A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder

Amazon.com

Michael Pollan's A Place of My Own might be suspiciously viewed by some readers as a text begging for interpretation. What is it that causes this man at midlife to attempt to put up a structure, an actual wood and concrete dwelling, where he can work on his own craft away from his domestic life? Arguably, Pollan's intentions are more transparent than a too clever postmodern audience can easily appreciate. The author of this fine, well-crafted book offers an explanation that seems honest and understandable: "Whenever I heard myself described as an 'information service worker' or a 'symbolic analyst,' I wanted to reach for a hammer, or a hoe, and with it make something less virtual than a sentence."

In Pollan's bestselling book Second Nature: A Gardener's Education, he illustrated his facility with both hoe and pen. In A Place of My Own he hefts the hammer and again records with great intelligence how thoroughly thought and reflection can be woven into our common lives and the patterns of a day's work. His book's subtitle, "An Education of an Amateur Builder," captures much of what this book contains: the lessons learned by a diligent student of architecture, design, and construction. The writing contains no gaps or unsightly seams, and it's full of clues to readers who share a similar desire to build something tangible in a world that prizes the evanescent.

Book Description

"A room of one's own: is there anybody who hasn't at one time or another wished for such a place, hasn't turned those soft words over until they'd assumed a habitable shape?"

When writer Michael Pollan decided to plant a garden, the result was an award-winning treatise on the borders between nature and contemporary life, the acclaimed bestseller Second Nature. Now Pollan turns his sharp insight to the craft of building, as he recounts the process of designing and constructing a small one-room structure on his rural Connecticut property--a place in which he hoped to read, write and daydream, built with his two own unhandy hands.

Invoking the titans of architecture, literature and philosophy, from Vitrivius to Thoreau, from the Chinese masters of feng shui to the revolutionary Frank Lloyd Wright, Pollan brilliantly chronicles a realm of blueprints, joints and trusses as he peers into the ephemeral nature of "houseness" itself. From the spark of an idea to the search for a perfect site to the raising of a ridgepole, Pollan revels in the infinitely detailed, complex process of creating a finished structure. At once superbly written, informative and enormously entertaining, A Place of My Own is for anyone who has ever wondered how the walls around us take shape--and how we might shape them ourselves.

A Place of My Own recounts his two-and-a-half-year journey of discovery in an absorbing narrative that deftly weaves the day-to-day work of design and building--from siting to blueprint, from the pouring of foundations to finish carpentry--with reflections on everything form the power of place to shape our lives to the question of what constitutes "real work" in a technological society.

A book about craft that is itself beautifully crafted, linking the world of the body and material things with the realm of mind, heart, and spirit, A Place of My Own has received extraordinary praise: -->

Customer Reviews:

A Place of One's Own!.......2006-11-01

I love this book because Michael allowed me to feel I could build a place of my own, and because I experienced the process so thoroughly and vicariously through him, I probably won't. I loved reading of the balancing of reality and desire, of architect, builder, and setting. I am amazed at what Michael is able to do, and I savor and share his rightful pride in being able to do so. I appreciate my own home more and view other structures with more curiosity as a result of reading this book. Michael entertains, and makes the process of home-building accessible to any one of us. I sit and look at the cover, wanting a little home of my own, and, as I say, I feel satisfied with what he has built, and the creation of my own little nest within a home that is already mine. And if I change my mind, he is here as guide.

Not a how to book. Think "architectural philosophy"........2006-07-27

First, I enjoyed reading this book. I'm a carpenter turned cabinetmaker that aspires to build spec homes per my own designs, from bottom to top. Given my existing interest in the field, I most enjoyed his discussion of the various architectural movements and the philosophies thereof. It provides a broad overview of different theories of design and how they result in pleasing (or not so pleasing) structures.

