December 2010

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Segal, Erich. Love Story. New York: Harper & Row, 1970. Print.

This book came up, somewhat oddly, in my research into reading for teenage boys.  I realized that the movie is the kind of classic everyone has heard of but no-one has seen, and threw it onto hold at the library just to see what the fuss was about.

The novel is slim, just 131 pages long, and not really what I expected.  In my mind the characters were vague; I knew that he was rich and she was poor, and I guess I had imagined some kind of Dickensian setting for them.  The book is set in the late sixties, though, and he is a very rich Harvard jock who went to Philips Exeter Academy (I spent a week there one recent  summer, so I was able to picture it), and she is a lower-class but intelligent Radcliffe student who works in the library.  I had dreaded cloying interactions between them, but was instead dismayed to find that the author takes the opposite tack, with them constantly insulting each other and calling each other names that we would never tolerate in my house, even if used jokingly.

My biggest annoyance with the book is the tagline “Love means never having to say you’re sorry…”, which is displayed prominently on the cover, and is probably the longest-lasting line from the movie.  I just don’t get it, and the book doesn’t explain it – why should you not have to say you’re sorry if someone loves you?

My husband and I later watched the movie together, and I believe he’s writing the review of it while I type this.  The movie follows the book extremely closely, right down to the dialogue, until the final scene.  Unfortunately I can’t go into details without spoilers, but why would you make the movie follow the book for 99% of the content, then veer off right at the end?  Erich Segal is credited as the screenwriter, so he must have either made the change himself, or at least approved it.  I’m not sure I’ll ever figure it out, but it certainly left me with a bad last impression.

Sagan, Carl. Contact: a Novel. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985. Print.

I made the mistake of watching the movie adaptation before reading the book.  Although it didn’t specifically ruin the book for me, I did find myself huffily pointing out to my husband all the things that they had changed for the movie.  I know that a fat book like this has to be trimmed to make a regular-length movie, but changing huge parts of the character’s life – like having her mother dead in the movie, but alive in the book – seems like gross negligence that in no way improved or the story or made it easier to tell.  I also resented the fact that the female president in the book is replaced by Bill Clinton, president at the time of the movie’s making, presumably as an excuse to use some doctored footage of Clinton.

In any case, the book on its own is a thoughtful look at how human society worldwide might react to the news that we are not alone in the universe, from one of America’s most respected scientists.  As far as I know this is the only novel  Sagan has written.  The conflict between religion and science plays a big part, with main character Ellie Arroway arguing on and off throughout the book with Palmer Joss, a religious leader and advisor to the President.  Although the book is set in a near but not specified future, that future is actually behind where we are now; some technologies that are described never came into being, nuclear arms reduction treaties with the USSR are being implemented.  Those anomalies are charming rather than annoying, though.

This book was on my nightstand for a long time.  If I hadn’t known how it ended already, I might have been tempted to race through it, but it was good bedtime reading for a month or longer.  I could easily pick it up and put it down every night, with no danger that I’d stay up until 1am reading it.  I suppose that’s not really a rousing endorsement, but I wish I had more books I could do that with.

Yancey, Richard. The Monstrumologist. New York: Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2009. Print.

I put this on hold at the library after seeing it listed with a starred review (I think) on Booklist’s reviews.  I was researching books for teenage boys and thought it looked interesting.

It’s a mock-real account of a 12-year-old boy who works as an assistant to a monstrumologist – someone who studies monsters.  (This review wouldn’t be complete without the word ‘supernatural’ appearing in it somewhere, and fortunately it’s the monsters that are supernatural).  Set in 18th-century New England, it evokes the classic mood of dark, fog, narrow cramped streets, and dripping wet brick walls.  It’s a decidedly creepy book, that rapidly gets hugely gory as well.  I was surprised, in fact, at the amount of gore – more than I’d expect even in a Stephen King novel.  It seems, though, that that’s what the teen-horror genre expects these days – one reason I’m glad I decided to read this book myself before recommending it to anyone else.

