Customer Reviews

Little House on a Small Planet: Simple Homes, Cozy Retreats, and Energy Efficient Possibilities

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This extraordinary book provides not only case studies from all around North America, [including costs, monthly energy expenses, and profiles of the owners] it goes further by introducing philosophical studies on the zen of living large in a small space, freeing the mind for the pursuit of inner happiness by removing the contemporary stresses of maintaining not only large living spaces but also the 'things' that fill today's mega houses.

It is much much more than a set of floorplans. It is a guide to a happy life in your home. Here's a quote "do you want to live in a home or a bank?" - So many people look at their home as an investment first, and dont really look at how happy they really are in their house.

This book made a major difference in how I look at my existing house. My fiancee and I are using the insights from the book to happily merge two households into one - without "space wars". It has given me insight which enabled me to feel that "I own my house - my house does not own me". There are lovely photographs and ideas - as well as a great sprinkling of history and insightful thoughts throughout the book.

Like the small but elegant domiciles the authors highlight, this book is no assembly-line product... it is obviously a carefully constructed labor of love.

I was skeptical when I first heard of the book since the cover had photos of what I considered some old, boring small homes. Then I looked closer and saw there were some really interesting looking ones like I have seen in Mexico, Greece and along the coasts of France, Italy and Spain and even in Scotland and Ireland.

Like that the author challenges the reader to really set aside notions that one had about how things have to be done. And how thinking outside the box, and asking oneself how little does one need to be content and how can that thinking be applied to designing or redoing a small home to make it more livable as well as more calm and enjoyable.

And how to use materials that are reclaimed but also energy efficient and appealing to the eyes. And a home that will allow you to live well and below your means. In fact I lay in bed and realized the small cottage I live in that was built in the late 1800's is to big for me. That I want something clean, small and open.

And the book may make you go even further as I have done, and sell off a lot of stuff one has that one doesn't need nor often even want. Almost like being told that a really cool sailboat with living quarters below can be yours within two weeks, and you then get really serious and sort out what you really need and then make the move.

This book should challenge as well as inspire the reader. Even the one who thought owning a McMansion was the only way to go.

This book really changed how I look at home life. The text is meaty and kept me up two nights in a row. I had been grumping about how cramped my house seemed. With a spouse, two dogs, and a cat our 2000 sf seemed, well, just not big enough. After reading the book, and thinking about it, I saw the real problem, it was never a space issue, it was a stuff issue. For the past two weeks we have thinned, sorted, trashed, donated and otherwise cleared out roughly half of what was in the house. Now the house can breathe and there is space for us. So, even if you live in a regular size space, or can't imagine living in a small one, this is a grand book. It really helps you see the functions of a home and isolate your needs. If you are working at living a simple, green or wabi-sabi life this book is a must.

Shay Salomon is not just writing conceptually -- she writes about the intrinsic values of small houses from personal experience, and shares those values in this great, lushly-illustrated book. She's also a builder of small houses, and has dedicated her energies to promoting the idea that with smaller houses, we'll consume less, maintain less, need less money to be happy, and use less energy. This book makes good reading even if a small house isn't in your immediate future -- the stories about how to use space well, and the social benefits of well-designed, smaller houses are full of insights and human interest.

A lot of work went into writing and illustrating "Little House..." and the reader benefits from it!

I purchased this book based on word of mouth, a review or two, and the book's association with the Small House Society. When the book arrived, it was larger than I'd imagined and far more worthy than I'd hoped. It represents more than a decade of experience and research on living with less interior space. The examples are not from just one locale or mindset, but from an incredible range of people and places familiar to the intended North American audience. These are real people living real lives and they all seem to be enjoying their small homes more than those of us with far larger abodes.