However, he definitely goes overboard - especially with the obnoxious use of esoteric vocabulary. Synecdoche? I'm pretty well read and I don't think I've ever even seen that word written before. It goes on and on like that, and it's unfortunate because it really distracts you from what's otherwise a pretty interesting read. He also seems to slip into a bit of stream of consciousness about the theory behind some detail of construction or another (like muntins). Be prepared.

It was also tiring to read about the conflict between the architect and the builder. If it was indeed as tense as he claims, then he's probably in large part to blame, getting wrapped up in the drama (which I believe he does).

Overall I gave it a 3, because it definitely provided a lot of good information. But I was dragging by the end, and it really felt like once he hit his quota of pages he just stopped. He takes you all the way through the process of construction, but doesn't tell you how it ends. How's the building feel? What worked and what didn't? Is it great in the spring with the windows open, or is it too buggy? Freezing in the winter? By dropping 30 pages of theory and putting in an equal amount of reality it would have made this book a real winner.

I Like Michael Pollan, But ..........2006-06-22

... this book is much too wordy and self-consciously "word-crafted." A Place of My Own: 3 stars.

I have loved his other books: The Botany of Desire in particular. He is an excellent writer and great to listen to in a radio interview. However, this book, it seems to me, was written for his former colleagues in the "word industry" as a proof that he can write more intricately structured sentences, more erudite vocabulary, more comma's generally THAN YOU CAN!!

I began reading the book with great hopes, and I hate to rate any of his books less than a 5; but I immediately bogged down. It has overly complicated, assertively complicated, prose. It has so many nested clauses delimited by a blizzard of comma's. I started looking for a sentence without a comma. I couldn't find one for at least a page and a half. Immensely long, self-consciously crafted sentences. Nothing is just a thing: It's possibly the strangest, most meaningful thing, except that his wife, when in the kitchen, though not generally not on Tuesdays, used to enunciate, with a wry expression on her lips -- a rather inappropriate expression I thought, that it was the opposite of the physical object, in spite of Plato and Aristotle, because her cabalistic, pernicious, atavism. (You get the style?) I think he was trying impress himself that his life, decision to write full time and his little studio were worthwhile. To me, it's navel-gazing at its worst.

If you like the kind of sentence I parodied above (though trust me, it's not that much of a parody) you will like this book. Otherwise, not. As noted, I like Michael Pollan. I could not read this. Thank goodness for his more recent books.

a classic.......2006-03-27

this book is elegantly written, erudite and entertaining. I'd recommend it highly both to the carpenter who would like to know more about the ancient roots of construction and to the armchair traveller types. It examines the dynamic between builder, client and architect in a manner reminicient of but definitely different from the classic Tracy Kidder "House".

Where's my hammer?.......2006-01-04

As an accident prone, hurry-up amateur, I appreciated Pollan's candid stance. He is such a fine writer (I found his book on gardening, Second Nature, to be the most pleasurable I have found in the genre), that I felt as though my carpentry skills were improving along with his. And in some way they were, for his details on the process are precise and relevant. Pollan takes it easy, too, and he meanders, but his aim is true, and few words are wasted. One can take or leave his digressions, but there is no denying they complement the main text. I read this book quickly, in three days, and each night after finally putting it down, I looked up at the ceiling from under my covers and visited in imagination his "roof over two bookcases" in progress. I feel, thanks to this journey, more certain than ever that I will get around to building a place of my own.

A Place of My Own: the Education of an Amateur Builder

Average customer rating:

A Place of My Own: the Education of an Amateur Builder
Michael Pollan
Manufacturer: Delta Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N788H2

Customer Reviews:

Beginner Barbie Collector- Excellent Book! .......2007-09-05

I mainly purchased this book to remember some of my childhood toys- I wasn't expecting the detail and page after page of pictures that made me interested in collecting Barbie's as well-

This thick hardcover book has colored photos of each Barbie both in the box and then a close up of the face. The Barbies are presented in chronological order by year by doll type- so i.e. Barbie from 1950s til 90s then Skipper from 50s-90s, then Ken, etc.