There’s a ripping good adventure about them hunting and killing monsters, and along the way we learn about the stories of both the monstrumologist and his orphaned assistant.  I’m sure there will be other books about these characters, although I’m not sure I’ll bother to read them.  The book was a compelling read, but my stomach is a bit too sensitive to read detailed accounts of shark-toothed monsters grinding the bones and bodies of young children.

Parsons, Alexandra. The Perfect Kitchen. New York: Hearst, 2004. Print.

Here’s another example of how I can walk into my local library branch and find a book I’m interested in sitting right on the shelf.  Although I get most of my books through the hold system, I still get quite a bit of instant gratification from the branch.

I think I missed at first the fact that this was a publication of “Country Living”, but because they’ve used a pretty broad definition of “Country”, it turned out not to be a problem.  There are no modern kitchens here, and although there’s lots of granite and custom cabinetry, it tends to be more of a flavour that I approve of.

They have a whole chapter of “Retro” kitchens that I didn’t expect to find here, or anywhere in fact.  These are quirky kitchens with vintage ranges, Fire-King ovenware and tableware, Fiesta pottery, or enamelware.  I love the idea, although I would never try to recreate one of those kitchens.

Oddly enough, I was leafing through this book at the same time as I started reading Muriel Barbery’s Gourmet Rhapsody, my next book club book at the time.  In the book a famous restaurant critic has a conversation with a young critic just starting out, and they start reminiscing about their mother’s and grandmother’s kitchens.  I realized that what they were describing were the people and personalities, smells and meals… nowhere did they mention what type of stove was being cooked with, or the colour scheme.  It’s hardly a novel idea, of course, but the things I most want in a kitchen have nothing to do with decorating.  I look forward to the day when I have a more “reasonable” kitchen that doesn’t have a desk in it, but aren’t I living in my kitchen perfectly well this moment with the kettle close at hand, and a kitten snoozing away on the clutter of papers around my computer?

But back to the book.  The benefit is mostly in the pictures, so it’s a bit annoying that pages 24 and 25 are ripped out, with only the tantalizing caption remaining (“Ambient lighting comes from a row of pendants positioned over the 1860s Dutch table, which serves as a work island”).  I scanned several pictures of antiques in kitchens where I thought they had been particularly well integrated.  My one complaint is that the text contradicts itself, as if the author was just stringing together random thoughts to try and tie together a big collection of good pictures.  The most glaring example was a paragraph that admonished me to not have anything in my kitchen that I didn’t use, then on turning the page, finding them extolling the virtues of displaying collections!

It’s not really a criticism, but a bit of a warming; the “perfect” in the title seems to refer to style and decor, because nowhere is the usability of a kitchen considered, except for a bit of lip service.

There is an index but no bibliography.

Gerhart, James. Mastering Math for the Building Trades. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000. Print.

I grabbed this off the library shelf thinking ‘Great!  Real-world math to motivate my students!’.  I’m teaching Grade 9 this year, which is the last year that involves much in the way of Measurement – in this case, surface area and volume of three-dimensional shapes (pyramids, prisms, spheres, and cones), and the well-known Pythagorean Theorem.  I figured good old Pythagoras would show up in the slopes of roofs – which I know should be called the pitch of the roof when you’re a builder and not a math teacher.

So, after skimming the introduction, I got to page 19, which talked about problem-solving using steel squares.  After setting up the idea of roof rafters and that a rafter is the hypotenuse, it then surprised me by saying this:

“The first step in solving this problem and others like it is to reduce the dimensions to a size or proportion that will fit inside the steel square.  This is accomplished with the use of ratios”.  After explaining how to use ratios to reduce the sizes of the rise (height of the roof) and run (width of the roof), it continues “… set the unit of run on the tongue of the steel square and the unit of rise on the body of the steel square.  After setting the steel square on the edge of a board and lining up the appropriate marks… draw lines down from these lines onto the board.  The measurement of these two marks is the length of the triangle’s hypotenuse”.  Then, of course, you use ratios to scale the measurement up again.

I was flabbergasted by this, enough to ask my father if this was how builders did it, and he confirmed that they do.  I guess a calculator doesn’t show up in toolboxes very often!

