Harold, author of several previous books, discusses the real world considerations of construction along with a brief history of architecture, while bringing a writer's sensibility to the challenges and details of his many projects. To build a house, to take control of this basic of life-it's a perennially compelling dream, appealing to the deepest part of us. Never more so than in the current housing crisis. "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach" -overcoming this proverbial putdown of the impracticality of academics, an English professor teaches himself carpentry renovating an old fixer-upper, and designs and builds a house, thereby dramatically re-directing the course of his life. Like Thoreau's WALDEN, whose spirit hovers over this book, LIFE AS A HOUSE brings a writer's sensibility to details of design and construction, including the human factors such as the price of home heating fuel, job insecurity, and unplanned parenthood . Told with poetry, humor and warmth, this is a story of personal transformation and of how the creative impulse gives meaning to life, with all the pleasures and inconveniences thereof. ABOUT THE AUTHOR BRENT HAROLD is a former professor of English, a columnist for the CAPE COD TIMES, and author of WELLFLEET AND THE WORLD and OWNING THE SIERRA NEVADA. Praise for OWNING THE SIERRA NEVADA "A wonderful book I loved it. I fell in love with the Sierra again sight unseen ... a grand writer " --Annie Dillard "A fascinating and compelling story, told with the same easy charm and intelligence that Harold brings to his newspaper columns. .." --CONTRA COSTA TIMES ..". an edgy West, the West of metaphor...a simple little book about decades of yearning." -LOS ANGELES TIMES Praise for WELLFLEET AND THE WORLD ..". uncommon wit and literary grace." -Robert Finch, author, THE CAPE ITSELF "Charming .... enticing." -Howard Zinn, A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF TH