the making of a carpenter
yesterday i read "hammer head: the making of a carpenter" by nina maclaughlin. of course i immediately loved the courage she had in leaving her desk job to work with wood.
what i most enjoyed about this book was her balance between 1) teaching historic facts about carpentry 2) a sprinkling of breath-taking memoir and 3) the practical hilarities of learning something new.
an exerpt: "it's true that writing and carpentry both require patience and practice, and both revolve arond the effort of making something right and good. both involve getting it wrong over and over, and being able to stay with it until it is right. in both, the best way of understanding something is often by taking it apart. in both, small individual pieces combine and connect to make something larger, total, whole. in both, we start with nothing and end with something."
each chapter title is a different tool that she relates to life. and, i think in part because her desk job was writing, nina has done an expert job here of integrating herself by joining her cerebral and corporal skills into something inspiring. she blogs at www.carpentrix.tumblr.com
what i most enjoyed about this book was her balance between 1) teaching historic facts about carpentry 2) a sprinkling of breath-taking memoir and 3) the practical hilarities of learning something new.
an exerpt: "it's true that writing and carpentry both require patience and practice, and both revolve arond the effort of making something right and good. both involve getting it wrong over and over, and being able to stay with it until it is right. in both, the best way of understanding something is often by taking it apart. in both, small individual pieces combine and connect to make something larger, total, whole. in both, we start with nothing and end with something."
each chapter title is a different tool that she relates to life. and, i think in part because her desk job was writing, nina has done an expert job here of integrating herself by joining her cerebral and corporal skills into something inspiring. she blogs at www.carpentrix.tumblr.com
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