CABIN
Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman
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4.4 • 65 Ratings
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A memoir of the author's journey from an office job to restoring a cabin in the Pacific Northwest, based on his wildly popular Outside Magazine piece.
Wit’s End isn’t just a state of mind. It’s the name of a gravel road, the address of a run-down off-the-grid cabin, 120 shabby square feet of fixer-upper Patrick Hutchison purchased on a whim in the mossy woods of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state.
To say Hutchison didn’t know what he was getting into is no more an exaggeration than to say he’s a man with nearly zero carpentry skills. Well, used to be. You can learn a lot over six years of renovations.
CABIN is the story of those renovations, but it's also a love story; of a place, of possibilities, and of the process of construction, of seeing what could be instead of what is. It is a book for those who know what it’s like to bite off more than you can chew, or who desperately wish to.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Henry David Thoreau meets Home Improvement in Hutchison's charming debut. Dissatisfied with his job as a copy editor in 2010s Seattle and wondering if he might be missing out on a more meaningful life, Hutchison plunked down $7,500 for a decrepit cabin in the Cascade Mountains. Though he'd never touched a power tool in his life, Hutchison and a group of friends set out to restore the building, the last house on a dirt road fittingly named Wit's End Place. Through a sometimes bumpy series of home repairs—fixing the roof, building a gravel driveway, constructing stairs to the cabin's loft ("To the average person, the stairs were at most a rustic amalgamation of standard lumber, suitable for a tree house or a chicken coop... they fit. They worked")—Hutchison discovered a surprise knack for handiwork. Now a carpenter, he chalks up the career change to the six years he and his cohorts worked on the cabin; readers who are similarly curious about the capabilities of a scroll saw will be invigorated by Hutchison's account. With endearing directness and an infectious can-do spirit, this makes for a sturdy ode to self-discovery.
Customer Reviews
Enjoyable read
For anyone who desires to escape it all, this book will be fuel to fire. Felt like I got to know Patrick through the pages. Thank you for sharing your journey!
Wonderful book. Could hardly tear myself away
Absolutely delightful and inspirational to anyone who feels the need to build something. Creating a lasting
memory with help from many friends and family made
CABIN an unforgettable journey. Adding pictures of the
project was an added bonus. Looking forward to more
books from the author.