Tipis & Yurts: Authentic Design for Circular Shelters [Hardcover]

Blue Evening Star (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1995

This text contains easy-to-follow diagrams, clear instructions and complete materials lists to enable readers to construct tent-like structures based on designs developed by North American plains Indians and Mongols. Many principles used in modern homes have their origins in these primitive dwellings, and many innovative solutions to the problems of heating, lighting and ventilation are exemplified in the simple engineering of tipis and yurts. The book also includes sections on the functional and spiritual role of these nomadic dwellings and customizing them with solar-power and wooden platforms.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Lark Books (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0937274887
• ISBN-13: 978-0937274880
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,999,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Tipis and Yurts: Non-Authentic Designs for Circular Shelters, February 13, 2000

By 

Mr. A. Wenham "alan-the-tent" (Devon, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tipis & Yurts: Authentic Design for Circular Shelters (Hardcover)

This is a classic coffee table tent book, all flashy pictures and no content. Please don't buy this book if you want detailed information on building either of these tents. The info on tipi's is sparse and you will struggle severly. The yurt is a joke, made from 2 x 2 soft wood and angle iron. For Tipis read the Laubin book, excellent! For yurts surf the web.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars "INAUTHENTIC" designs would be a better book title!, December 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Tipis & Yurts: Authentic Designs for Circular Shelters (Paperback)

I can only speak to the section of the book about tipis. Having used the Laubin tipi book for 25 years, I have to say that the book in question is filled with incomplete and wrongheaded information. The pictures show a tipi that is poorly constructed, not fully pitched, incorrectly sited, and without a liner or furnishings--a flapping, wrinkled, miserable-looking shell. The methods the author has devised for staking the tipi are laughable: completely different from the traditional methods, needlessly complicated and ineffective. I guessed that these methods would result in a tipi that can not withstand a strong wind, and in fact, the author admits that her tipi has started to collapse in a strong windstorm!! In contrast, the Laubins' tipis have withstood hurricane force winds, because they used traditional methods, which are simple and work beautifully. Otherwise, the plains Indians would have died out long ago. Although she lists the excellent Laubin book in her bibiography, I doubt very much the author has read it herself. This author seems to have pulled many methods out of thin air. She has eliminated a small but important element in tipi design (smoke flap gores), seems ignorant about how to handle the smoke flaps to keep out rain, and does not know how to make a tipi livable. DO NOT TRUST THIS BOOK!

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Yuck--nothing personal but...., August 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Tipis & Yurts: Authentic Designs for Circular Shelters (Paperback)

I understand what it is to be a new tentmaker, but this book puts very haphazard designs out as if the author is an expert. I agree--read Laubin for tipis (the best I've seen yet)--for yurts try Torvald Faegre's 'TENTS--ARCHITECTURE OF THE NOMADS' or anything by Peter Alford Andrews. Don't buy this book--if it could bark, it would.