Fans pick 64 books like The Timber-Frame Home

By Tedd Benson,

Here are 64 books that The Timber-Frame Home fans have personally recommended if you like The Timber-Frame Home. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Discovering Timber-Framed Buildings

Rupert Newman Author Of Oak-Framed Buildings

From my list on inspiring you to build your own timber framed home.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been fascinated by traditional carpentry since exploring the soaring timbers in roofs of medieval tithe barns around my home in Somerset. At the start of my woodworking journey, I soon learnt that building big was good. This led me into restoring ancient barns and roofs, where I learnt many of the skills I still use today. With the help of the books I have listed, I soon turned to building new oak framed buildings. Over the past 35 years I have had the pleasure of making many fabulous structures and working with some great carpenters and apprentices.

Rupert's book list on inspiring you to build your own timber framed home

Rupert Newman Why did Rupert love this book?

This is the first book that inspired me whilst learning the art of timber framing.

It was my constant companion in the early days because of the wealth of information within this small but perfectly formed paperback. It provides details on joints, construction techniques, and different styles of building.

The book is filled with many beautifully hand-drawn illustrations that bring it alive. A must have!

By Richard Harris,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Discovering Timber-Framed Buildings as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Half-timbered houses, cottages and barnes are a familiar feature of the landscape, but only rarely do we have an opportunity to see below the surface and understand how they were planned and constructed. Timber-framed buildings catch the imagination of those who work with them because of their beauty, their strength and the quality of the material of which they were made: English oak. Many thousands of buildings of all ages still remain to remind us the strength of the tradition. This book looks behind the commong image of 'black and white' houses, showing how timber buildings were built and how…


Book cover of A Japanese Touch For Your Home

Rupert Newman Author Of Oak-Framed Buildings

From my list on inspiring you to build your own timber framed home.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been fascinated by traditional carpentry since exploring the soaring timbers in roofs of medieval tithe barns around my home in Somerset. At the start of my woodworking journey, I soon learnt that building big was good. This led me into restoring ancient barns and roofs, where I learnt many of the skills I still use today. With the help of the books I have listed, I soon turned to building new oak framed buildings. Over the past 35 years I have had the pleasure of making many fabulous structures and working with some great carpenters and apprentices.

Rupert's book list on inspiring you to build your own timber framed home

Rupert Newman Why did Rupert love this book?

This is a beautiful and informative book that provides readers with practical advice on how to incorporate Japanese design principles into their homes.

It provides advice on how to create calm and minimalist living space to transform any building. It is filled with over 120 amazing photographs to inspire you and even has some projects to make. I just love to browse through it!

By Koji Yagi, Ryo Hata (photographer),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Japanese Touch For Your Home as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Filled with elegant designs and clever tips, A Japanese Touch for Your Home offers bold and exciting ideas for remodeling your home or redecorating your apartment. The author, architect Koji Yagi, explains the basic elements of Japanese interior design and shows you how to use them.

Install tatami mats and shoji doors-cardinal elements of Japanese interior design-and see how beautifully they respond to the Western home. Change the size and shape of a room easily and tastefully with bamboo screens and movable partitions. Build a simple Japanese-style alcove, decorate it with
something special, and then flaunt it. Try some Japanese…


Book cover of A Timber Framer's Workshop: Joinery, Design & Construction of Traditional Timber Frames

Rupert Newman Author Of Oak-Framed Buildings

From my list on inspiring you to build your own timber framed home.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been fascinated by traditional carpentry since exploring the soaring timbers in roofs of medieval tithe barns around my home in Somerset. At the start of my woodworking journey, I soon learnt that building big was good. This led me into restoring ancient barns and roofs, where I learnt many of the skills I still use today. With the help of the books I have listed, I soon turned to building new oak framed buildings. Over the past 35 years I have had the pleasure of making many fabulous structures and working with some great carpenters and apprentices.

Rupert's book list on inspiring you to build your own timber framed home

Rupert Newman Why did Rupert love this book?

As an aspiring carpenter, I found this book to be an invaluable resource.

Steve’s expertise and passion for his craft shine through on every page. It is quite technical and really goes into detailed explanations of the techniques involved. Whatever stage of your carpentry journey this is the book for you if you want to expand your timber framing knowledge.

I particularly enjoyed the sections on timber frame engineering and mathematics. Highly recommended!