That was enough for me to temporarily shelve the book, and I find that I have now renewed it twice and it has to go back to the library tomorrow.  I guess if I haven’t gotten back to it in nine weeks, I’m not likely to.  I suppose what I really learned from the book, though, is that I haven’t gotten over my preconceived notions yet, and that I should work on that before looking for real-world math to introduce into my classroom.

In better news, though, I did have my students measuring cans of food in class yesterday!

Carley, Rachel. The Visual Dictionary of American Domestic Architecture. New York: Henry Holt and, 1994. Print.

This is the wrong cover, but this post marks the first time I am sneakily adding a link to my Amazon store, so I’m stuck with the Amazon-only book covers.  (Previously I’ve been snagging the covers off LibraryThing, which isn’t really a nice thing to do).

Cover aside, this is a really cool book that’s the perfect intro to architecture that I needed (at least on this side of the ocean).  It’s a quick read, being mostly black-and-white line drawings showing the various types of dwellings that have been built in America, starting with a chapter on Native American dwellings, coming more-or-less into the present day.  Carley doesn’t bother with single, well-known architects (no mention of Wright here), but instead focuses on helping us all to recognize and understand various vernacular forms.  There are floor plans and interior details when appropriate, and there are many small detail drawings showing the unique form of eaves, doorways, or windows on particular styles.

I didn’t find much that I recognized here – I looked in vain for an archetypal Ontario gabled cottage – but I enjoyed seeing a much wider variety of forms than I’m used to.

There is a dense two-page bibliography that I’m not sure I have the patience to transcribe, although I’m sure there are many other books in it I would enjoy.  There is also an extensive index.

