A Place Of My Own

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Last edited by ImportBot
August 19, 2020 | History

A Place Of My Own

  • 3.00 ·
  • 1 Rating
  • 12 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 2 Have read

At a turning point in his life, writer Michael Pollan found himself dreaming of a small wood-frame hut in the woods near his house - a place to work, but also a "shelter for daydreams." Ordinarily more at home among words than things, the author was seized by the idea of building the place himself, with his own two unhandy hands.

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 from the power of place to shape our lives to the question of what constitutes "real work" in a technological society. With one eye on Thoreau and the other on Mr.

Blandings, Pollan uses the biography of a single tiny building to brilliantly illuminate the history, and meaning, of all human building: how nature is both sacrificed and celebrated when we transform a tree into a house; where the classical rules of Vitruvius dovetail with the Chinese art of feng shui; what the warring perspective of carpenter and architect have to tell us about the changing experience of work today.

This is 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, showing us that there is not a divide between the two, but a continuum.

Publish Date
Publisher
Bloomsbury, 1997
Pages
320

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: A Place Of My Own
A Place Of My Own
1997, Bloomsbury, 1997
Hardcover
Cover of: A place of my own
A place of my own: the education of an amateur builder
1997, Random House
in English - 1st ed.

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Book Details


The Physical Object

Format
Hardcover
Number of pages
320
Dimensions
9.5 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
Weight
1.4 pounds

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL7961633M
ISBN 10
0747533970
ISBN 13
9780747533979
Library Thing
44599
Goodreads
1843859

Source records

Better World Books record

Excerpts

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?
added anonymously.

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
August 19, 2020 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
August 6, 2010 Edited by IdentifierBot added LibraryThing ID
April 24, 2010 Edited by Open Library Bot Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs.
April 16, 2010 Edited by bgimpertBot Added goodreads ID.
April 29, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from amazon.com record