black Death led to reforestation in Europe, and that the reforestation probably caused the 'Little Ice Age'? Or that the Little Ice Age resulted in very narrow growth rings in the spruce trees of the Alps, and that those narrow growth rings probably contributed to the superb sound of the violins made by Stradivarius and other violin makers at that time? That early man had a tree-dwelling stage which contributed to the development of our hands and our stereoscopic vision? That the wars against the Persians and later the Turks devastated the forests of the Mediterranean area because of the need for shipbuilding timber. And so much more!