Works Cited
  • Ahrens, Donna, Tom Ellison, and Raymond Sterling. Earth Sheltered Homes: Plans and Designs. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1981. Print.
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  • Fowler, O. S. The Octagon House; a Home for All. New York: Dover Publications, 1973. Print.
  • Gillon, Edmund Vincent. Pictorial Archive of Early Illustrations and Views of American Architecture. New York: Dover, 1971. Print.
  • Glassie, Henry. Pattern in the Material Folk Culture of the Eastern United States. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1969. Print.
  • Greene and Greene: the Architecture and Related Designs of Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene, 1894-1934 : Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, January 27-March 6, 1977. Los Angeles: Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, 1977. Print.
  • Grow, Lawrence, and Zweck Dina. Von. American Victorian: a Style and Source Book. New York: Harper & Row, 1984. Print.
  • Grow, Lawrence. Classic Old House Plans: Three Centuries of American Domestic Architecture. Pittstown, NJ: Main Street, 1984. Print.
  • Haase, Ronald W. Classic Cracker: Florida’s Wood-frame Vernacular Architecture. Sarasota, FL: Pineapple, 1992. Print.
  • Hamlin, Talbot. Greek Revival Architecture in America: Being an Account of Important Trends in American Architecture and American Life Prior to the War between the States. New York: Dover, 1964. Print.
  • Handlin, David P. The American Home: Architecture and Society, 1815-1915. Boston: Little, Brown, 1979. Print.
  • Hannaford, Donald R., and Revel Edwards. Spanish Colonial or Adobe Architecture of California: 1800-1850. New York: Architectural Book Publ., 1931. Print.
  • Harris, Cyril M. Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Architecture. New York, NY: Dover, 1977. Print.
  • Hatton, Hap. Tropical Splendor: an Architectural History of Florida. New York: Knopf, 1987. Print.
  • Historic American Buildings Survey … Northern Illinois … Washington?, 1934. Print.
  • Historic American Buildings Survey, New York. Cambridge, Eng.: Chadwyck-Healy, 1980. Print.
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus, John Fleming, and Hugh Honour. The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture: John Fleming, Hugh Honour, Nikolaus Pevsner… Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966. Print.
  • Slade, Thomas M. Historic American Buildings Survey in Indiana. Bloomington: Published for Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, Indianapolis, by Indiana UP, 1983. Print.
  • Smith, Henry Atterbury. 500 Small Houses of the Twenties. New York: Dover, 1990. Print.
  • Historic American Buildings Survey. Cambridge, England: Chadwyck-Healey, 1980. Print.
  • Hitchcock, Henry-Russell. Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries ; Henry-Russell Hitchcock. Harmondworth: Penguin, 1987. Print.
  • Hofsinde, Robert. Indians at Home. New York: Morrow, 1964. Print.
  • Hubka, Thomas C. Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn: the Connected Farm Buildings of New England. Hanover [N.H.: University of New England, 1984. Print.
  • Kauffman, Henry J. Architecture of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country: 1700 – 1900. Elverson, PA: Olde Springfield Shoppe, 1992. Print.
  • Keefe, Charles S. The American House; Being a Collection of Illustrations & Plans of the Best Country & Suburban Houses Built in the United States during the Last Few Years,. New York: U.P.C. Book, 1922. Print.
  • Kelly, J. Frederick. The Early Domestic Architecture of Connecticut. New York: Dover Publications, 1963. Print.
  • Lafever, Minard. The Beauties of Modern Architecture. New York: Da Capo, 1968. Print.
  • Lancaster, Clay. Antebellum Architecture of Kentucky. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky, 1991. Print.
  • Lancaster, Clay. The American Bungalow, 1880-1930. New York: Abbeville, 1985. Print.
  • Lavine, Sigmund A. The Houses the Indians Built. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1975. Print.
  • Lockwood, Charles. Bricks and Brownstones: the New York Row House, 1783-1929. New York: Rizzoli, 2003. Print.
  • Makinson, Randell L. Greene & Greene: Furniture and Related Designs. Salt Lake City, UT: Peregrine Smith, 1979. Print.
  • Manucy, Albert C. The Houses of St. Augustine: Notes on the Architecture from 1565 to 1821. St. Augustine: St. Augustine Historical Society, 1978. Print.
  • Mayhew, Edgar De Noailles, and Minor Myers. A Documentary History of American Interiors: from the Colonial Era to 1915. New York: Scribner, 1980. Print.
  • McAlester, Virginia, and A. Lee McAlester. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Knopf, 1984. Print.
  • McCoy, Esther. Five California Architects. New York: Reinhold Pub., 1960. Print.
  • McDermott, John Francis. The French in the Mississippi Valley. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1965. Print.
  • McKee, Harley J. Introduction to Early American Masonry: Stone, Brick, Mortar and Plaster. Washington: National Trust for Historic Preservation & Columbia University, 1973. Print.
  • Metz, Don. The Compact House Book. Charlotte, VT: Garden Way Pub., 1983. Print.
