Men and Sheds (IMM Lifestyle Books)

I didn't realize that my husband's obsession with sheds had something to do with his Y-chromosome until I spotted this book in a National Trust store. Naturally I grabbed it up to find out why we now have two-sheds-going-on-four on our property. It isn't completely about storage space, since we have a big, largely empty basement (although I realize it's not going to stay empty for long. Basements never do). According to the author, sheds were a product of the Dark Ages: "'Scead,' of course, means partial darkness or comparative obscurity. These are fundamental concepts in understanding what made a Sheddist originally. He was a kind of wise man, a hermit, an oracle. He was partially dark and comparatively obscure but ordinary folk knew he was different, in a very special way." It is also suggested that men are encouraged by their spouses to build and inhabit their sheds: "How do you expect me to get on with my womanly, feminine tasks with a great fat useless idle ugly wart like you under my feet the whole time?" I refute this sexist notion, as it was entirely my husband's idea to populate our property with sheds. I hold my tongue because hanging about in a shed is much cheaper than hanging about in a pub. "Men and Sheds" is a silly, endearing, very British book filled with black-and-white photos of men, their sheds, and the weird things that they store in them, e.g. Ethiopian banjos, reptiles, and the world's worst LPs.

It is so nice to see something that does exist, without being sexist. I loved it growing up with pigeon sheds and all that, I know how important the shed is! nice, very diplomatice, and captures the essence of men and shed...thankyou(just bought the book for research)