The book also has friends of the infamous Barbie and Ken couple; many of which I have never seen or heard of!

If you are looking for a nice photo array and price guide of Barbie and Friends. Truly the "Ultimate" Barbie book.

Ultimate identification guide.......2007-08-08

This is the best Barbie identification book out there. It's useful to identify those thrift store and garage sale dolls and their outfits. Each item is also described with identifying marks, etc. I have owned this book since it came out and it's the one I go back to the most, for complete Barbie information.

This is a Beautiful Barbie Doll Book.......2007-07-11

I love my new Ultimate Barbie Doll Book. I still have my first Barbie Dolls from the early 60's along with Ken, Midge & Skipper. I have over 100 dolls and found them all in this wonderful book. The photos are beautiful. The Barbie novice to enthusiast will truly enjoy this book.

The Ultimate Barbie Doll Book.......2007-01-13

If you're looking for help in identifying your Barbie doll and friends then this book is for you. I collect old barbies and I have found this book to be most helpful.

Fantastic!.......2007-01-10

All models in just one big book! Buy it now! If you like barbies this is the best one!

Average customer rating:

Great book on general photography!

Recommended for any amateur or professional photographer

Amphotos Complete Book of Photography: How to Improve Your Pictures with a Film or Digital Camera
Jenni Bidner
Manufacturer: Amphoto Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Reference | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | How-to | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Equipment | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition)

The Step-by-Step Photography Workshop: More Than 50 Illustrated Techniques for Improving Your Work

The Q&A Guide To Photo Techniques

How to Photograph Absolutely Everything

Understanding Digital Photography: Techniques for Getting Great Pictures

ASIN: 0817434860

Book Description

This indispensable reference guide gives amateur photographers everything needed to take their photography to the next level using all types of cameras - from low-end and high-end point-and-shoot cameras to SLR (single lens reflex), traditional and digital cameras. The basic information covered includes lighting and exposure, film, digital, lenses, filters, earning money from photography, and going pro. Designed to be as comprehensive as it is easy to use, this book is organized into popular subject areas, such as sports and action; travel; pets, zoos, and wildlife; close-up and macro; flowers; landscape; and aerials and underwater. The instructive, yet attractive, photographs paired as "before" and "after" shots give the reader solid, visual comparisons to the tricks and techniques necessary to go from taking "nice" pictures to "wow" images.

• Color-coded by camera type/skill level
• Covers sports, travel, aerial and underwater photography
• Includes details on using Photoshop and other software to manipulate images.
• Beautiful, inspiring photographs are integrated throughout this tutorial
• From the best-selling author of The Lighting Cookbook (0-8174-4196-4), which has sold over 30,000 copies.

Customer Reviews:

Great book on general photography!.......2007-01-16

This is a great book on photography that really works for me. It's a concise course on the general aspects such as depth of field, aperture speed, composition, filters, landscape and macro photography. What I really liked about it is that it's a relatively thin book, but every page counts. If you're new to photography or you want to get into it more, this is a winner. If you're looking for a specialized course on digital, look elsewhere.

Recommended for any amateur or professional photographer .......2004-11-12

Amphoto's Complete Book Of Photography: How To Improve Your Pictures With A Film Or Digital Camera is a comprehensive resource to improving the quality of one's pictures, no matter what the medium one works with. Advice for both technical issues (learning when and how to use fill flash, selecting the most appropriate camera angles) and artistic inspiration (watching for moments of interaction between people, simplifying images to give them more power) and much more pack this thorough compendium. In addition to color photographs throughout, the pages of Amphoto's Complete Book Of Photography are color-coded for quick and easy lookup of specific types of photography - blue for stripped down point-and-shoot, green for more advanced situations, red for using a traditional or digital SLR, and much more. Highly recommended for any amateur or professional photographer seeking to improve.

