The New Natural House Book: Creating a Healthy, Harmonious, and Ecologically Sound Home

True to its name, this book is about building natural homes or creating healthier ones. A classic. Not much specific information in regard to where to order healthier materials and product. The book has been out for a while and new products are on the market. What the book does really well is explain the history of architecture in regard to building for health and how to build with health in mind. Lots of cool, full color pictures of natural and healthy interiors including kitchens and bathrooms. I am Dan Stih, author of Healthy Living Spaces: Top 10 Hazards Affecting Your Health.

The New Natural House Book by David Pearson is a very serious, very dedicated book...dedicated to changiing the way we look at things, through the footprints we leave. The renderings are clear and thought provoking...exciting even. There is not only imagination here but considerable working knowledge. One is left with the feeling that even if I do not build a home from the ground up I can still do many things to alter my lifestyle. It is at once practical and vibrant. Superb quality throughout and a real bargain at this price.

this book is a wonderful look at things that can make a person interested in looking at the past... and bringing it into the present.

Our home, especially if we have the opportunity to build from scratch, should reflect a great deal about our worldview. The visitor should be able to tell from what he sees and from a few simple questions how the owner feels about some of the most pressing questions of our time, including the environment. Do we wish to tread lightly on the earth, taking for ourselves a fair portion of the world's resources or are we more interested in looking after ourselves whatever the price paid by others? These are not easy questions to deal with in practical terms as we are continually faced with trading off one priority against another and sometimes the factors we have to consider become overwhelming.The contributors to this book are those who want to help us to tread lightly on this earth and find our way through the complex maze, realizing that the hundreds of small, and perhaps seemingly unimportant, decisions do make a difference and we must remember that we have an influence on others through the home that we create. The reason that I read this book was that I want a well body in a well home in a well earth and I needed practical, down-to-earth advice on how to get there while building our house. I am aware that the house of an unwitting builder can actually damage health and do damage to the earth and that it is not easy today to find the path to ensure that our house would be a healing place for body, mind, spirit and the planet. I want to take advantage of all the wonders of science, our latest technologies and new materials but want to reject those which could be harmful. I don't want to turn the clock back and live according to the best of a bygone age but want to do the best possible job in today's world. I am also aware that our world will be different at some point in the future - whether it be very soon or some years away. We cannot take cheap fuel and clean water for granted, and there will be increasing pressure to adopt a sustainable life style as poorer nations seek a similar standard of living for their people as I seek for my family. So was this book helpful to me? The answer is yes.The book has been written by people who have an interest in and experience in ecological architecture and the Gaia movement (inspired by the view of the earth as a living planet) and is divided into three parts. The first provides the big picture telling us how the home interacts with the environment and the user. The second part shows how to build, service and furnish a home for health and ecology while the third applies the principles to the design of spaces in the home.I had not studied the Gaia Home Charter, which is the heart and soul of the philosophical approach adopted by the authors, but it seems to me to be sensible and to reflect the values I would want to be known for. The Charter does not ask me to give up those things that I truly value - in fact it urges us to do only what we are ready for and can carry through - but helps to ensure that all p