Book excerpt: This book on the Nondestructive Characterization and Imaging of Wood by Professor Voichita Bucur is truly the most outstanding reference on the subject ever written. Since the origins of mankind, wood has played a key role in the history of humans and other living creatures, ranging from provision of life from trees giving air, heat, light, and food to nourish their bodies to structures to protect them from the elements. Wood has also played a key role in one of the world's primary religions. Nondestructive diagnostics methods have long found application in medi cal practice for examination of the human body in order to detect life threatening abnormalities and permit diagnosis to extend life. Nondestructive testing has been used for many years to insure the safety of machinery, air craft, railroads, tunnels, buildings and many other structures. Therefore, it is timely for a treatise, like the present one, to be written describing how wood can be characterized without employing destructive test methods. Since wood is so valuable to mankind, it is important to know the latest methods to nondestructively characterize wood for all practical applications.