Reviews for Buildings of Earth and Straw

"Bruce King has produced a book that is both long overdue and quite timely. While I find most technical books to be dry, uninteresting, and difficult to read, Bruce has managed to provide technical information in an accessible and entertaining manner. Although parts of this book will admittedly require engineering training to understand, even the unitiated builder will find a wealth of usable material here."
- Bob Fowler, FAIA, PE, PBO past Chairman, International Conference of Building Officials, founding member, International Codes Council

"A revolution in environmentally friendly house construction is arriving. In this book, Bruce King explores the details and methods for building durable and safe earth and straw houses."
- Sim Van der Ryn, Architect, Educator, Author of Ecological Design

"This book is definitely the funniest structrual engineering book I have ever read. It is also useful for the professional, intelligible to the general reader, and attractively illustrated. King includes California's straw bale code, a comprehensive wish list for further testing [research has since been done and can be found here] and a useful list of references for both stabilized earth and straw bale. Included are equations for the engineer who is ready to start designing right now, and a glossary for the lay reader who isn't quite sure of some of the terms. A valuable book which is also enjoyable to read. This is not always true of engineering texts!"
- Amazon.com review

"This book provided me with all the information I do need to design my own home. As a teacher of cultural heritage management, I do have a better understand (sic) of how we can restore our historic buildings to their original state, and as well teach my students the art of designing their own homes as well."
- Amazon.com review

"This book educates the lay builder of "earth and straw" about the technical side of the mentioned building methods. This technical lingo is explained clearly for the person's understanding. This book bridges the gap between building inspectors and the "alternative" builder by increasing the technical knowledge of basic building structures and forces."
- Amazon.com review