By Steve Chappell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Timber Framer's Workshop as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This revised edition of A Timber Framer s Workshop has over 150 new photos and includes updated engineering specifications for pegged joinery, along with expanded in-depth technical information on the joinery, design and construction of Traditional Timber Frames.

The major portion of A Timber Framer's Workshop was first written back in 1983. Over a period of a number of years several revisions and additions took place, as it was used as the handout workshop manual for Fox Maple Timber Framing Workshops. At last, it was published for general distribution in 1998.

When this book was first published in 1998, scientific…


Book cover of Woodland Craft

Rupert Newman Author Of Oak-Framed Buildings

From my list on inspiring you to build your own timber framed home.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been fascinated by traditional carpentry since exploring the soaring timbers in roofs of medieval tithe barns around my home in Somerset. At the start of my woodworking journey, I soon learnt that building big was good. This led me into restoring ancient barns and roofs, where I learnt many of the skills I still use today. With the help of the books I have listed, I soon turned to building new oak framed buildings. Over the past 35 years I have had the pleasure of making many fabulous structures and working with some great carpenters and apprentices.

Rupert's book list on inspiring you to build your own timber framed home

Rupert Newman Why did Rupert love this book?

This is a beautifully written and illustrated book that captures the essence of traditional woodland craftsmanship.

As a carpenter, I was enthralled by Ben’s descriptions of sustainable woodland management practices and his detailed instructions on how to make everything from baskets to pole barns using only the timber from his wood.

His passion for the craft shines through on every page, and if you are into truly hand-made carpentry then this is the book for you. 

By Ben Law,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Woodland Craft as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Accompany woodsman Ben Law as he celebrates the amazing diversity of craft products made from materials sourced directly from the woods. Including brooms, rakes, pegs, spoons, chairs, baskets, fencing, yurts and even a caravan, the items are hewn from freshly cut green wood, shaped by hand and infused with a simple, rustic beauty. Detailed instructions and advice are given for each craft, along with essential knowledge about tools and devices. With fascinating information on the history, language and traditions of the crafts, coppice management and tree species, this book teaches about all aspects of the low-impact woodland way of life.


Book cover of Someone Builds the Dream

Colleen Paeff Author Of The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London's Poop Pollution Problem

From my list on the infrastructure of our cities.

Why am I passionate about this?

I never thought much about what makes our cities habitable until I started doing research for The Great Stink. But learning about sewers and wastewater treatment (They’re surprisingly interesting!) turned out to be the beginning of a fascination with other types of city infrastructure that I had previously ignored. Kids have a natural fascination for infrastructure of all kinds, but I was surprised when I couldn’t find any lists of picture books that group different types of city infrastructure together. So, I made one. I hope you and your little ones like these books as much as I did, and I hope you find many similar books to enjoy!

Colleen's book list on the infrastructure of our cities

Colleen Paeff Why did Colleen love this book?

What I love about this book is that instead of focusing on the engineers, architects, artists, and other high-profile designers who tend to get the credit for creating so much of what we see in our cities–it focuses on the laborers who take their plans and make them a reality. Someone Builds the Dream will get kids (and their parents) thinking more about the building process and the people who spend their days putting together the parts of the many buildings, bridges, fountains, and other structures that come together to create a city. Young children will love the rhyming text and older ones will find much to wonder about as they scan the vibrant illustrations.

By Lisa Wheeler, Loren Long (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Someone Builds the Dream as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 5, 6, 7, and 8.

What is this book about?

All across this great big world, jobs are getting done

by many hands in many lands. It takes much more than ONE.

Gorgeously written and illustrated, this is an eye-opening exploration of the many types of work that go into building our world - from the making of a bridge to a wind farm, an amusement park, and even the very picture book that you are reading. An architect may dream up the plans for a house, but someone has to actually work the saws and pound the nails. This book is a thank-you to the skilled women and men…


Book cover of Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt: Advanced Engineering in the Temples of the Pharaohs

Jerry Davis Author Of Amazing Mysterious Places: Geography Trivia Quiz

From my list on ancient mysteries that popular culture loves to explore.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been an explorer since I was young. My first short trip was to Cahokia Mounds, a site so little is known about that researchers have yet to discover the name of the people who built the famous city of mounds. As I grew into an adult, I was drawn to visit the Pyramid of Chichen Itza in Mexico and Stonehenge in England. As a writer, I decided the one thing missing from the mysterious places field was a fun way to learn about them. So I wrote a mysterious places book in a trivia game format, as learning something new is always more fun when presented as a  game.  

