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How to Build Impossible Things

Lessons in Life and Carpentry
Brief Description
An illuminating memoir-cum-meditation on work and creativity by the brilliant veteran carpenter, Mark Ellison. Gorgeous . . . contains fascinating insights about working with your hands, the nature of talent, and how to create a meaningful life A. J. Jacobs, bestselling author of The Puzzler Exquisite,... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3200
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How to Build Impossible Things

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

An illuminating memoir-cum-meditation on work and creativity by the brilliant veteran carpenter, Mark Ellison.

Gorgeous . . . contains fascinating insights about working with your hands, the nature of talent, and how to create a meaningful life A. J. Jacobs, bestselling author of The Puzzler

Exquisite, purposeful, absorbing . . . a book with much to teach us all Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Homeland Elegies

'People think I'm a genius because I remember my high school math'

When Mark Ellison left high school, no one thought he would go anywhere. A self-proclaimed 'serial dropout', Mark spent his young adult years taking work where he found it. Who would have thought that forty years later he would be regarded as a great carpenter, making a living out of building homes for the rich and famous?

Full of warmth, wisdom and irreverent humour, How to Build Impossible Things is the story of what carpentry can teach us about the satisfaction and joy that comes from doing something well for a long time. From staircases that would be deadly if built as designed to algae-eating snails boiled to escargot in a penthouse pond, Mark exposes the messy wiring behind the pristine walls - and the mindset that any of us can develop to build our own impossible things.

Written with refreshing candour, this is an essential book about building life on your own terms, and the possibilities that await when we forge our own path.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781529157307

Publisher: Cornerstone

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 30 May 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin (Cornerstone)

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 20.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 215g

Pages: 304

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About the Author

Mark Ellison is regarded by many as the best carpenter in New York. A man with an affinity for challenging work, he has designed and constructed some of New York's most elaborate and expensive homes, and been profiled in the New Yorker. But, as a native of the old steel town Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, his route into the building trade and the mastery of a craft was unexpected, moving from construction labourer to helper and finally to carpenter. Now, at the age of sixty, he has written his first book.

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