In 1950, the average home in the United States was 1000sqft and due to larger households provided less than 300sqft. per person. By 2000, the average home was over 2200sqft. and combined with smaller households provided 840sqft. per person (all from U.S. Census figures). Yet, none of us seem to have enough space. Today, there is much interest in "Green" building practices and products, but the area of building where the most environmental "savings" can be found is in size, especially size per occupant. There are two obvious approaches here: you can either move more people into a large home (cohousing, etc) or you can build a smaller home. Either approach effectively uses interior space in a far wiser manner. Little House on a Small Planet is primarily about smaller homes for today's small households and provides not only the reasoning for living in less space, but also the inspiration to make it happen. It is simply the best and most thorough look at living in fewer square feet that I've come across: a must-read for anyone shopping for a new or used home, moving in with other people, facing the challenges of a growing family, or just seeking a less consumptive lifestyle. Enjoy!

This book was random, with no floor plans or in some case even pictures of the inside of the houses. I can be reading about a family or house and describing the house is the last thing they talk about. Instead they talk about the life of the family or the area of the neighborhood. I had want a book that would give examples of house to build or design smaller homes. That was not this book. This is more about life style change and proving you can life in a small weird home. Most of the homes were built in areas where you could just hand build a home with mud or clay, not in cities or the real world.
Most of the homes were built by hand with little thought of getting the house proper code. These house would never be resold, let alone lived in by people who was not the current owner. Most of the house are just ideas that someone decide to try or build. I would at how efficient the house are compared other houses the same size with safer and newer technology in it.
Most of the pictures of the house are in black and white. I could not tell what or how things were built from the writing or the picture. Most of the living area is so small that average people would not be that comfortable sitting there. Our current 990 sq ft apartment is more comfortable and smaller than some of the house in the book.
There are better books.

This is a beautiful book! I enjoy reading it in my off hours, just leafing through and reading about other people's ideas. Don't be intimidated by the word "small" in relationship to houses -- some of these small houses are at least 1000sq ft. Some are indeed small. Most of them are not occupied by more than 1-3 people. My favorites are the houses with children, since it seems more of a challenge to fit more people into a smaller space.

This book also talks a lot about a low ecological footprint philosophy, but I wouldn't buy it for that. Many sweeping statements are indeed footnoted, but many others aren't. Some of the broad comments about the sociological benefits of living "small" don't quite sit with me, especially if it's touted as scientific research but not given a citation. Even with a citation I'm not fond of people saying that everyone should follow their way of life because some scientist said it was better.

That said, this book is full of wonderful ideas about how to build a comfortable, happy house that matches your own personality. I like how they emphasize that you should watch yourself and see what you like about certain houses, where you like to go, what you like to look at, what makes you comfortable. Then if you're lucky enough to get the chance to design your own house, you can build something that reflects you, not the Joneses. Something that makes you comfortable and happy. It's full of great design ideas. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in houses.

I thought the book would be more contemporary. (supposedly published in 2006) The quality of the photographs throughout look like the 70's. If these pictures aren't thirty years old, then everyone included in this book is living is some kind of time warp. It's certainly more of an alternative lifestyle book, than in interesting architecture book. Think Mother Earth News not Dwell. Think people raising ducks and building aluminum can structures, not Tumbleweed homes with modern lifestyles in tiny spaces. Low quality, uninspired black and white photography. Eight pages of color photos in the center of the book, equally uninspired. It does include a lot of text to give you food for thought about what do we really need in a structure. Might be okay for some, but I was highly disappointed.

I got this book for a variety of reasons -- I wanted to learn more about making life work in a truly small place, to learn more about the ideology behind the small house movement, to see and read about real-world examples of people who made the move from conventional housing to what's typically considered teeny-tiny housing. Along that vein, I wanted to see many pictures and floor plans of how a family of two, three or four fit their whole lives within the confines of a 500 sq. ft home.

This book has a huge section on the importance of spending time with your children, but falls woefully short in the main department I was looking for -- the details on HOW to make it happen. I wasn't looking for architectural-quality floor plans -- not looking to build a house from this book -- but each house I read about left me clamoring for pictures, stories, floor plans. Many of the stories of people who went small house didn't have a SINGLE picture included! Come ON! Don't tell me how deliriously happy Sally, Bob and babies Joe and Jane are in their new adobe 400 sq. ft house and then NOT SHOW ME ANY OF IT!!

So the book was cool in some parts, but INCREDIBLY frustrating and disappointing in others. I'll definitely be putting in on Swaptree from here... not holding on to this one. Disappointing.