Jerry's book list on ancient mysteries that popular culture loves to explore

Jerry Davis Why did Jerry love this book?

Christopher Dunn's research is impressive, as he shares over 30 years of study and nine trips to Egypt in Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt.

He explains the unique marks left by skilled craftsmen that today, with modern technology, we would have great difficulty reproducing. Dunn writes about the precision found in the monuments of Egypt. He uses digital photography and computer-aided design software to give the reader an appreciation for the ancient Egyptians' remarkable achievements.

He includes over 280 photographs of Egyptian monuments to support his theories, and his examination of the underground tunnels of the Serapeum is worth the price of the book alone. His explanation of the precision engineering achieved by our ancient ancestors leads the reader to question long-held beliefs about ancient people. 

By Christopher Dunn,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the pyramids in the north to the temples in the south, ancient artisans left their marks all over Egypt, unique marks that reveal craftsmanship we would be hard pressed to duplicate today. Drawing together the results of more than 30 years of research and nine field study journeys to Egypt, Christopher Dunn presents a stunning stone-by-stone analysis of key Egyptian monuments, including the statue of Ramses II at Luxor and the fallen crowns that lay at its feet. His modern-day engineering expertise provides a unique view into the sophisticated technology used to create these famous monuments in prehistoric times.…


Book cover of Ballpark: Baseball in the American City

Jerald Podair Author Of City of Dreams: Dodger Stadium and the Birth of Modern Los Angeles

From my list on American baseball stadiums.

Why am I passionate about this?

Major league baseball stadiums have always enthralled me—their architectures, their atmospheres, their surroundings. Each has a unique story to tell. So I decided to tell the story of how perhaps the greatest of all American ballparks, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, came to be. As an urban historian, I also wished to tell a broader story of how the argument between 1957 and 1962 over whether, where, and how to build the stadium helped make Los Angeles into the modern city we know today. So writing City of Dreams allowed me to combine my passions for baseball, for stadiums, and for the history of American cities.

Jerald's book list on American baseball stadiums

Jerald Podair Why did Jerald love this book?

The most comprehensive history of the American baseball stadium ever produced, and one that could only have been written by Paul Goldberger, America’s preeminent architectural critic. Unlike many of his brethren, Goldberger’s writing has always been clean, clear, and blissfully jargon-free, and his historical tour of ballparks from their inauspicious 19th century beginnings to the retro pleasure-and-marketing palaces of our own time is authoritative and wonderfully readable. 

By Paul Goldberger,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ballpark as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An exhilarating, splendidly illustrated, entirely new look at the history of baseball: told through the stories of the vibrant and ever-changing ballparks where the game was and is staged, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic.

From the earliest corrals of the mid-1800s (Union Grounds in Brooklyn was a "saloon in the open air"), to the much mourned parks of the early 1900s (Detroit's Tiger Stadium, Cincinnati's Palace of the Fans), to the stadiums we fill today, Paul Goldberger makes clear the inextricable bond between the American city and America's favorite pastime. In the changing locations and architecture of our ballparks,…


Book cover of Your Cabin in the Woods

Jeanie and David Stiles Author Of Cabin: A Guide to Building the Perfect Getaway

From my list on hand-illustrated books on building.

Why are we passionate about this?

As the authors of 27 hand-illustrated books, we are acutely aware of the time and skill required for good rendering. We are old-schoolers ourselves, having cut our teeth on “how-to” books before computers came into vogue. Our readers often tell us that a computer drawing does not have the same appeal and clarity as hand drawing. We are able to ‘talk’ a reader through the process of building something with our drawings. We have also found that the best illustrated books often have the best content!

Jeanie's book list on hand-illustrated books on building

Jeanie and David Stiles Why did Jeanie love this book?

This is an oldie but goodie. It speaks to our own love of simple structures, designed to get you out in nature. The illustrations are simpler but fit in very well with the language of the era, and the personal philosophy of the author. There are floor plans, cabin renderings, and many smaller illustrations of the tools and furnishings that might go into a simple cabin. It is more than a how-to book. It is a celebration of cabin-living writ large. 

By Conrad E. Meinecke, Victor Aures,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Your Cabin in the Woods as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For 70 years, readers have been enjoying Meinecke's classic odes to the simple life, Your Cabin in the Woods (1943) and Cabin Craft and Outdoor Living (1947). For the first time, these books are combined into a deluxe two-color vintage package, featuring hundreds of charming illustrations by Victor Aures, known for his work with the Boy Scouts of America.

