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Any of our students in a Sustainability-related class or with an interest in going green should check out Green Roof Construction and Maintenance. There’s a lot you can do to empower structures by making improvements to their tops, from harnessing energy to using greener materials. Whether its improving your drainage system to full-on LEED-certified construction, this book can help you make a little or big difference.
Reassurance. The lack thereof. Here I am no the second floor of a building, in my office. Chilling out. There’s at least one floor above me. Only 5 books were new for today. And what’s the only interesting one? Why Buildings Fall Down. Are you serious? This gem covers a range of collapses, from manmade cotastrophies to nature’s wrath on buildings. It even has a section about, and I’m quoting the back of the book, “one of the most fatal structural disasters in American history: the fall of the Hyatt Regency ballroom walkways in Kansas City”.
If you need something more uplifting, read co-author Mario Salvadori’s other book Why Building’s Stand Up. No, for real, that’s a real book.
So you’re bored, sitting at home, nothing to do. You start sizing up that back yard and surplus of lumber that’s been sitting around, noticing the flannel your closet has been taunting you with since 1995. You know what you gotta do: It is time to get all Abe Lincoln on this and build yourself a log cabin!
Lucky for you, Log Homes Made Easy : contracting and building your own home is one of the newest editions to Billington Library. Loaded full of pictures, checklists, and step-by-step instructions, Jim Cooper’s third edition is great for that rainy afternoon when your inner Paul Bunyan calls.