Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter

Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter

Author: Visit Amazon's Lloyd Kahn Page | Language: English | ISBN: 0936070528 | Format: EPUB

Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter Description

Review

"...a cornucopia of 1,300 photos featuring 150 different tiny homes, showing how they were built, giving resources and helpful tips of construction, supplying design solutions and inspiration for others, but also conveying WHY they were built. Tiny though they are, they are much more than mere shelter."
-Kevin Kelly, CoolTools.org

"Gives me chills, it's so inspiring." - Cheryl Long, Editor, The Mother Earth News

A "...photo-packed new volume ... (by) Shelter Publications founder and green architecture pioneer Lloyd Kahn..." - Publishers Weekly

"The book arrived today, all I can say is Wow! It's beautiful and another one of your masterpieces." - Kent Griswold, Tiny House Blog

"...a dream book...the scale is humble, but the architectural detail is rich..."
-Michael Tortellero, New York Times

"Before McMansions, before the counter culture was granite and marble, there was Lloyd Kahn, champion of the hand-built house . . . progenitor of the new do-it-yourself movement" — The New York Times

From the Author

TINY HOMES is especially timely due to the current grassroots movements in small homes. The real estate collapse, the economic downturn, layoffs, scarcity of good jobs - these things have many people rethinking their ideas about shelter - seeking an alternative to high rents, or a lifelong mortgage debt to a bank on an overpriced home.

Here are some 150 builders who have created tiny homes (under 500 sq. ft.). There are some 1,300 photos of homes on land, homes on wheels, homes on the road, homes on water, even homes in the trees. There are also studios, saunas, garden sheds, and greenhouses.

Here are builders, designers, architects (no less), dreamers, artists, road gypsies, and water dwellers who've achieved a measure of freedom and independence by taking shelter into their own hands.

"Scaling back in the 21st century"

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details
Table of Contents
Reviews

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Shelter Publications; Original edition (January 24, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0936070528
ISBN-13: 978-0936070520
Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

I bought this book after reading the earlier reviews. As soon as I saw the low resolution quality of the cover photo, I thought, wait a minute, is this the right book? Then I started looking at the content, and I realized, gee, I've seen this content before. It's pretty old. But almost none of the houses list a date or timeframe. The book mentions a few newer homes and builders, but by and large, I don't feel that this book is really current. At the end, the author says that he wrote this book over the last two years, collecting images off the Web. Maybe that's why there are so many tiny photos in this book, because that's the best resolution he could get.

I wondered why these reviews were so glowing, so I checked their authors. For most of the authors, this book is the only review. Many of the reviews have the same words, and they mention the publisher. How many consumer reviewers mention the book publisher? Come on, something's fishy here.

This book is a hodge podge of sheds, trailers, tree houses, mud houses, mini-vans, etc. Some of them look 10-20 years old, and most are kitschy. Some of the photos have nudity. If you are looking for a compendium of the latest trends in tiny houses, this book is not it. I have been studying and following small housing for several years, and this book was a disappointment.

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ADDENDUM on Feb-9-2012

I was kind of taken aback by some of the comments I received on my review, so I am adding this update.

In the credits on the last page of the book, Lloyd Kahn wrote: "We combed over 5,000 photos to make our selection. Information came from hundred of blogs and websites. ...

I've seen a lot of the houses in this book before online, featured in magazine articles, on youtube or in alternative builder books, but it is nice to have them all in one place. I would have liked it better if there had been interior shots and a floor plan for each one, but as it is the book is full of eye candy for those interested in exploring the living small options. This book covers most of them, cob, stone, prefab, modular, tree houses, bus conversions, yurts, vardos, adobe, straw bale, and tiny homes on wheels. Missing was an example of a shipping container home, or if there was one I blew by it.

I am a long time fan of Mr Kahn's books, and the layout of this one is great, the photos are wonderful. Did he take it to the next level? No. As gorgeous as it is, it offers more inspiration than useful info, so it is not the holy grail go-to source for reliable info on the ins and outs of tiny home building/living that I was hoping it would be, and I'm a bit sad it isn't. That OMG, this is IT book still needs to be written by someone, until then I'll continue surfing yahoo groups, tiny house blogs, and living small forums gathering info on how wide and tall can it be and still be mobile, pros and cons of mobile vs stationary, how to figure the house weight to trailer ratios, how to set up viable and affordable off grid power options, heating and cooling options, pros and cons of conversions, stick built, metal frame or SIP construction, how to build and vent a composting toilet in a tiny home, storage tricks, info on tiny house friendly parking options and problems, or what to look out for when buying land to build on. Basic code info would be helpful for stationary tiny homes, like minimum size, foundation options, etc.

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