A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder
by: Michael Pollan
Price: $49.29
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Amazon.com Review:
Michael Pollan's A Place of My Own might besuspiciously viewed by some readers as a text begging forinterpretation.What is it that causes this man at midlife to attemptto put up a structure, an actual wood and concrete dwelling, where hecan work on his own craft away from his domestic life?Arguably,Pollan's intentions are more transparent than a too clever postmodernaudience can easily appreciate.The author of this fine, well-craftedbook 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, andwith it make something less virtual than a sentence."
In Pollan'sbestselling book SecondNature: A Gardener's Education, he illustrated his facility withboth hoe and pen.In A Place of My Own he hefts the hammerand again records with great intelligence how thoroughly thought andreflection can be woven into our common lives and the patterns of aday's work.His book's subtitle, "An Education of an Amateur Builder,"captures much of what this book contains: the lessons learned by adiligent student of architecture, design, and construction.Thewriting contains no gaps or unsightly seams, and it's full ofclues to readers who share a similar desire to build somethingtangible in a world that prizes the evanescent.
Product 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: -->
Michael Pollan's A Place of My Own might besuspiciously viewed by some readers as a text begging forinterpretation.What is it that causes this man at midlife to attemptto put up a structure, an actual wood and concrete dwelling, where hecan work on his own craft away from his domestic life?Arguably,Pollan's intentions are more transparent than a too clever postmodernaudience can easily appreciate.The author of this fine, well-craftedbook 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, andwith it make something less virtual than a sentence."
In Pollan'sbestselling book SecondNature: A Gardener's Education, he illustrated his facility withboth hoe and pen.In A Place of My Own he hefts the hammerand again records with great intelligence how thoroughly thought andreflection can be woven into our common lives and the patterns of aday's work.His book's subtitle, "An Education of an Amateur Builder,"captures much of what this book contains: the lessons learned by adiligent student of architecture, design, and construction.Thewriting contains no gaps or unsightly seams, and it's full ofclues to readers who share a similar desire to build somethingtangible in a world that prizes the evanescent.
Product 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: -->
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- A Place of My Own
Wonderful, wonderful book. I am inspired to find some land and build my own little haven... I guess that makes this the most expensive book I've ever bought.
Rating: - A Place of One's Own!
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 ... Read More
Rating: 
- Not a how to book.Think "architectural philosophy".
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 ... Read More
Rating: - I Like Michael Pollan, But ...
... 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 commas generally THAN YOU CAN!!
I began reading the book ... Read More
Rating: - a classic
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".
- A Place of My OwnWonderful, wonderful book. I am inspired to find some land and build my own little haven... I guess that makes this the most expensive book I've ever bought.
- A Place of One's Own!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 ... Read More
- Not a how to book.Think "architectural philosophy".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 ... Read More
- I Like Michael Pollan, But ...... 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 commas generally THAN YOU CAN!!
I began reading the book ... Read More
- a classicthis 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".
