"Will Pryce is a photographer who trained as an architect and photojournalist. His pictures have made him the most admired architectural photographer in Britain. He has travelled the world seeking the famous and the obscure, spotlighting such familiar sights as Japanese temples, Norwegian stave churches and San Franciscan 'painted ladies', but also discovering unknown buildings never reproduced before. The book is thus an important contribution to architectural history as well as a visual journey." "Extensive research has gone into explaining the technical aspects and cultural background of wooden buildings. In a substantial text Pryce shows how the wooden heritage of Japan grew from its Buddhist history; how Russia's carpenters determined its iconic onion domes; how Norway's stave churches contain clues to her pagan past; how Turkic tribes brought the yali from Asia to Europe; how centuries later the settlers of New England would use a provincial English tradition to colonize a new continent; and how, today, sophisticated architects such as Peter Zumthor and Renzo Piano are inventing an eloquent new wooden architecture with originality and flair."--BOOK JACKET.