Replies

1. 
   CloudHidden | Dec 28, 2004 07:11am | #1

   I was just given The Most Beautiful House in the World, by Rybczynski. Haven't read it, but the back cover makes it seem to fit your criteria.

2. 
   AndyEngel | Dec 28, 2004 04:44pm | #2

   House, by Tracy Kidder. The Carpenter's Notebook by Mark Clement (Don't know for sure that this one's hit the bookstores yet - I read a review copy).

   Andy

   Andy Engel

   Senior editor, Fine Woodworking magazine

   Other people can talk about how to expand the destiny of mankind. I just want to talk about how to fix a motorcycle. I think that what I have to say has more lasting value. --Robert M. Pirsig

1. 
   Catskinner | Mar 22, 2005 02:09am | #12

   Agreed -- Clement has to be a carpenter because he nailed it.His book is in the bookstores now, and at Amazon.DRCSubstitute d*mn every time you're inclined to write very; your editor will
   delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. -Mark Twain, author
   and humorist (1835-1910)

3. 
   Tintin | Dec 28, 2004 06:56pm | #3

   The Cliff Walk: A Job Lost and a Life Found, by Don Snyder.

   College professor loses job at age forty, cannot find work in his field, finally out of desperation takes job as day labourer to support family, finds meaning of life swinging a hammer with construction crew. I read it reviewed in FHB years ago, ordered it at my local bookstore and loved it. This book is one of the things that inspired me to quit my middle-management government job, get out there and work with my hands like my dad and grand-dad before me.

4. 
   JDRHI | Dec 28, 2004 07:36pm | #4

   Check out the "Watcha Readin`?" thread in the Woodshed Tavern....lots of recomendations there.

   J. D. Reynolds

   Home Improvements

   "DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"

5. 
   vanderpooch | Jan 07, 2005 08:45pm | #5

   One I've really enjoyed is Toil by Jody Proctor. Sort of a carpenter's diary, excellent writing...

   -Kit

   Technique is proof of your seriousness. - Wallace Stevens
1. 
   jimblodgett | Jan 07, 2005 09:29pm | #6

   Another vote for "House".  Timeless. 

   Didn't care nearly as much for "...Most Beautiful House..." or "Home" (both by Rybcynski), but they are right next to "House" on my bookshelf.  They are more about buildings (noun), the evolution of design and use. 

   Kidder's "House" is about people, building (verb), class issues, social/economic status...good book.  If you've ever built, you'll find yourself in that book.  Really good read, too.

   I'll be keeping a list from this thread, that's for sure. Keep 'em coming everyone. 

1. 
   shywoodlandcreature | Jan 07, 2005 09:47pm | #7

   A Place of My Own by Michael Pollan, who has become one of my favourite writers. Wonderful series of essays centered around trying to build a very simple little shack - he talks about carpentry, architecture, the relationship between architects and carpenters, theoretical architecture, meditations on siting a building,  being an amateur - all round just wonderful, inspiring, thoughtful stuff, and beautifully written. I think of Pollan as being sort of a domestic John McPhee - every subject he touches becomes about so much more than just the bare-bones promise of the title.

   And another vote for House - in fact, a great companion piece to Pollan's book.  

   "All of life's big problems include the words "indictment" or "inoperable." Everything else is small stuff." Alton Brown

   http://costofwar.com/

2. 
   UncleDunc | Jan 07, 2005 11:06pm | #8

   How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand. Excellent study of how buildings get modified over time in response to their users' needs. Heavily illustrated. Pretty sure it was reviewed in FHB when it was released. Brand was the editor of many editions of the Whole Earth Catalog.

1. 
   shywoodlandcreature | Jan 07, 2005 11:40pm | #9

   And another vote for How Buildings Learn. Very thought-provoking stuff,and it really puts the lie to "form follows function".

   "All of life's big problems include the words "indictment" or "inoperable." Everything else is small stuff." Alton Brown

   http://costofwar.com/

1. 
   tab1 | Jan 09, 2005 05:17pm | #10

   Tools of the Earth, also by Taylor.  Maybe not QUITE as good as the first, but still a great read.

   Thon

6. 
   Gunner | Jan 09, 2005 10:32pm | #11

   Measure twice cut once. By Norm Abram. It's one I read again every year or so. It's really good.

   Who Dares Wins.