Living SMALL: The Life of Small Houses Review

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(More customer reviews)As a founding member of the Small House Society, much of my volunteer time serving the group involves reviewing books, websites, and other resources that are significant contributions to the small house movement.
I recently had an opportunity to review "Living Small - The Life of Small Houses" by Dennis Fukai of Insite Builders.
During the review, as I took the time to enjoy the book at a slower pace, I was really impressed with the attention to detail and the thoughtfulness that went into it. I've spent time working with AutoCAD and similar 3D modeling programs. I know that it takes a lot of work and attention to detail to put together the kinds of models used in the book. So, I could appreciate the time that went into that.
I also appreciated the humor, sometimes sarcastic and dry, that was sprinkled throughout the book. At one point, Dr. Fukai describes the Mini McMansion as being less expensive yet "the same waste and efficiency are included" as with the larger McMansions (page 13).
This book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning more about small housing. Anyone considering building or purchasing a home of any size should seriously consider buying this book. In addition to offering a thorough look at small housing today, this text guides the reader throughout the history and development of housing in North America. An overview of larger homes is also provided to offer the reader a contrasting backdrop. The cost of building and maintaining larger inefficient homes is evaluated. By pointing out specific design techniques, the reader is made aware of what to look for in their next home and what to avoid. The book includes the following unique features:
* richly illustrated with 3D wire-frame and finished visual models
* valuable footnotes are included on almost every page providing additional information, book titles, and/or internet web pages for more details
* information about small housing is presented in a holistic and historically contextual framework allowing the reader to understand the cultural conditions and sociology that fostered various housing designs
* the entire text is offered in black and white sketches and text allowing the reader to focus their attention on the construction and design of various home designs
* included with the book is a CD ROM that contains 3D models for viewing on a Windows or Apple computer - these models can be rotated and viewed from different perspectives
More about Dennis Fukai and Insight Builders can be found by doing a Google search for Insite Builders (remember to spell it as it is here).
More about the Small House Society can be found by doing a Google search for the Small House Society.
Regards,
Gregory Johnson, Founding Member of the Small House Society

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This book is a survey of small houses from early settler cabins to the tiny house movement of today. The houses include frontier shelters, squatter houses, Cracker houses, farmhouses, bandboxes, shotguns, bungalows, and tiny houses. The book shows how these houses were built and served the special needs of their owner-builders.

Each chapter starts by showing the house in the context of its construction, the kind of resources that were available to its owners, and how their construction was shaped by both their purpose and historical situation.

Many of the insights of these home-builders can be used in small house construction today. These insights include the use of decks and outdoor spaces, separation of spaces, and simple framing techniques that are visible in the construction models. These models help readers get a feel for what it might be like to live in a small space and ways traditional builders maximized the efficiency and comfort of their homes.

The book 's CD includes a model of every house in the book as well as contextual plans and elevations, three-dimensional details of the structure, and the layout of each house. Readers can explore the house s construction, deconstruct its pieces, modify the spaces, and adapt them to test their own ideas.

All our books are written as graphic narratives in a comic style. Every book mixes layers of visual information with construction models, short video tours, and tutorials on how the models were built and organized.

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