Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties: And How to Make Them

Although this book is only 5" - 6" tall, it is an invaluable resource. I purchased it as a gift, and as I always do, scanned it to ensure it is a good fit for the receiptient. It gives instructions (and has color drawings) that even the unintiated, such as myself can follow with ease. It will not overwhelm, has an easy style that reminds you that your common sense tells you how to build the structures.

When I was a child, I would look for this book when I went to the public library. I checked it out frequently and marveled at the lined drawings of various kinds of wilderness dwellings, especially the "Boys Hogan"-a type of hidden shelter built into the side of a hill. No doubt this book became the inspiration of the "forts" we built in the woods and the lean-tos constructed in Boy Scouts.The tree house recently built for my own children, caused me to remember this little book and so I ordered it from Amazon. It not only brings back great memories, but also has inspired me to think about building a log cabin. This is a great book for those who love the idea of building or living in primitive shelters.

Interesting book and plenty of illustrations but $2.99 is expensive considering it is free to read online (the links in the book go right to the Project Gutenberg website...[...] ). At most 99 cents for any work the uploader did to convert to Kindle. I am not sure this complies with The Project Gutenberg usage but I will let someone else figure that out.Something to get the kids out of the house and try out. The book itself is a great compilation of shelters. It is quite interesting how safety concerns of the times have changed. It is definitely not a how-to book but if you have common sense then the shelters will be easy to reproduce. It seems back in the day everyone had a general knowledge of tools unlike today.

My FAVORITE book - all time. I owned it and put it to use as a guide as a kid in the 50's. So happy to put it back on my bookshelf

This little book is an encyclopedia of the types of shelters built by native peoples and frontiersmen. It seems to have originally been intended as a how-to book, but assumes a great deal of knowledge of natural materials, tools and construction that most people today simply do not have. Therefore it's not the how-to book that I expected from the title. Even so, I gave it three stars for carefully documenting and preserving a record of the often clever and ingenious ways that our more rugged forbears sheltered themselves. Choosing, and figuring out how to build one of the shelter designs would be a great project for a scouting group or a wilderness class.

It’s funny to read the forward , description of its time , couldn’t even entertain the thought of women building primitive shelters . I love this book , it adds the extra know how to natures creatives

This book is geared towards building structures that were used by outdoorsmen from years past. It covers how to make a bed from natural materials, a log cabin, Native American log house, and how to work an axe just to name a few topics covered in this book. The drawings of the dwellings in the book are simple (but not in depth plans or charts). The author does a great job of explaining how to construct these devices, but as I said a drawn picture is all your going to get if your a visual learner. Over all the book does what it says it will do, gives the reader good information, and I personally wouldn't be caught dead without it if I was trapped in the middle of nowhere by myself.

I know that most people will find this book to be anything but "green" however, I found this concept to be perfect in a world that sometimes forgets what it is like to be young at heart. Some of the shelters are not safe and one should always supervise young children who if left alone will build forts and such, yet there is a certain allure about thinking you are back in time and surviving on your own wits. Great ideas for survival campouts or if you like getting out "there" and just might once or twice get too far out "there" and find yourself in the need of an overnight shelter. Loved the book and will use or adapt many of the detailed plans.

This paperback is a bit smaller in diameter then some books. It is 5 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches. A very interesting read. It gives details on how to build but with a historical perspective. Lots of easy to see detailed sketches. Defiantly worth the money

I love this book.It`s well laid out and very comprehensive.The illustrations are very handy when putting shelter building into practice.

impecc

Not very impressed. The only pages that aren't displaying sideways on Kindle for PC are those that are upside down. While I can turn my Kindle itself round and round to see the page its a bit hard to do with a computer monitor.

Clearly written in a different time, makes it more interesting. Many many shelters. Onlu read about 10 pages so far and very pleased. Detailed instructions along with wonderful artwork/drawings that are also detailed.Everything from a lean-to and fallen tree shelters to log cabins, how to knotch logs, build ladders and hinges, fireplaces and hearths. 243 pages.