Cabin: Two Brothers, a Dream, and Five Acres in Maine-Fast Shipping

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Inspired by his From the Ground Up blog for the New York Times, abeautifully written memoir about building and brotherhood

Confronted with the disappointments and knockdowns that can come inmiddle age—job loss, the death of his mother, a health scare, adivorce—Lou Ureneck needed a project that would engage the better part of him and put him back in life’s good graces. City-bound for a decade,Lou decided he needed to build a simple post-and-beam cabin in thewoods. He bought five acres in the hills of western Maine and asked hisyounger brother, Paul, to help him.

Twenty years earlier the brothers had built a house together. NowLou saw working with Paul as a way to reconnect with their sharedhistory and to rediscover his truest self. As the brothers—with thehelp of Paul’s sons—undertake the challenging construction, nothingseems to go according to plan. But as they raise the cabin, Ureneckeloquently reveals his own evolving insights into the richness andcomplexity of family relationships, the healing power of nature, andthe need to root oneself in a place one can call home. With itsexploration of the satisfaction of building and of physical labor,Cabin will also appeal to readers of Robert Pirsig’s Zen andthe Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Matthew Crawford’s Shop Classas Soulcraft, and Tracy Kidder’s House.