A beautiful book in which this remarkable Japanese American craftsman and philosopher impresses us with his devotion to discovering the inherent beauty of wood so that noble trees might have a second life as furniture. The first part of this meditative book reveals the development of Nakashima as a spiritual artist and the influence of life in an Indian ashram in the 1930's. The second reveals the inner truth and nature of the different trees with which he works, while the third explores the skills by which the wood is reborn as furniture.