A House of Straw: An Odyssey Into Natural Building

This was my second copy of this wonderful book, and arrived in such great shape that it made for a perfect donation to our small town library. It was the first tome covering straw bale building on Blanche K. Werner's shelves and has been constantly checked out. I am currently ordering another volume

This is a great book of building dreams and manifesting your own destiny. As I read I was brought out into the hot sun, crying, sweating and blistering along with the builder. It has never ceased to amaze me what human beings can bring about if they really put their mind to it. Carolyn Roberts is truly a warrior of life and creates a reality we can all live with. Keeping life simple allows one to focus on realizing one's dreams. And Carolyn's dream is one of giving. Giving back to Mother Earth and giving us a good example of how simple, healthy, loving life can be. If you are interested in building a house, especially one of straw, this is a must read. It prepares you for the pitfalls and the joys of accomplishing challenges you never thought you could.

This truly is a great read whether you're building a house of straw, wood, recycled soda bottles, old tires or anything else. Although I wouldn't consider this a how-to-manual, it really does provide the reader with a great deal of information you wouldn't usually get your hands on unless you paid a building contractor or consultant. This is a fantastic story of a very brave woman who bucks the system and builds a house on her terms, her way, and largely by herself. You experience the highs and lows, mania, confusion and every other human emotion as she devotes her very being to the birth of her house. Overall, I found this to be an amazing story, written by someone with an inner strength and conviction few of us seem to possess in this day in age. Very inspiring and a must read to anyone crazy enough to embark on a similar journey.

I recommend this book to everyone, but especially to anyone who has a dream that they are not sure they can accomplish, but are dying to try. Carolyn Roberts is an outstanding example to those of us who are willing to work hard and to stand up for what we believe in. Life is full of choices and we all know that the choices we make shape our lives for better or worse, but to challenge yourself and have the courage to deliberately make difficult choices based on what one truly feels is right is a rare thing. Most of us feel that we are so busy that we don't have the time or energy to develop our own personal code of ethics. We forget about our standards and how our actions drastically affect the people and environment around us. This book beckons us to stop and think that maybe there is something we can all do by actively making choices about the way we live our lives and especially how we manage natural resources. Most of all, this book encourages us to do just that: stop and think. This book is not just a workshop on natural building, but a testimonial to why this world is worth saving. It's a look at the world through the eyes of someone who has wandered the forests of New England in her youth, raised children on the shimmering beaches in the lush tropical island of Kauai, Hawaii, and decided to make her home a sanctuary in the unforgiving Sonoran Desert's harsh and dramatic splendor. The appreciation of the glory of this planet and what it provides for us not only to live, but to enjoy life, is as refreshing as a cool breeze on the hottest summer day. This book is not as much about how to build a house as it is about how to build a life, and about making decisions based on a responsibility to humanity and respect for nature. In doing so, we strive for excellence and accept nothing less than everything we can give, and the results are truly marvelous. This book is an exercise in how to triumph by simply standing behind your beliefs and having the courage to pursue your dreams. I am utterly inspired by this charming woman who has truly put into practice the theory that life isn't about what you have, but how you live. Read this book whether you are planning on building a house or not.

"A House Of Straw" is an unique addition to the bale-building literary circle. This is not a boring academic reference book, but instead it's a moving human interest story that provides the potential home builder (bales or otherwise) with a valuable reality check. The unending struggles this woman went through in the process of building her own home are almost unbelievable. Stacking up straw bales was the easy part! What amazed me was the agony one has to go through with county building codes and inspections. Yet after all the rejections and reinspections, the author is open minded enough see why things are the way they are. This well-paced story remains interesting throughout, with many surprises encountered along the way. I recommend this book to both potential do-it-yourselfers, and anyone who enjoys an inspiring story of a woman who did something out of the ordinary and beat the odds.