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i think michael pollan is an exceptionally good writer... i hung in there with him writing about building his little hut for 221/301 pages. it's just that he got so philosophical about this little place. he put so much deep spiritual meaning into his hut and the building of it that i just did not understand. i guess i have always thought that things are things. i am not an architect and i haven't built anything more than a table in shop class in high school, and maybe that's what it takes to und...
This is a very introspective, philosophical book about building a small, one-room structure. I guess I enjoy reading about construction and woodworking, because despite the gory details, the book held my interest throughout. For me, the highlight of the book is the contrast in approach between the architect and the contractor/carpenter. Despite pleas to "keep the construction simple", the architect deliberately designed something that is different, and sometimes these differences led to difficul...
So boring. I think I was hoping for a funny, self-deprecating tale in the spirit of Bill Bryson or Sarah Vowel. Instead it was like being trapped in a really boring conversation with one of my dads friends ho loooooooved quoting obscure philosophers. Could have been a good (short!) article, but not a whole book. I like his food writing but would advise others to stay away from this.
I like Michael Pollan. I think he's a wonderful writer, and every so often I am amazed at a sentence he writes. Unfortunately, this book stretches my tolerance for self-indulgence beyond its limits. Seriously, the only thing more more unbearable than being the kind of person who needs a "writing cabin" is being the kind of person who writes a book about needing, and building, that writing cabin.
There's a great review for this book here on goodreads wherein the reviewer makes the point that the only thing more unbearable than a guy who feels he needs to build himself a writing cabin is a guy who writes an entire book about needing and building a writing cabin. Not much more to say. That pretty much covers it. 2 stars.
Ostensibly, about the design and construction of a 13' x 8' "writing house" in the authors back yard, this books deals more with the author's need to find a balance in his life between a career stringing sentences together to producing a more tangible object. In this, the author's second book, he comes to terms with this neglected aspect of his life, and we come along for the ride. The book was actually very easy to read and had many entertaining moments, while still covering some complex topics...
The problem with Michael Pollan’s books is that they are very, very hard to put down. Even on the topic of architecture, which is not one I ostensibly care about, he sucked me in from page 1. This is a wonderful, engaging, interesting book, addressing a slew of topics from man’s relationship to nature (Pollan’s recurring theme) to the timeless, bitter enmity between architects and carpenters (same applies to designers and engineers in any discipline, I think).My favorite passages were his reiter...
Despite Pollan being typically overly self-deprecating, the construction/design portion of this book is interesting and worthwhile. However, the discussion of architectural movements was too theoretical for me. Seeing as Pollan's writing house was made by hand, using local materials and aided by local artisans (and thus a rather traditional construction process), it's an odd choice to spend the bulk of the book analyzing modernism v. post-modernism. Pollan has a tendency to spend much of his wor...
