A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams by Michael Pollan (PDF)

Description

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 bestseller Second Nature. In A 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 property—a 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 Own is for anyone who has ever wondered how the walls around us take shape—and how we might shape them ourselves.Praise for A 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 of Midnight 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

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I really enjoyed reading Pollan’s experience about building his own hut in the woods, which would house his writing desk and books but be within sight of his home in Connecticut. About half of the book is about the nuts and bolts experience of designing and building the 8’x13′ writing house, and the other half is much more philosophical and far ranging – about architecture in general, columns and pediments, conflicts between architects and contractors, feng shui, chi, and many aspects of building. He admits “a tendency of mine to lean rather heavily on words and theories in my dealings with the world.” In Chapter 3 he wrote. “…deep piles of words on the page comprised for me a kind of soothing environment, a plush cushion into which sometimes I could barely wait to sink my head.” If you’re looking for a how-to book about building an outbuilding, you will become impatient with Pollan’s book. If you’re looking for a deep immersion in words about the history, theory and philosophy of building, interspersed with Pollan’s actual experience in the project, you will thoroughly enjoy this book.Pollan refers frequently to Thoreau and shared his desire to find a place of his own to write and spent untold hours surveying his land, bringing a chair to rest upon to look at each aspect at different times of day before selecting the perfect site for his hut. He wrote a letter to his architect to describe what he was looking for, and pored over drawings with the architect. Realizing his limitations as a handyman, he selected a skilled young carpenter to help him one day a week on the project. He visited the mill from which the wood was sourced, and found a custom shop to produce the windows where he planed some of the lumber for the framework himself. He developed a genuine reverence for the wood used in his hut, having selected and sanded and nailed almost every piece himself. He wrote that “buildings give us a way to leave a lasting mark, to conduct a conversation across the generations.”He concluded with “So this was the house for the self that stood a little apart and at an angle, the self that thought a good place to spend the day was between two walls of books in front of a big window overlooking life.” The book concludes just as he is moving his books into the “writing house”. I only wished that he had extended the book a bit to give us some flavor of his experience of working in the writing house, whether it inspired him or made him more productive. Indeed his writing career really flourished after the hut was built, but I think only his first book or two were written in Connecticut before he moved to Berkeley, California.

⭐I remember in high school hearing about the eccentricities of Walden and rolling my eyes. This book has helped me see why that book has held such a strong place in the zeitgeist… and yes, makes me want to build my own little place in the woods.I really appreciated how Pollan went into some of the architectural history and theory – although at one point I just wanted to shout at him to just get up off of his duff and DO something rather than reading about doing something! And then only a few paragraphs later, he made fun of himself for that very thing, and went and actually started with the doing. Pretty handy, that! Wish it always worked that way for me, the things I could do…The book really has 3 main characters – his architect friend/mentor, his contractor/mentor, and Pollan. The book spends an awful lot of time on the struggle between architects and contractors, and Pollan’s place stuck between the two of them… and his gradual acquisition of knowledge and confidence, which allows him to make decisions outside of the blueprints.I read this book on audiobook, so it was solidly built out of imagination. I imagine that the book itself has drawings or illustrations – and see, even just looking at the cover shows me what the finished product looks like, and darn that little hut looks cute and snug! – which would help give it shape mentally… but actually that may have helped me a bit. I rewound and relistened in some parts to try to figure out what he meant when describing building details, and I don’t know that I would have thought so hard about it if it had been diagrammed.That said, is this the Omnivore’s Dilemma? Nope, not by a long shot. But if I had never read OD, I’d have given it 5 stars, so that’s what I’m doing here. (maybe OD should get an imaginary 6th star, to make it fair to every other book?)This was just a really enjoyable book, and it’s subtly altered how I look at buildings around me. Worth the reading, definitely.

⭐This book is not for everyone. Michael Pollan does not leave out any details in building a small house in the woods. The book doesn’t overwhelm you exactly; it beats you down until you nearly give up. If you don’t surrender, and if you have any interest at all in learning how to do something you know nothing about, and if you care about doing something right, you need to read almost anything by Michael Pollan. I fell under his spell with his opening salvos in “The Omnivores Dilemma,” a book that helped start a revolution in food quality and that leads to the corruption that begins with factory farming clear through sales and promotion excesses to the grocery stores and pretended government oversight. I don’t think it is overblown to write that some Americans and possibly myself would be in a nursing home or six feet under except for Pollan. So if you are planning or just thinking about building something and want it to stand the test of time, read “A Place of My Own.” Actually, you can learn a lot from Pollan whether you are going to build anything or not. There is a way of looking at things that may be in decline today but that can result in infinite value. Pollan can show you how to do this. Also, you can join me in wondering why he didn’t show us a photo of the completed structure.

⭐He is a brilliant writer – OK he is over exposed after ‘Cooking ‘ ( if you are already a fan you’ll want to say ‘Oh , I’ve loved his books for aaaaaages ! ‘) this is , I think his second book . Often non fiction interests me but without a narrative to carry me through I don’t finish . No such problem with this . He writes so well that he makes deciding where a window will go seem fascinating . He even interested me in architecture , but most of all this is an eclectic book which meanders gorgeously through ideas . I have recommend it to many and have heard no one who has not been enchanted . ( if you like Michael Crawford – this is similar but much more friendly )

⭐I was a writer in need of a writing space and did what Pollan advised. I grabbed a chair and walked around my garden until I saw the view I wanted from my desk and chair. Then I built a garden office around it. Every day I delight in my space, I have privacy and I value the work I do from my own work space. You may not be able to build a cabin in the woods as he did, and I didn’t use my own hands to build my office, but it is the philosophy behind all Pollan’s beliefs that starts ones own brain whirring. All his books are worth the read.

⭐As an architect myself I was skeptical I would gain much from this. However it is an erudite outsider’s view looking into the depths and processes at work when you decide to build from concept to completion; the whys, wheres and how are all very well researched and considered, actually surprisingly funny at times. It is not so much how to build your own shed but an essay on how you should think about building…applies to anything really.

⭐although best known for his major bookss successes, like the omnivors dilemma, Mr Pollan is a clever writter than can build a story worth telling from such a simple – and complicated as it turns out- action as building a small hut for himself.once again his combination of research, observation, fun and good story writting excells in a funny but most enjoyable voyage. A small gem to enjoy or give as a present.

⭐This is a beautiful book, with plenty of gorgeous quotes and clear descriptions. It is what I was looking for Many thanks

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