I have to put out of my mind what is happening to the trees of the forest in order to do what I do, writes John Terpstra at the opening of this memoir, because his lifelong creative pursuits of carpentry, furniture building and writing books—occupations consumptive of lumber and paper—necessitate a certain amount of sylvan destruction. With his episodic prose style and dogged curiosity, Terpstra considers the many facets of his complex relationship with trees and timber, all while recounting the story of his evolution as a craftsperson. In weighing the similarities and differences between carpentry and creative writing and the bittersweetness of his transition into retirement, Terpstra discovers that the trees have a canopy of lessons to teach us about being.