Part memoir, part cultural history, this is a book about the history of homebuilding in America over the past 100 years, told through twelve unique but modest houses that the author knows intimately. We follow the author from the sod house in Nebraska where his mother was born through the frame house where he spent his childhood to the production houses that he built one a day in the San Fernando Valley to the Habitat for Humanity houses that he has been devoting his time to most recently. While the houses provide the narrative glue, they are but part of the story. What emerges through the pages of ‘A Carpenter’s Life as Told by Houses’ is a passionate paean to the earth and those who walk upon it, written by a veteran builder with a deep connection to the natural world, a yearning for simplicity, a respect for humanity and an evocative notion of what we mean by ‘home’.
