Amazon.com 5 Star Reviews |
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Jason Jacobs - June 13, 2009 5 out of 5 Excellent book to start planning your new home GF113 - September 29, 2009 5 out of 5 This book illustrates and explains how to create an affordable underground house with far more advantages than an above ground house. Explains step by step planning, materials, construction, features, and some sample layouts to get you started. Along with much more. This is the book I plan to use when I build my house. homesteader - September 4, 2009 5 out of 5 Found this book informative, well written and just the information I was looking for. Started building my own and will use it often.
D. Collins - January 6, 2009 5 out of 5 Excellent for what it is Kyle B. - December 13, 2008 5 out of 5 Mike is an original thinker/curmudgeon. Everyone interested in building with natural materials should study his ideas. His DVD set is more complete than this book and incorporates 25 years of experience building this way. Get them both. The only other natural material, owner-builder books of this profundity are: Ken Kern's "The owner built home" and the gorgeous treatise on building with cob, "The hand-sculpted house." Most people would do well to combine techniques and materials to fit your site, materials available and tastes. Robert D. Steele - September 27, 2008 5 out of 5 This book is phenomenally wise, useful, easy to read, and plain inspiring. I picked it up this morning intending to get back to it tonight and ended up not putting it down at all. I have bought and read a number of underground building books as well as log cabin books, and would sort them into three categories: A Expensive log homes for the really rich B Moderate earth-covered (not quite underground) homes for the middle C This book, for those who truly want to integrate innovation and low cost with deep Earth comfort and resilience and all the good stuff that goes with it. This book, in short, is in a class of its own. Most will notice that it was first offered in 1978. As the USA goes through a major financial crisis that proves nothing has changed--Wall Street and the two "parties" it has bought down to their lost souls are still here, still looting the commonwealth--this book proves that it is timeless. There is indeed a great deal of land across this great country where one can still afford to "dig in," and this could not be a better time to be thinking about renting what you have now in the close in fragile areas, and setting up alternative housing with adjacent land for a basic Life Garden. As I went through each chapter I found the list of materials, the prices, the diagrams, and the text all coherent, concise, and totally "on target." Black and white photographs throughout, and a handful of color photographs in the middle, round the book out. The book ends by discreetly recommending a tape series on design as the key element for success, and one that professional architects generally overlook (as we are all learning, the "experts" in finance and other areas are really "credentialed" but NOT experts). I LIKE THIS BOOK. As an afterthought, it is recommended by just about every major alternative living, green energy, and sanity outpost (Vermont, Oregon, Washington State) reviewer. This book is a "good deal" and inspiring to boot. Floyd Oathout - August 27, 2008 5 out of 5 This is the best book I have read on alternative buildings. The author is very sensible about the whole project without being to much of a hippie. If my wife hadn't threatened divorce I would be building one of these houses right now. I HIGHLY recommend it! Michael Skowronski - April 27, 2008 5 out of 5 I enjoyed this book very much and used it as a basis for designing an underground building for my plantation resort in India. Mike goes into good detail concerning how to build an inexpensive home using his techniques and there are plenty of pictures to help you understand the procedures. I haven't seen anything else out there as good as this for underground building...if you do please let me know. Michael Skowronski Author of Unforgettable: A Love and Spiritual Growth Story mark mathias - August 17, 2006 5 out of 5 I was amazed by this book. Not only does it provide plenty of details, but it is easy for anyone to understand. Some other reviews comment on some of Mike's opinions. You have to remember, the world of the 70's was a lot different from today. No Political Correct bull! It was common for national magazines to get off on the ranting of the turbulent times. This doesn't distract from the book though, and I personally think it adds a bit of character to the book. If you have ever thought of building an underground house, or getting away from the commercialism in modern society, this is the book for you. This is a must for the homesteader's library. If I could ask for other things in this book, it would be a bigger description of the newer building methods in the update section. Also, some more three dement ional drawings of the inside of the houses. You can figure out what's going on but sometimes you have to study the perspective drawings and pictures a bit. I agree with another reviewer, a biography would be nice. Great book, you will not be disappointed! A Customer - February 3, 2004 5 out of 5 I first purchased this book about twenty years ago, then lent out my copy and have been without it for five years or more. Having recently bought a new copy, I have just finished re-reading it once again. I find the author's ideas to be intelligent, logical, and revolutionary. His personality comes through strongly as he is a man who is not afraid to state his opinions. I find this book to be an interesting read for this reason alone, but strongly recommend it on the basis of the building system he outlines. He explains to the reader, in simple, easily comprehensible language, just how to go about building a warm in winter, cool in summer, low cost home, that is easy on both the eye and the environment. A huge advantage is that a person living in such a home doesn't have to look at neighbor's homes, and, for their own part, is residing in a home that blends in with the surrounding countryside. If, by good fortune or good planning, one lives on enough acreage that viewing a neighbor's house is not an issue, there is still the benefit of having the home tucked away out of sight, part of the earth around it. Having never been the type to build a "impressive" home, I am more intersted in staying out of sight and being left alone. I enjoy the woods and wildlife. Mike Oehler shows us how to build a home that lets me do just that. Scott Knudsen - December 16, 2002 5 out of 5 This book is full of great ideas on building a low cost home. A great book for your underground house library. A must have for anyone interested in Underground (earthen) houses. Joseph E. Sniezek - September 26, 2002 5 out of 5 This book is excellent. I've wanted a copy for years, but now-a-days, it's very hard to find. I recommend it to everyone, provided you keep in mind the circumstances of rural Idaho. One person noted with horror the keeping of loaded guns (can be seen in the background of one of the photos). Don't forget Idaho is bear country. And there is a bit of editorializing, but rural folk do that; you get used to it. I don't fully agree with the earth flooring, unless you were really trying to economize. Rather, I like the idea of laying down plywood under the carpeting, but not nailing it down - it's still moveable if you need to reach your piping, and it can move with the house if it shifts, but there's less settling than carpet/earth. I can't believe carpet/earth doesn't become lumpy eventually.The one thing missing (maybe it'd be better in another book), is a biography of Mike. How did he come by his acreage in Idaho. Did he spend all his money on land and have none for a house? How did he survive all these years, farming/hunting? A person still need cash for taxes and such. His books and his lecturing brings in a little money; does he do anything else? I'd be interested in knowing how to start a lecture circuit, or self publish a book. I think there's an audience for this kind of practical information. |
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Mole Publishing Co. 333 Gandhi Way, Bonners Ferry, ID 83805 1-208-267-7349
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