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Get them both. Mike is an original thinker/curmudgeon. Everyone interested in building with natural materials should study his ideas. The only other natural material, owner-builder books of this profundity are: Ken Kern's "The owner built home" and the gorgeous treatise on building with cob, "The hand-sculpted house." Most people would do well to combine techniques and materials to fit your site, materials available and tastes. His DVD set is more complete than this book and incorporates 25 years of experience building this way.
As an afterthought, it is recommended by just about every major alternative living, green energy, and sanity outpost (Vermont, Oregon, Washington State) reviewer. I picked it up this morning intending to get back to it tonight and ended up not putting it down at all.I have bought and read a number of underground building books as well as log cabin books, and would sort them into three categories:A Expensive log homes for the really richB Moderate earth-covered (not quite underground) homes for the middleC This book, for those who truly want to integrate innovation and low cost with deep Earth comfort and resilience and all the good stuff that goes with it.This book, in short, is in a class of its own. 20081214 DEPARTED AMAZON WITH OUTRAGE OVER THE MANIPULATION OF VOTES.This book is phenomenally wise, useful, easy to read, and plain inspiring. Most will notice that it was first offered in 1978. This book is a "good deal" and inspiring to boot. As the USA goes through a major financial crisis that proves nothing has changed--Wall Street and the two "parties" it has bought down to their lost souls are still here, still looting the commonwealth--this book proves that it is timeless.There is indeed a great deal of land across this great country where one can still afford to "dig in," and this could not be a better time to be thinking about renting what you have now in the close in fragile areas, and setting up alternative housing with adjacent land for a basic Life Garden.As I went through each chapter I found the list of materials, the prices, the diagrams, and the text all coherent, concise, and totally "on target." Black and white photographs throughout, and a handful of color photographs in the middle, round the book out.The book ends by discreetly recommending a tape series on design as the key element for success, and one that professional architects generally overlook (as we are all learning, the "experts" in finance and other areas are really "credentialed" but NOT experts).I LIKE THIS BOOK.
This is the best book I have read on alternative buildings. I HIGHLY recommend it. The author is very sensible about the whole project without being to much of a hippie. If my wife hadn't threatened divorce I would be building one of these houses right now.
It describes with photos and clear instructions how to make a house with natural or easily obtainable supplies at a low cost. He does not describe the use of anything that cannot be found on site (excluding polyethylene). Also, a feature he calls clerestories (basically windows that are put in a sudden drop of ceiling height) make the interior much brighter. First off, the reason for four stars instead of five. The title makes it very clear that it's going to be a cheap house, but it still came as a surprise to me that it is not about making a modern house. The most modern thing in the houses described in this book is a polyethylene layer for waterproofing. He has some very good ideas like his uphill patio which eliminates the force of the hill pushing down on your home and puts the load on a much easier to maintain retaining wall. All in all it's a very good book on how to make your own fallout shelter or summer cabin, but not a good manual on the finer points of making an underground home.
It's because the author was very narrow minded in what he thought you would be reading the book for. This has its merits, but I quote him out of the book saying "cement has no soul" And his total refusal to see the use in a design he dubbed the "first thought design" which would easily work as well as his own "basic design" if only you use a slanted roof. The houses in this book exhibit many features that you would need in a modern home, but they are not a replacement for your current house. (a method he chose not to consider mentioning.Now, what this book did cover I thought it did very well at.
I bought this book based on other reviews and was disappointed in the author's narrow mindedness and intolerance for anyone who thinks even a little different than he does. Still, if you look past the seriously disturbed rantings, this is an interesting "how I did it" book with some consideration for how you can do it too. The author gives ammunition to the very people he despises to rightfully call him a "wacko". It's sad that he can't just let people see this for the beautiful idea that it is and not a political statement.
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