Deforesting the Earth makes clear that forests are not eliminated by mere logging but overwhelmingly by clearing for agriculture. Forests cut for wood production, no matter how abusively, usually grow back--even if often quite altered in composition. So the story of deforestation is also the story of the development of farming systems, and it is fundamentally driven by growth in human numbers. But that growth itself is tied to the development of a global industrial economy, in which extraction of wood products has played a critical part.