Information concerning properties of wood, different species, buying, milling, drying and storing lumber.
Series of short videos by Plate 11 Woodworking:
Wood changes its dimension when gaining or losing moisture. This effect is negligable in the longitudinal axis, pronounced in the tangential plane and a little less in the radial direction.
The most important consideration is to come up with a construction that does not prevent expansion and contraction in the radial or tangential plane through glue, nails or screws. There are time-proven methods of dealing with this. Anything less wide than 2" is usually not critical. Additionally, any boards that don't have the growth rings perpendicular to one face, can cup or bow which also needs to be taken into account. The topic warrants a dedicated article.
An illustration of how much wood can move: this cherry bowl was turned green and shrunk and warped during drying so the rim curved an the overal shape became oval:
This is a (European) walnut slab that has dried for about half a year.
Used to determine the moisture content of a piece of wood.
Used to measure the diameter of logs.
In addition to consulting the wood-database here are some charts with overviews
research about comparing wooden and plastic cutting boards with regards to bacteria