Place of My Own (eBook)

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.' Weaving the practical with the philosophical, this book presents a captivating personal inquiry into the art of architecture, the craft of building, and the meaning of modern work. Line drawings throughout. Size C. 320 pp. National ads & publicity. 35,000 print.

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A captivating personal inquiry into the art of architecture, the craft of building, and the meaning of modern work';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?'When Michael Pollan decided to plant a garden, the result was the acclaimed bestsellerSecond Nature. InA Place of My Own,he turns his sharp insight to the craft of building, as he recounts the process of designing and constructing a small one-room structure on his rural Connecticut propertya place in which he hoped to read, write, and daydream, built with his own two unhandy hands.Invoking the titans of architecture, literature, and philosophy, from Vitruvius to Thoreau, from the Chinese masters of feng shui to the revolutionary Frank Lloyd Wright, Pollan brilliantly chronicles a realm of blueprints, joints, and trusses as he peers into the ephemeral nature of ';houseness' itself. From the spark of an idea to the search for a perfect site to the raising of a ridgepole, Pollan revels in the infinitely detailed, complex process of creating a finished structure. At once superbly written, informative, and enormously entertaining,A Place of My Ownis for anyone who has ever wondered how the walls around us take shapeand how we might shape them ourselves.Praise forA Place of My Own';A glorious piece of prose . . . Pollan leads readers on his adventure with humor and grace.'Chicago Tribune';[Pollan] alternates between describing the building process and introducing informative asides on various aspects of construction. These explanations are deftly and economically supplied. Pollan's beginner status serves him well, for he asks the kind of obvious questions about building that most readers will want answered.'The New York Review of Books';By shrewdly combining just the right mix of personal reflection, architectural background, and nuts-and-bolts detail, Michael Pollan enables us to see, feel, and understand what goes into the building of a house. The result is a captivating and informative adventure.'John Berendt, author ofMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil';An utterly terrific book . . . an inspired meditation on the complex relationship between space, the human body and the human spirit.'Francine du Plessix Gray';A tour de force.'Phillip Lopate