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98th out of 283 books
—
92 voters
House
by
Tracy Kidder
Tracy Kidder takes readers to the heart of the American Dream: the building of a family's first house with all its day-to-day frustrations, crises, tensions, challenges, and triumphs.
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
October 15th 1999
by Mariner Books
(first published October 28th 1985)
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Probably the best book that will ever be written about the building of a house. Not "building" a house as in a how-to-do-it guide, but "the building" of a house as a process of personalities, philosophies, histories, trends, class status, power, and economics. Mostly, personalities. As a contractor I read it with a sense of recognition and as a writer I read it with admiration and awe. Jim, the contractor in this project, seemed like a clone of my own personality - the drive for quality, the dis...more
Tracy Kidder is so skillful. He takes the simplest of stories - in this case the story of a couple wanting to build their dream home and the way it all gets done - and reveals every layer, every nuance so that it reads like riveting drama. On the surface, all that happens in this book is that a house gets designed and built. But Kidder makes you see how it's about the American dream of home ownership, the visions of talented artists and the frustrations of practical workers. He's made an immense...more
One of my employees gave this book to me 25 years ago and I never read it until now.
It starts out great giving a background on the owners, contractor & architect and gets better with the issues of construction cost between the contractor and the owner... The owner's feelings are captured well:
"the world is a troupe of unknown lumber dealers and workers, with a building contractor at their head. You turn everything over to a gang of people who don't real know you or have any reason to care ab...more
It starts out great giving a background on the owners, contractor & architect and gets better with the issues of construction cost between the contractor and the owner... The owner's feelings are captured well:
"the world is a troupe of unknown lumber dealers and workers, with a building contractor at their head. You turn everything over to a gang of people who don't real know you or have any reason to care ab...more
If you like misery, please read this book. The book was agonizingly long and detailed. The author did a lot of great research: the history of housebuilding, architecture, the sustainability of forests while also witnessing the journey of a couple building their house in New England with tons of interviews with the people who would become the characters of his book. Unfortunately, he decided to share every last detail with us instead of just the juiciest bits. Why didn't I just scan through those...more
What a kick I’m on. Three Tracy Kidders in as many months. House will be the last for some time. I’m a little worn out, though not disappointed.
The book is aptly titled. It’s about building a house. Owner, architect, builders. Their relationships, their life histories, their attitudes. Kidder also explores the history of American architecture, of American building of American contracts, and of American litigation over all those. You find out quite a lot about the relationship between prices a...more
The book is aptly titled. It’s about building a house. Owner, architect, builders. Their relationships, their life histories, their attitudes. Kidder also explores the history of American architecture, of American building of American contracts, and of American litigation over all those. You find out quite a lot about the relationship between prices a...more
There are perhaps four narrative non-fiction authors I really admire - John Keegan, John McPhee, Dana Sobel, and Tracy Kidder.
House was the book that Kidder wrote immediately after receiving the Pulitzer Prize for The Soul of a New Machine. He gets inside the heads of 4 carpenters, an architect, and the new owners of a house being built in 1983 in Amherst, Mass. This is much more true drama than the murder mysteries we all read, because it speaks to our primary needs as human beings. Kidder's ab...more
House was the book that Kidder wrote immediately after receiving the Pulitzer Prize for The Soul of a New Machine. He gets inside the heads of 4 carpenters, an architect, and the new owners of a house being built in 1983 in Amherst, Mass. This is much more true drama than the murder mysteries we all read, because it speaks to our primary needs as human beings. Kidder's ab...more
If you're ever toying with the idea of having a house built, this book might put you off the idea forever. It details the building of a residence from wish list of the owners to the completion of the house.
I really liked this book, since I've always had an interest in architecture, and much of the information in this book reinforced what I learned in architecture classes, not just from the curriculum but also from chatting with the instructors about their work experience as architects.