Book Description

One of the most popular characters in the history of comic strips, Charlie Brown, the focus of the first Peanuts daily on October 2, 1950, continues in his humble, hilarious and sometimes wishy-washy ways in this charming collection of "Good ol" Charlie Brown" comic strips.

Did you know that Charlie Brown was named for a friend with whom Charles M. Schultz worked at Art Instruction, Inc. correspondence school?Charlie Brown (the man) inspired Schultz to draw what he calls Charlie Brown's "round, ordinary face." This ordinary face became symbolic of "everyman" everywhere; who went on to become the world's most beloved loser. The Charlie Brown we know and love is the brunt of the Peanuts gang's jokes, manager of a baseball team that has never won and is hopelessly devoted to his unrequited love, "the little red-headed girl." We also know that he has a heart of gold and is a devoted friend.

The pages of Charlie Brown: Not Your Average Blockhead celebrate everything about the kid with the funny squiggle on his head and familiar zigzag shirt. The classic strips and special interactive features in each chapter will keep you turning page after page and bursting with laughter.

With a foreward by Andrea Podley, the founder and editor of the world-wide Peanuts Collectors Club, and with an introduction by Charles M. Schultz himself, this treasury is a must for Charlie Brown and Peanuts fans everywhere.

Customer Reviews:

Heads above the rest.......2004-01-08

Finally, a book that glorifies the art of Charles Schulz. As we have all read countless Peanuts strips throughout the years, it is nice to see his art showcased in this beautiful book!

Big Book, Flashy, But Shallow.......1999-08-18

An okay book, but relys too much on gimmicks and not enough on the comic strips themselves. The result: an overpriced book with a lot of little toys in it which keeps you wanting more Charlie Brown.

Charlie Brown: Not Your Average Blockhead

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Charlie Brown: Not Your Average Blockhead
Charles M. Schulz
Manufacturer: HarperEntertainment
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OFHA4K

Book Description

Memories of a Georgia Teacher chronicles the personal and professional life of a principled, resourceful, and deeply religious woman whose career began at a time when state support for primary education was all but nonexistent. Martha Mizell started teaching in 1913 in a one-room, one-teacher school near the Okefenokee Swamp in southeast Georgia. At the time she was barely fifteen, and her formal schooling amounted to seven years.

While Puckett offers a valuable perspective on schooling in the twentieth-century rural South, she also captures the essence of daily life in the communities in which she taught. We read of how she sometimes boarded with parents of her pupils, of how teachers, students, and parents joined together in observance of holidays, of the rituals of school openings and closings, and of how schooling managed to continue through the busy growing seasons. Personal details of Puckett's life also emerge, from her relationship with her parents to life at home with her husband and their eight children.

Martha Mizell Puckett's career paralleled the transformation of small, informal community school systems into consolidated, government supported, bureaucratic structures. Through Puckett's eyes our own are opened--to hard times, certainly, but also to a time of notable closeness and involvement between schools and their communities.

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Memories of a Georgia Teacher: Fifty Years in the Classroom.(Book Review): An article from: Journal of Southern History
Amy Thompson McCandless
Manufacturer: Southern Historical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Georgia | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008GA7MM
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on November 1, 2003. The length of the article is 546 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Memories of a Georgia Teacher: Fifty Years in the Classroom.(Book Review)
Author: Amy Thompson McCandless
Publication: Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: November 1, 2003
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 69 Issue: 4 Page: 966(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

Not the best.......2002-01-18

This is the second bed rest book I've read. I found this book unorganized. The authors did not take the time, for instance, to seperate paragraphs for the partner and the bed rester. Consequently, you'll be reading something meant for you, and suddenly realize that part of the message is actually meant for your partner. Also the two authors did not always agree on things, which is fine, but because the book is so poorly organized, it just comes off as contradictory to itself. They spent much too much time on things that were not entirely pertinent to our situation, and would throw an important piece in here and there.

