House
Tracy Kidder takes readers to the heart of the American Dream: the building of a family's first house with all its day-to-day frustrations, crises, tensions, challenges, and triumphs. From the first nail to the final coat of paint, blueprints to moving day, Pulitzer Prize -- winning author Tracy Kidder leads readers through the grand adventure of building an American dream.
Stats for nerds
8recommend
9mentions
9people
2018–2025years
89% recommend11% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- One of my favorite books by my favorite author. Tracy Kidder gets to the heart of everyone he profiles like no other. Strongly recommend his book House if you like Soul of a New Machine.
Funny anecdote: I've read Soul of a new machine many times over the years, and love it dearly. I stayed with my aunt and uncle last year and somehow the topic of mini computers came up. I mentioned Soul of a New Machine and my uncle said "oh yeah I worked on that computer." I was blown away. Apparently he had worked at Data General and he was on the software team (which is briefly mentioned towards the end of the book) that wrote the software the Eagle was released with.
- Tracy Kidder is a wonderful writer. If you liked “The Soul of a New Machine” you might also like “House” which is on a totally different subject. Is it technical? Sort of. I think about it every time I work on my own house. It’s my favorite Kidder book, and I LOVED “The Soul of a New Machine.”
- "House" by Tracy Kidder. It's non-fiction about the design and building of a house, but it all transfers to software development.
- For an interesting glimpse of a different trade, I recommend House, also by Tracy Kidder.
- No, I have not built a house. However, I highly recommend you take a look at two books before you move earth.
The first is "House" by Tracy Kidder.
https://www.amazon.com/House-Tracy-Kidder/dp/0618001913
The second is "Renovation" by Michael Litchfield.
https://www.amazon.com/Renovation-4th-Completely-Revised-Upd...
The first book is a detailed, engrossing narrative about building an actual house (it exists). The second book is a renowned compendium of all things in home renovation.
As a quick commentary on your idea, go check out RSMean's cost estimations. It gives you a ballpark estimate of cost per square foot for, say, poured concrete with rebar. You are going to need rebar because concrete is brittle and it cannot carry tension. You are going to need steel framing because concrete floors are damn heavy. With wood, you can use much, much cheaper standard wood framing. Rebar is expensive because you need to be a metalworker to do it properly. It is likely you will not be able to do it DIY because of building codes. The rabbit hole goes on and on. Good luck with your research!
- The first is "House" by Tracy Kidder.
Shocked I hadn’t heard of this before. Ordered!
