Customer Reviews

Building Without Borders: Sustainable Construction for the Global Village (Natural Building Series)

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I bought this I was looking for something that would tell me (generally) how to build the different methods described. I thought they might give quantities/recipes for cob, or for plaster and such, but the book is more of a discussion on the culture/architecture/appropriate building materials and such. For me, a really interesting surprise was a discussion of how to handle refugee situations/camps.

The content was good, but sometimes written in an uninteresting way. It appears that the authors/editors wanted to have a really honest view of the building techniques, so they would put information about where the technique did not work, or more often, was not accepted by the local people. If you're looking for something to make you feel good and happy that the "natural way" is going to save the world, you will probably be disappointed, but if you can see it as a good learning tool to understand new ways of building and why they haven't taken off everywhere, this is an excellent place to start.

I haven't yet put any of the ideas into practice, but as an "armchair" builder so far I have really enjoyed this book. There are nice little stories mixed in, and a nice range of ideas.

I've referenced this book in academic papers in my graduate studies and it's good enough that I plan to use some of the ideas therein this summer while rebuilding Haiti.