A Good House: Building A Life On The Land

"It is a measure of the confusion of our times that the simplest words tease out the most complicated questions. Words like 'good' and 'house.' What do we mean by these? A year of my life turned on this question, a year in which I built my own house". These thoughts launch us into Richard Manning's powerful and compelling account of his building an environmentally conscious house on a thirty-eight acre piece of land in the wilds of western Montana. Concerned about our culture's disregard for the environment, and facing his own mid-life crisis, Richard Manning decided to rebuild what he could. First he remarried, and then, determined to adopt fully the values of conservation, he decided to build "a life on the land". We follow as Richard and his wife, Tracy, with the aid of some fascinating characters - Bruce the water dowser; Banker McKee; Trusty Dave the digger; Skinny Jim and his partner Big Jim of the concrete crew; the lumbermen, the Finlays; the carpenters Bruce and Mike; Karl the mason; Gallacher as gofer; the rockers Larry, Rick, and Steve; and numerous others - conceive, finance, and build their house. Combining lessons from the history of house construction with contemporary technologies, the Mannings immerse themselves, body and soul, into the project: from devising the exact layout of the timber-framed structure and determining the minimum amount of water they will have to draw from the arid region, to calculating the superinsulation needed for successful passive-solar heating and installing a composting toilet, they strive to match beauty with efficiency, integration with practicality. Painfully aware that his earth-sheltered dwelling requires him to cut down trees and digup the earth, among other destructive acts, Manning compromises when necessary but holds on to an idea that seems antithetical to modern ways: "Less is better". With the first warnings of winter, the months of working around the clock begin to take their toll, and the couple near physical and emotional exhaustion. But it is in these most trying of times that they come to understand the real meaning of their work and the purpose of their house. Combining the best qualities of Edward Abbey and Tracy Kidder, Manning entertains and informs in this affirmative book that not only points toward a new aesthetic in house-building but also shows how we can build a better life and help protect our endangered world.