I read The Pregnancy Bed Rest Book by Amy Tracy and loved it. If you are looking for a book for this situation, I reccomend Tracy's over this one any day!

If you still need to read more (and with that much time on your hands--you will) then borrow this one from the library.

Customer Reviews:

The Union fights to control Central Tennessee in 1862.......2002-11-18

"The Struggle for Tennessee: Tupelo to Stones River" is the second of the volumes in the Time-Life Civil War series dealing with the Western Theater of the war after the Battle of Shiloh. Obviously this part of the war has never received the attention of the Eastern Theater where Lee's Army of Northern Virginia dueled the Army of the Potomac, so there is something intrinsically interesting about finding out more about what was happening out West. James Street, Jr. presents his subject as a war of maneuvers in and around Tennessee. After the capture of Corinth, Mississippi in May 1862, a portion of Major General Don Carlos Buell's Union army was dispatched towards Chattanooga, the critical railroad center that was the gateway to Georgia. However, Confederate armies under Generals Kirby Smith and Braxton Bragg moved from Eastern Tennessee into Kentucky to threatened Louisville and Cincinnati. After a drawn battle at Perryville, Kentucky on October 8, Major General William Rosencrans succeeded Buell and that December left Nashville to fight Bragg's reorganized Army of Tennessee near Murfreesboro, on the banks of Stone River.

Street divides these events into five chapters: (1) Heyday for Raiders focuses on the guerrilla tactics of both sides, including James J. Andrews stealing the Western & Atlantic Railroad locomotive named the "General," and the raids of John Hunt Morgan. (2) Stumbling Towards Perryville covers the Confederates campaign to retake Kentucky, or at least stop the Federals from moving deeper into Tennessee, climaxing with the Battle of Perryville where both sides claimed victory. (3) Clash at Doctor's Creek has Rosencrans' bringing a new spirit to the Army of the Cumberland preparing them for the key battle in the campaign. (4) The Fight for "Hell's Half Acre" tells the details of the first half of Battle of Stones River outside Murfreesboro on December 31, where the Confederates turned the Union flank in on itself like a jackknife. (5) Across Stones River and Back completes the battle as the successful attack of the Confederates on the left Union flank succeeded in driving the Federals behind the river, where massed artillery fire staggered the Rebels and set the stage for a successful Union counterattack. With this victory, the Union forces could plan their move on Chattanooga.

"The Struggle for Tennessee" is illustrated with the historic photographs, etchings and color sketches that have always been one of the richest parts of the Time-Life series. I appreciate the detail that Street is able to give to the Battle of Stones River, because by devoting two chapters to it he is able to elevate its significance in the Civil War in a way I have never appreciated before. The story of the Western Theater picks up in two volumes, one devoted to Grant's Vicksburg Campaign in "War on the Mississippi" and the other picking right up on this volume with "The Fight for Chattanooga."

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The Struggle for Tennessee: Tupelo to Stones River (Civil War Series)
James Jr. Time-Life Books Editors; Street
Manufacturer: Time Life Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000QX510A

Book Description

The products drawn from the grape vine are among the most diverse of any agricultural crop. Aside from the influences of soils and and climate, this diversity embodies the traditions of countless genrations of wine growers and vintners. Exploring this interaction between people and environments, b /b b i Wine and the Vine /i /b provides a full understanding of the growth and spread of viticulture and wine production throught human history. br br "A thoroughly fascinating book offering many insights into the importance of wine in our culture and the effect of variables such as religion, government, marketing, economics, and even colonialism on the growth of the wine industry... It will give the wine lover scores of insights into aspects of wine that for decades have simply been taken for granted." br --California Grapevine

Customer Reviews:

Excellent source for reading about how wine shaped the world.......1998-05-09

Tim Unwin's book does an excellent job of tracing how the making, trading, and consuming of wine has shaped the modern world, touching on theology, sociology, and economics. A wonderful and revealing ride detailing the evolution of wine from its earliest days through the present.

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