Book Review: Busted by Edmund L Andrews

A review of the book Busted, a memoir of life in the mortgage meltdown fast lane by New York Times economics reporter Edmund L Andrews.

Book Review: Leisureville by Andrew D Blechman

A review of the non-fiction book Leisureville: Adventures In America’s Retirement Utopias by Andrew D Blechman.

Home Girl

And then, sometimes,  there are the perks of being a blogging book reviewer.   As when a publicity agent sent me an e-mail offering a review copy of Judith Matloff’s  Home Girl.   Subtitled  "Building A Dream House on a Lawless Block",  this memoir details Matloff’s experience in buying and renovating a grand old house in the [...]

House Lust

If you’ve come to fear that you spend Way too much time watching House Hunters on HGTV,  if you’ve found yourself Zillow-ing everyone from your neighbors to a blind date or if you have spent so much on buying and upgrading your home that you are "house poor",  you may well have developed a case [...]

Rammed Earth and Concrete Houses

Today’s architectural books are a far cry from my usual eye candy selections.  Both The Concrete House by Pieter A VanderWerf and The Rammed Earth House by David Easton are detailed and practical manuals for those interested in pursuing either of these very earth-friendly and efficient building types.   While the writing style of each [...]