Book of the Week #31

Dwelling in Possibility: Searching for the Soul of Shelter by Howard Mansfield (Peterborough, NH: Bauhan Publishing, 2013)

"Dwelling in Possibility is a search for the soul of shelter. The book looks intoour houses, and thus our selves, to rediscover the endangered qualities of homes that offer us the private commons that nurture our dreams. This book is in three parts:

1 Dwelling in the Ordinary. We look at some things that were once ordinary but are now vanishing: the hearth, rooms without clutter, a footpath, and the simplicity of a beloved and hated modern house.

2 Dwelling in Destruction.. The wars of the last century targeted homes that were far from the battlefield. After World War II, with Europe in ruins, three distinctly different writers sought to restore the safety of home. We also look at the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina to get a sharper sense of how fragile our dwellings are and how strong our commitment is to the idea of home.

3 Dwelling in Possibility. How do we court this unnamable “quality without a name”? W here can it be found? We seek out some hints with the aid of the census and an additional set of questions. And we enter into the hidden lives of the most ordinary buildings there are, the many kinds of sheds." -- from the Introduction, p. 18

In Turn and Jump Howard Mansfield looked at how time has changed and how it changes us. In a similar manner he now turns his attention to our search for shelter. This is a book that will make you think about your home, and the houses around you, in a new way.