The charac...more
I really liked this book, since I've always had an interest in architecture, and much of the information in this book reinforced what I learned in architecture classes, not just from the curriculum but also from chatting with the instructors about their work experience as architects.
The charac...more
Tracy Kidder has a real ability as a writer to make nonfiction books about technical subjects fascinating. You learn all about the process, the people, and the personalities involved. Soon you're at the jobsite yourself, with hope and anticipation of the successful finish. He's just a very, very good writer. The pacing and the story just build until it's almost like a page turner novel. You can't put it down. I loved this one very much. One might almost think I miss building things.
It makes me...more
It makes me...more
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A book you can read before tackling something yourself or before working with others. It's about management, but it's not a management handbook. It's about getting what you want, but it's not a negotiation manual. It's definitely not about a house. It's about a project and the journey one goes through to see it completed. Still, it also provides a different perspective of the places where you and I spend more hours than anywhere else in the world. Did you ever think of the nameless, faceless men...more
This book is from 1983, and it shows. Everything is so different in the construction industry these days, mostly due to the use of computers - for communication, for budgeting, for job tracking, etc. So many of the frustrating moments in the homebuilding process shown here could have been avoided in today's world through the use of technology. The basis of all of it, however, is always communication.
This is an interesting portrait of the relationship between homebuyer, homebuilder, and an archi...more
This is an interesting portrait of the relationship between homebuyer, homebuilder, and an archi...more
Tracy Kidder's The Soul of a New Machine is one of my top ten favorite books. I finally read his House and I was not disappointed. Kidder writes non-fiction that reads like a novel. You see the technical details of the house as it is being built, but more importantly, you get to know the owners, architects, and carpenters and the stories of their lives and interactions with each other. Kidder is an excellent story teller. As you read, you are unaware of the enormous amount of research that he ha...more
I liked this one, I'm actually going to send it to Eiliesh now- I got it through a book swap for her, because I just knew she'd like it- but I also wanted to read it first. Tracy Kidder is an EXCELLENT writer and writes a very diverse level of non-fiction, I have a couple other of his books in the pile to read and I'm interested in his newest as well. I hope Eiliesh will like it. He basically takes the building of a house and tells the stories of the owners thier families and the builders and ar...more
This stuff used to kinda blow my mind: A journalist could just follow something, _anything_ through an entire process and take notes and discover the characters in real people. Such as following the construction of one family's house. The microcosmic one example could take on larger meaning, theme. I have no idea if this book still holds up, but that notion does: stories about people living their lives are inherently fascinating, if done right. Someone should go back and do this project again, o...more
Aug 13, 2012
Sharon Todd
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
life-changing,
5-stars
A fascinating read about a family and the custom house they decide to build, and the men involved in the building of it. But if you've seen the movie "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House", well, this book is better.
Who would think that blueprints, framing lumber, footers, stringers, measuring and nailing would be so interesting? The seasons change as the house is built, and the builders react to weather as you might expect. Each family member gets to know the builders and forms opinions of them...more
Who would think that blueprints, framing lumber, footers, stringers, measuring and nailing would be so interesting? The seasons change as the house is built, and the builders react to weather as you might expect. Each family member gets to know the builders and forms opinions of them...more
I was crushed to find out this was written in the present tense, but persevered. Kidder takes a fly-on-the-wall approach to the building of a $145,000 3,000 square foot custom home in Amherst, Massachusetts in the early 80s. We meet the owners, a well-to-do lawyer and educator couple; the architect; and the four builders. Kidder details every disagreement and perceived slight, every occasion for mistrust, and these are legion. Class, cultural, and even religious differences between the parties a...more
Peggy and I loved this book. It is a narrative about a young couple planning and then building their dream home. The author gives perspectives from the couple, the architect and most importantly the contractor. All does not go smoothly, as you would expect. I don't think this book would be entertaining to everyone , but it was wonderful reading at the time. I mention this only as a comparison to the most recent work from the author, which I did not find as compelling.
