Title: Not what I'd hoped
Product review: The subtitle "The Complusion to Build" was what attracted me to the book after first learning about it in another Chelsea Green publication. I hoped for insightful wisdom about one's motivation to build things out of wood using traditional methods like timberframe. And there are some nice parts about the use of old tools, especially one section where he describes visiting a used tool shop in Maine. But I was dissatisfied with the book because of the constant digressions about the "local yokels." I wasn't interested in reading character studies of a misfit Vet, two junkyard owners, the local Amish families, and assorted others who populate this corner of upstate NY. I was hoping for deeper ruminations about craftsmanship, along the lines of "Grain of Truth: The Ancient Lessons of Craft" by Ross Laird. [That book was better than this one but at the time I didn't like it much either -- see my review about it.] Oh well. At least it was a quick read due to the extremely short chapters.
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