OSLO - The TV program, on the topic of firewood, consisted mostly of people in parkas chatting and chopping in the woods and then eight hours of a fire burning in a fireplace. Yet no sooner had it begun than the angry responses came pouring in.

"We received about 60 text messages from people complaining about the stacking in the program," said Lars Mytting, whose best-selling book "Solid Wood: All About Chopping, Drying and Stacking Wood - and the Soul of Wood-Burning" inspired the broadcast. "Fifty percent complained that the bark was facing up, and the rest complained that the bark was facing down."

He explained, "One thing that really divides Norway is bark."

One thing that does not divide Norway, apparently, is its love of discussing Norwegian wood. Nearly a million people, or 20 percent of the population, tuned in at some point to the program, which was shown on the state broadcaster, NRK.

In a country where 1.2 million households have fireplaces or wood stoves, said Rune Moeklebust, NRK's head of programs in the city of Bergen, the subject lends itself to television.

"My first thought was, 'Well, why not make a TV series about firewood?'" he said.

"Solid Wood" spent more than a year on the nonfiction best-seller list in Norway. Sales have exceeded 150,000 copies out of a population of only 4.7 million.

"National Firewood Night," as the program was called, opened with the host, Rebecca Nedregotten Strand, promising to "try to get to the core of Norwegian firewood culture - because firewood is the foundation of our lives." Various people discussed its historical and personal significance and the fire burned all night long. Fresh wood was added through the hours by an NRK photographer, aided by viewers who sent advice via Facebook on where exactly to place it.

"I couldn't go to bed because I was so excited," a viewer called niesa36 said on the Dagbladet newspaper Web site. "When will they add new logs? Just before I managed to tear myself away, they must have opened the flue a little, because just then the flames shot a little higher."

Meanwhile, on Twitter, a viewer named Andre Ulveseter said: "Went to throw a log on the fire, got mixed up, and smashed it right into the TV."

"Solid Wood," the title of Mr. Mytting's book, has a double meaning, signifying also a person with a strong, dependable character. Its publication appears to have given older Norwegian men, a traditionally taciturn group, permission to reveal their deepest thoughts while seemingly discussing firewood. In this way they are akin to passionate fishermen roused from monosyllabic interludes by topics like which fly to use.

"What I've learned is that you should not ask a Norwegian what he likes about firewood, but how he does it," Mr. Mytting said, adding, "That's the way he reveals himself."

The New York Times

(China Daily 03/03/2013 page9)