It is about the trials of building a house - a true story- and written mosty from the builders point of view. You might want to hand it to your builder after you read it. If you ever have been through conception to final house building or ever may want to go through this process in the future, it would round out your viewpoint. I admit it is copious detail-= but you can skip any parts you wish. I found it a lot like my experiences building a library.
interesting for the most part, but kind of slow at times. i really enjoyed the fly on the wall approach to the whole home building process, from owners, to architect, to builders.
it was also exciting on a personal level as this is bill rawn's first independent architectural project, and having worked in his firm (much later than this book) it was interesting to compare the young bill to the more experienced architect he became.
it was also exciting on a personal level as this is bill rawn's first independent architectural project, and having worked in his firm (much later than this book) it was interesting to compare the young bill to the more experienced architect he became.
A friend gave us this book to help us gain some understanding of the process of building a house. What a wonderful gift it was. The relationships between the architect and the builders and the home owner were fascinating and very instructive. We will move forward much better prepared for the journey that is ahead of us, and we hope our interactions with with the three entities working on our house goes more smoothly.
This is an excellent read. As an apprentice/aspiring carpenter, I found it to be full of truth, inspiration, and evenhandedness. The relationships between client, architect and builder are easy to make into caricatures, but I consistently felt that throughout this book, the main characters (who are all real people, no names were changed), were depicted with sympathy and understanding. I identified most consistently with the carpenters, but every principal in the story was shown to be a real pers...more
So far I am amazed that reading about building a house could hold my attention so well and make me want to go on reading it! Credit must go to Kidder, not only for his writing but also for the construction(no pun intended!) of the book. I look forward to reading more by this man. Finished this last week. I am still amazed that I was so engrossed by this book. Kidder did a very fine job of weaving together all the characters, their roles in the books and tall the interesting building information!
Tracy Kidder has become one of my favorite non-fiction writers and House is well-written. Some parts of it were fascinating mostly because I knew very little about how to construct a house from start to finish. I learned about the roles of the architect and builders in great detail. Kidder also protrays the dynamics between the architect, builders, and the couple whose house is being built. The conflicts that erupt are most interesting.
My main complaint is that the narrative becomes slow at time...more
My main complaint is that the narrative becomes slow at time...more
It's a good book. For this style of writing, I'm most fond of John McPhee. Kidder has a couple terrible lines in this book, but on the whole it reads quite well. I will have other comments to make on this book this summer, when my kitchen renovation/expansion is complete.
Carpenters, construction--how interesting could it be? Endlessly. Kidder spins an epic tale about the building of his house. Anyone who's been through the process or dreams of starting from scratch with a fresh set of blueprints will enjoy.
Can't do a raspberry in text, but would if I could. Maybe it's because this book is a child of the '80s, but I was so put off by its smugness. Were real people ever that precious and self-absorbed? Yes, if this book is any indication. Had to stop. Toes were curling...
Reread. I'm looking forward to reading The Well-Built House by James Locke, who built the house described here.
Of all his books, this one might be the least serious. It also might be my favorite. Such a fun read. If you ever dreamed of building a house, or rather, having one built for you, read this book. If not? Read it anyway.
I'm glad that I read this book after we were done with the contractor part of our house remodel. I enjoy Kidder's books and appreciate his ability to tell a story while removing himself so completely from the narrative.
An intimate, informative narrative of the construction of a house as seen from the perspectives of the owners, architect, and builders. As one who is considering building a house, I found realistic and sobering.
If you ever have any inclination to have a house built, you must read this book. I read it when it was originally released and enjoyed it greatly. Kidder weaves in many stories and it's all fascinating.
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Tracy Kidder is an American author and Vietnam War veteran. Kidder may be best known, especially within the computing community, for his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Soul of a New Machine, an account of the development of Data General's Eclipse/MV minicomputer. The book typifies his distinctive style of research. He began following the project at its inception and, in addition to interviews, spent c...more
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