This is the third book from Peter Nelson of Treehouse Workshop. His previous two delved in depth into treehouse construction. This work is more a survey of the many wonderful treehouses to be found throughout the world. It is crammed with quality color photographs and, unlike a previously reviewed work, has a unifying narrative throughout.

Peter starts you off with a very useful section entitled "Choice of Tree". There he briefly touches upon suitability of various tree species to treehouse construction and provides a mini sketch of each tree species with a treehouse. Immediately after comes some very accurate arboriculture advice from Jonathan Fairoaks. It's nice to find a treehouse book that gets this part right for a change.

For me, the real value of this book is in the tour it takes you on of many notable treehouse. I bring this book to meetings with clients so they can see the many incredible things possible. And for those who've never considered it possible that a treehouse could be any more than a small, roughly built box, this book will blow their minds.

What this book lacks is building advice. It's not a "how-to" book. There really is no great "how-to" book out there. Even so, highly recommended.

This is a very recently published treehouse book, hot off Sterling Publishing's presses. It's full of glossy color photos of one man's incredible labors as well as 3d mock-ups of simple treehouse designs. The text purports to give everyone the ability to construct a simple treehouse.

I'm very conflicted about this book. On the one hand, it is a window into the magical world of Maurice Barkley. He, laboring alone, has built something wonderful using only his time, passion, intelligence, and skill. You can not but be awed by the images of his work.

However, the textual contents of this book are sorely lacking. We are taken through one very simple design and that design, to my eyes, is woeful. It's a "cut here, measure here, drill here" recipe for a small wooden box using unusual methods. I think it would be very difficult for a novice to take his advice and translate it into something unique for himself. It's the classic "give a man a fish" vs. "teach a man to fish" issue.

This book would be a great website. And in fact, Mr. Barkley does have a great website. He is proud of his creations, and justifiably so. If this book delved more deeply into his own work, it might have merit. As it is, I can't recommend it.

This is the latest installment in a long string of wonderful books from David and Jeanie Stiles. Inside you won't find glossy, double page spreads of extravagant treehouses ... this is not a coffee table book. Rather, it is a how-to book, and the best one available for those that want to build their own whimsical play structure. Inside you will find excellent line drawings and readable explanations of intelligent, creative, and well though-out designs.

David starts with the basics: tools. From there you follow a complete and logical progression to completed treehouse. In between you'll get solid building advice. David has built his designs. He knows how to make life easier for you by using common materials and minimizing cuts. The building advice is spot on throughout.

The huge, huge, huge problem with this book is the 20 or so options David gives you for connecting lumber to tree. They are almost all bad. Never girdle a growing limb with rope or cable. Never use nails. This leaves you with only lag bolting. To be sure, there are other ways. But the only safe and tree-friendly way presented in this book (and any of his other works) is to use lags.

This is the by far the best book to give to a young builder and is probably a treasure to any 8 or 9 year old lucky enough to have a copy. It will get their mind working. The crazy schemes they come up with will amaze you.

The ideas inside this book are great. Fun, imaginative, unique. If you know a young boy (or girl) with a tree, get him this book. And when it comes time to actually build their creation, call an arborist and he'll set you straight about properly attaching it to a tree.

This small book is a collection of 22 stories about living in trees. Each story is written by someone close to the project, usually the builder themselves. Each story involves 1 or 2 pages of text and a few images. The book ends with a brief summary of how to make your own treehouse.

This book has little to recommend itself. It is a disjoint collection of poorly written summaries and grainy, unprofessional photos. Of the 22 stories presented, very few were not previously known to me, and those that weren't were quite uninteresting. Some of the articles read like advertisements for a particular builder's services.

From a builder's perspective, there is little to be gleaned from the short "Make It" section at the book's end. The complexities of building your own treehouse require much more than a few paragraphs. I will say that the author does not distribute any misinformation, something I can't say for a lot of other, more prominent works. On the other hand, very little information is provided in the first place.

This book does provide you with a quick and thorough glimpse of modern treehouse ideas from 10 years ago. You will not find a more concise introduction anywhere. However, for those serious about treehouses, the lack of in-depth information is a sore lack indeed.

This is not a how-to book on treehouse building. Rather, it's a book about philosophy, friends, family, and place written by a gifted writer who uses his folly as a foil. It is eminently readable as well as very browseable. There are one-page asides on various topics throughout as well as good pictures and striking watercolors a'plenty.

While the technical details of the construction are mostly absent from the book (for instance, the roof is mentioned not at all) there are still plenty of nuggets burried within. I was particularly taken with the chessboard they created. Also, the drawbridge was a neat idea and will probably be referenced in one of my future designs.

The main flaw I see in this work is there is a sort of deus ex machina in the person of Ted. Ted is endowed with preternatural mental abilities and always shows up at the right time to help the hapless author out of his latest jam. I'm afraid this may cause those of us who lack a Ted to hesitate before undertaking a folly of this type.

Another big problem is the way they fastened their structure to the tree. In their effort to not harm the tree by drilling holes, they do potentially catastrophic damage to the future health of this stately pine. I have seen this over and over. Call an arborist before starting, he will (hopefully) set you straight. Despite their tree health faux-pas, I expect this elder giant will make it through fine.

The real reason to crack this book is to be inspired. This is an uplifting book. The little aphorism that I will take with me from this book is attributed to the author's mother:

"Dreams need feet. Give feet to your dreams."

Highly recommended for the dreamer. An interesting book for the builder.