I have not harbored any life-long ambition to build my own home, but now, about a year after reading "A Place of My Own," I find myself building a house. Its not all Michael Pollans fault, but Im not letting him completely off the hook either. Michael Pollan loves words and spends the majority of his time in the world of words and abstractions. The tale of his inexplicable desire to create something as real-world as a building with his own hands makes for a very seductive invitation into that world for someone who feels most at home in the realm of the abstract but nurtures a growing admiration for the so-called "blue color" folks whose knowledge and expertise reside in their strong and weathered hands as much as it does in their noggins. While the book in no way operates on the level of a "how-to" manual, now that Ive started down that owner-builder road Im encountering landmarks familiar to me from reading "A Place of My Own," like the tension-bordering-on-hostility that exists between architects, those artisans of the abstract, and builders, who inherit the sometimes unenviable task of turning fanciful "funny-paper" blue-prints into tangible structures of concrete, wood, and glass.
This is an amusing little book about one mans efforts to build himself a study in a free-standing hut in the woods. Like Botany of Desire, this is a rather quirky and unusual premise to base a book on, but again, he carries it off well. If you are interested in learning some architectural history, and something about general carpentry while being entertained, this is a nice find. Pollan has a very entertaining and engaging writing style.
Overall very well written, and youll increase your vocabulary too. Can get wordy though, so you might get bogged down in, say, the discussion of the psycological effects of window muntins. Or be a little dismayed to find the author championing Feng Shui. But usually things move along quickly, owing to the authors remarkable facility with language and his self-deprecating tone. Bonus: scattered throughout youll find a nice roundup of famous architects justifying their profession with self-important babble.
