A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams

Overview

Michael Pollan's unmatched ability to draw lines of connection between our everyday experiences-- whether eating, gardening, or building--and the natural world has been the basis for the popular success of his many works of nonfiction, including the genre-defining bestsellers The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. With this updated edition of his earlier book A Place of My Own, readers can revisit the inspired, intelligent, and often hilarious story of Pollan's realization of a room of his own--a small, wooden hut, his "shelter for daydreams"--built with his admittedly unhandy hands. Inspired by both Thoreau and Mr. Blandings, A Place of My Own not only works to convey the history and meaning of all human building, it also marks the connections between our bodies, our minds, and the natural world.

Editorial Reviews

Pollan, a freelance writer, columnist (House & Garden) and editor (Harper's) with no knowledge or experience as a carpenter or builder, decided he wanted a place of his own to write inDan elegant "hut" with electricity but without plumbing to be built somewhere behind his house in rural ConnecticutDand he would build it himself. His aim was "to get away from words," and he signed on a sympathetic professional architect from Harvard Square and a not always patient carpenter. His account of the adventure, which in fact is very involved with words, follows the project from its theoretical stage, choosing the exact site (which characteristically included research into classical Roman, Ming dynasty Chinese, 18th-century British and contemporary "scientific" concepts of site selection), drawing the plans (something of a crash course in contemporary architectural theory) andDfinally leaving theory in the dustDdigging the footings, raising the uprights, laying the roof (perhaps the most entertaining section), cutting in windows and threading the electrical wires. Pollan has a self-admitted weakness for overanalysis, but it is a human failing that should appeal to anyone drawn to his book in the first place. Thoreau gets mentioned a lot, as do Jefferson and Frank Lloyd Wright, but as the project moves toward completionDmore expensively, of course, than he ever expectedDPollan comes to appreciate some very nontheoretical distinctions, such as the difference between windows that swing inward and ones that swing outward. The result is a very special armchair adventure. (Mar.)

Author Information

Bio of Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine and the author, most recently, of The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World, a New York Times best seller. His writing has received numerous awards, including the John Burroughs prize (for the best natural history essay in 1997), the QPB New Vision Award (for his first book, Second Nature), the 2000 Reuters-I.U.C.N. Global Award for Environmental Journalism for his reporting on genetic engineering and the 2003 American Humane Society's Genesis Award for his writing on animal agriculture. The Botany of Desire received the Borders Original Voices Award for the best non-fiction work of 2001, and was recognized as a best book of the year by the American Booksellers Association and Amazon. Beginning in 2003 he will be the Knight Professor of Journalism at Berkeley. Pollan's previous books are A Place of My Own (1997) and The Botany of Desire (2001). His work is included in many anthologies, including Best American Essays and The Norton Book of Nature Writing. In addition to publishing regularly in the New York Times Magazine, his articles have appeared in Harper's, Vogue, Gourmet, Travel & Leisure, Garden Design, Gardens Illustrated, and House & Garden. Pollan is also a contributing editor at Harper's Magazine, where he served for many years as Executive Editor. Pollan grew up on Long Island, and was educated at Bennington College, Oxford University, and Columbia University.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Penguin (Non-Classics)

Filesize

1.20 MB

Number of Pages

352

eBook ISBN

9781440655623