  • Pierson, William H., and William H. Jordy. American Buildings and Their Architects. Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1976. Print.
  • Cheek, Richard, and Tom Gannon. Newport Mansions: the Gilded Age. Little Compton, RI: Foremost, 1982. Print.
  • Dolkart, Andrew, and Marjorie Pearson. Guide to New York City Landmarks. Washington, D.C.: Preservation, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1992. Print.
  • Cheek, Richard, and Tom Gannon. Newport Mansions: the Gilded Age. Little Compton, RI: Foremost, 1982. Print.
  • Dolkart, Andrew, and Marjorie Pearson. Guide to New York City Landmarks. Washington, D.C.: Preservation, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1992. Print.
  • Fairbanks, Jonathan L., and Robert Trent. New England Begins: the Seventeenth Century. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1982. Print.
  • McKim, Mead & White. A Monograph of the Works of McKim, Mead & White. New York: Architectural Book Pub., 1925. Print.
  • Mohney, David, and Keller Easterling. Seaside: Making a Town in America. [New York, N.Y.]: Princeton Architectural, 1991. Print.
  • Montell, William Lynwood, and Michael Lynn Morse. Kentucky Folk Architecture. Lexington: University of Kentucky, 1976. Print.
  • Morgan, Lewis Henry. Houses and House-life of the American Aborigines. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1965. Print.
  • Morrison, Hugh. Early American Architecture, from the First Colonial Settlements to the National Period. New York: Oxford UP, 1952. Print.
  • Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York: Oxford UP, 1989. Print.
  • The Natco Double House, Semi-detached; Attractive, Economical, Durable, Fireproof. Boston: Rogers and Manson, 1914. Print.
  • Newcomb, Rexford. Old Kentucky Architecture; Colonial, Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic, and Other Types Erected Prior to the War between the States,. New York, NY: W. Helburn, 1940. Print.
  • Nichols, Frederick Doveton., Van Jones. Martin, and Frances Benjamin Johnston. The Architecture of Georgia. Savannah: Beehive, 1976. Print.
  • Wilson, Samuel, Mary Louise Christovich, and Roulhac Toledano. New Orleans Architecture. Gretna [La.: Pelican Pub., 1971. Print.
  • Fairbanks, Jonathan L., and Robert Trent. New England Begins: the Seventeenth Century. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1982. Print.
  • McKim, Mead & White. A Monograph of the Works of McKim, Mead & White. New York: Architectural Book Pub., 1925. Print.
  • Mohney, David, and Keller Easterling. Seaside: Making a Town in America. [New York, N.Y.]: Princeton Architectural, 1991. Print.
  • Montell, William Lynwood, and Michael Lynn Morse. Kentucky Folk Architecture. Lexington: University of Kentucky, 1976. Print.
  • Morgan, Lewis Henry. Houses and House-life of the American Aborigines. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1965. Print.
  • Morrison, Hugh. Early American Architecture, from the First Colonial Settlements to the National Period. New York: Oxford UP, 1952. Print.
  • Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York: Oxford UP, 1989. Print.
  • The Natco Double House, Semi-detached; Attractive, Economical, Durable, Fireproof. Boston: Rogers and Manson, 1914. Print.
  • Newcomb, Rexford. Old Kentucky Architecture; Colonial, Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic, and Other Types Erected Prior to the War between the States,. New York, NY: W. Helburn, 1940. Print.
  • Nichols, Frederick Doveton., Van Jones. Martin, and Frances Benjamin Johnston. The Architecture of Georgia. Savannah: Beehive, 1976. Print.
  • Wilson, Samuel, Mary Louise Christovich, and Roulhac Toledano. New Orleans Architecture. Gretna [La.: Pelican Pub., 1971. Print.
  • Sheldon, George William, Editor. American Country Houses of the Gilded Age. Mineola, NY: Dover. Print.
  • Wright, Richardson Little. House and Garden’s Book of Houses: Containing over Three Hundred Illustrations of Large and Small Houses and Plans, Service Quarters and Garages, and Such Necessary Architectural Detail as Doorways, Fireplaces, Windows, Floors, Walls, Ceilings, Closets, Stairs, Chimneys, Etc. New York: C. Nast &, 1920. Print.
  • The Architecture of Wisconsin,. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1967. Print.
    Baer, Morley, Elizabeth Pomada, and Michael Larsen. Painted Ladies: San Francisco’s Resplendent Victorians. New York: Dutton, 1978. Print.
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  • Patterson, Augusta Owen. American Homes of Today. New York: Macmillan, 1924. Print.
  • Pierson, William H. American Buildings and Their Architects. Vol.2. Technology and the Picturesque: the Corporate and the Early Gothic Styles. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978. Print.
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  • Radford’s Artistic Homes; 250 Designs. Chicago, IL: Radford Architectural, 1908. Print.
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  • Warren, Nancy Hunter. New Mexico Style: a Source Book of Traditional Architectural Details. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico, 1986. Print.
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Tal, Ruth, and Jennifer Houston. Fresh at Home: Everyday Vegetarian Cooking. Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2004. Print.

