Building a Life on the Land
by Richard Manning
Grove Press, 1993
Comments: I love stories about people building or renovating their own homes, particularly if there's something unique about the design or process. I've probably read over a dozen books with this theme, but this is the one that got me started. The author is a writer living near Missoula, Montana who designs and builds an energy efficient earth-sheltered house in the rural backcountry. This was when the "green" movement was fairly new and building for efficiency was still a somewhat experimental affair. Along the way he confronts, adapts and solves all the normal problems we've come to expect from man-against-home stories, as well as some unusual ones related to the design and remote location. He laughs, he whimpers, he ponders, and then he overcomes -- all with a smart, literary-infused perspective. All's well that ends well in homebuilding too.
Copy Notes: Hardback, first edition, photographs and illustrations
