Don't view this as a handbook to use in the process of construction from foundation to roof. Rather is it a book to give confidence to the lower income bracket family in the possibility of saving fully half the costs of building by doing it themselves. It requires determination to have a home; leeway in time (his own California home, the third of his own building, took three years) if only evenings and week-ends and holidays are available; school shop training in basic use of tools; and willingness to apply onesself to reading up on materials, construction, etc. He discusses such things as choice of site, placing of the house, cellar or not cellar, local building codes, how and where to get help and advice, how to figure costs. He goes into the pros and cons of various building materials (offers cogent arguments in favor of a new wall material, Cemesto). He gives rather sketchy information on plumbing, heating, electric wiring- assuming, probably, that the home builder will get further advice. A few chapters are nail by nail how-to-do it. But there are great gaps-as was the case in his Build a Home, published by Dial in 1946. This is better written, more serious, and full of sound information. But it is not enough. Sell with it Laidman's How to Build Your Own Home, published by Harper (see P. 256).