I got this from the library after eating at the restaurant “Fresh” on Bloor Street in Toronto.  I loved the bowl of veggies and noodles I got there, and wondered how easy it might be to re-create at home.

Well, the answer seems to be, fairly easy if you’re willing to go whole hog… or vegan hog substitute, anyway.  The ingredients all tend to be fairly consistent across recipes, but are things that my family don’t normally have in the house.

It’s hard to tell what ingredients could be substituted and what can’t.  All the rice bowls, for instance, specify brown basmati rice.  Bean sprouts are called for in a few recipes, but others call for sunflower sprouts or buckwheat sprouts.  Many recipes call for filtered water – honestly, does that really affect the flavour of the finished dish?

What frustrated me the most was that it seemed like every single bowl recipe called baby bok choy, which is in season for what, two weeks a year?  Tomatoes and avocados are frequently called for as well.  Perhaps in 2004 we weren’t thinking about seasonal and local ingredients yet, but it strikes a sour note against the super-healthy, vegan focus of the book, which nowadays seems to go hand-in-hand with the 50-mile diet and so on.  And speaking of dated, they feel they need to define the word “tsunami” (the Japanese word for tidal wave), which by the very end of 2004 no-one in North America could be unaware of, after the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on December 26 that killed over 230,000 people.  (I notice it’s no longer on the menu now).

I might be tempted to gather the ingredients and try one of these recipes, but the chore of cooking has been officially taken over full-time by my husband this school year.  I hardly feel I can thrust this cookbook in his hands and say “here – try this!”.  There’s a glossary and short index, as well as recommended reading.

Recommended Reading
  • Balch, Phyllis A., and Phyllis A. Balch. Prescription for Nutritional Healing: the A to Z Guide to Supplements. New York: Avery, 2002. Print.
  • Calbom, Cherie, and Maureen Keane. Juicing for Life. Garden City Park, NY: Avery Pub. Group, 1992. Print.
  • Castorina, Jan, and Dimitra Stais. Juices: Nature’s Cure-all for Health and Vitality. Boston, MA: Periplus, 2000. Print.
  • Gagnon, Daniel. Liquid Herbal Drops in Everyday Use. Santa Fe, NM: Botanical Research and Educational Institute, 1996. Print.
  • Graci, Sam, Harvey Diamond, Jeanne Marie Martin, and David R. Schweitzer. The Power of Superfoods. Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice Hall Canada, 1997. Print.
  • Juliano, and Erika Lenkert. Raw: the Uncook Book. New York: Regan, 1999. Print.
  • McIntyre, Anne. Drink to Your Health. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. Print.
  • Meyerowitz, Steve. Wheatgrass: Nature’s Finest Medicine. Great Barrington, MA: Sproutman, 1998. Print.
  • Murray, Michael T., and Joseph E. Pizzorno. Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine. Rocklin, CA: Prima Pub., 1991. Print.
  • Pitchford, Paul. Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic, 2002. Print.
  • Robbins, John. Diet for a New America. Walpole, NH: Stillpoint, 1987. Print.
  • Tal, Ruth. Juice for Life: Modern Food and Luscious Juice. Toronto: Macmillan Canada, 2000. Print.
  • Walker, Norman Wardhaugh. Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices: What’s Missing in Your Body? Phoenix, AZ: Norwalk, 1978. Print.

Small Houses. Newtown, CT: Taunton, 1992. Print.

This book came up, either on LibraryThing or Amazon, as a book I might be interested in.  Given all the small house books I’ve been reading, that wasn’t a stretch, and was true!

This is a typical type of book from Taunton; it’s a collection of articles from Fine Homebuilding magazine.  The introduction says that the articles are from “the first 10 years” of the magazine, so I assume it’s something along the lines of 1980 to 1990, given the 1992 publication date.

The angle of homebuilding (as opposed to interior design, say) is clear from the articles.  Many articles show details of wall and roof construction, or carefully point out that they used 2×10 joists with a 2×12 ledger, or whatever.  There were times when I wanted more interior pictures, because my focus is on how the space is used.

The 29 articles span a wide variety of types of houses.  Most consider the whole house, although some are as simple as a family that carved a new room out of a landing and part of their basement.  One article is mostly about the gardens surrounding a 1920s cottage (I liked the kitchen cabinets they built in that one).  My favourite house is probably one that’s banked with earth and built mostly from salvaged materials – it’s quirky and not nearly as dark as you would think.  I only saw one house in the book that I’d seen before – by Kelly Davis, in Wisconsin.  I must be getting to the end of my small-house mania, because I can actually see his point that below 1000 square feet or so, you face diminishing returns.  As he says, “Heating, electrical and plumbing systems are all givens, and beyond a point, they don’t get substantially less expensive with a reduction of square footage”.

Contains an index, but no further reading.