Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter Book

I think a god gifted me this book. I recall a friend lending it to me 5 years ago (at a punk show at Logan's Pub), but she has no recollection of that and says she's never owned it. Thank you, god; I really needed this book! I came about Home Work at a pivotal time in my life: I was tired of feeling addicted and depressed and confused--desperately searching for my place in the universe.

I remember looking through it years ago and marveling at how interesting some of the buildings were. At that point, I didn't appreciate the building/architecture side of it, I was still stuck in the "rat race": I was working a job I hated (because I was too scared to quit) and renting shitty houses I hated, moving multiple times per year (into different shitty houses with challenging roommates--not all of them of course)--just totally uninspired and feeling hopeless.

Now, at a time in my life where I am actively building and repairing my own HOME, it's SO powerful, inspiring and exciting to read: I quit that job I hated and moved to the country--I feel TOTALLY aligned with the ethos of this book and I'm so grateful I've dragged it in a box from house-to-house as I've stumbled my way through the last 5 years.

There are SO many parts of this book that touched my SOUL. There are parts of this book that at first glance I thought, "this isn't for me", but then by the time I had delved into reading about it, I had accessed a new and different way of living in a shelter (a form of decolonizing my mind--unlearning/learning NEW ways of thinking/existing).

I've felt non-conformist since I was a teenager--never really felt like I belonged in groups or on the planet. This book is totally in alignment with that feeling/ethos (except it offers hope): "the way most people live is not for me; there are SO many other ways to exist in harmony with myself and nature (and I can make that happen)."

I love this book so much and I know I will continue to come back to it over the years. Now I want to read all of Lloyd and Shelter's books! The pictures, the words: everything hit me right in the heart: SO inspiring and INTERESTING!

For fans of beauty, harmony, homesteading, architecture, construction, anti-capitalism, decolonization, peaceful non-conformity.