In writing both practical and inspirational, Meinecke details how to turn your dream into a reality, from building plans to choosing land to using tools. However the book's enduring appeal owes in large part to its warmly engaging tone and firm…


Book cover of The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How It Changed the City Forever

Mark Ovenden Author Of Underground Cities: Mapping the tunnels, transits and networks underneath our feet

From my list on subways and urban trains.

Why am I passionate about this?

Mark Ovenden is a broadcaster, lecturer and author who specialises in the design of public transport. His books include ’Transit Maps of The World’ - an Amazon Top 100 best-seller - and a dozen others covering cartography, architecture, typography, way finding and history of urban transit systems, airline routes and railway maps. He has spoken on these subjects across the World and is a regular on the UK's Arts Society lecture circuit. His television and radio programmes for the BBC have helped to explain the joys of good design and urban architecture. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and after many years living in cities like London, Paris, New York and Manchester…now enjoys a more rural life on the Isle of Wight.

Mark's book list on subways and urban trains

Mark Ovenden Why did Mark love this book?

With a razor sharp eye Wolmar (author of many other excellent books on railway history) concentrates his focus on the machinations of the establishment of the world's first railway built under the ground. Overcoming the travails of unbuilt fantasy concepts, the Victorians fear of the dark, finances and the problems of running steam trains in tunnels, London's City Solicitor Charles Pearson, managed to get the first route, the Metropolitan Railway, built and opened by January 1863. Wolmar unpicks the struggles to expand the line, private capitals, a rush to build more lines and the eventual nationalisation of the system in 1948.

By Christian Wolmar,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Subterranean Railway as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Revised and updated edition of Christian Wolmar's classic history of the London Underground, with a new chapter on Crossrail.

'I can think of few better ways to while away those elastic periods awaiting the arrival of the next eastbound Circle Line train than by reading [this book].' Tom Fort, Sunday Telegraph

Since the Victorian era, London's Underground has played a vital role in the daily life of generations of Londoners. In The Subterranean Railway, Christian Wolmar celebrates the vision and determination of the nineteenth-century pioneers who made the world's first, and still the largest, underground passenger railway: one of the…


Book cover of Valkyrie: The North American XB-70: The USA's Ill-Fated Supersonic Heavy Bomber

Manfred “Dutch” von Ehrenfried Author Of X-59: Lowering the Sonic Boom

From my list on unique aviation flights.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a NASA Flight Controller and crewman on the high-altitude research aircraft, I met many pilots, including those who flew X-planes. I became passionate about extreme and experimental flying. I have experienced supersonic flight and have flown to 70,000 feet. These experiences motivated me to write three books about X-planes: Stratonauts, X-59: Lowering the Sonic Boom, and X-66A: Bracing for the Future. 

Manfred's book list on unique aviation flights

Manfred “Dutch” von Ehrenfried Why did Manfred love this book?

The concept for this aircraft was born from General Curtis LeMay’s desire for a heavy bomber with the weapon load and range of the subsonic B-52 and a top speed in excess of the supersonic medium bomber, the B-58 Hustler. I once met General LeMay in the Mercury Control Center in 1962. 

However, in April 1961, Defense Secretary McNamara stopped the production of the XB-70 due to rapid cost escalation and the USSR’s newfound ability to destroy aircraft at extremely high altitudes with missiles or the new Mig-25 fighter. The XB-70 became famous for its breakthrough technology and the spectacular images captured when an observing Starfighter collided with the Valkyrie, which crashed into the Mojave Desert.

By Graham M. Simons,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Valkyrie as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

During the 1950s, at the time Elvis Presley was rocking the world with Hound Dog and the USA was aiming to become the world's only superpower, plans were being drawn at North American Aviation in Southern California for an incredible Mach-3 strategic bomber. The concept was born as a result of General Curtis LeMay's desire for a heavy bomber with the weapon load and range of the subsonic B-52 and a top speed in excess of the supersonic medium bomber, the B-58 Hustler. If LeMay's plans came to fruition there would be 250 Valkyries in the air; it would be…


Book cover of Discovering Timber-Framed Buildings
Book cover of A Japanese Touch For Your Home
Book cover of A Timber Framer's Workshop: Joinery, Design & Construction of Traditional Timber Frames

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