I knew this one had potential to be a “Matt book” based on the ingredients it touted: a writer and book lover seeks to build a cabin in the woods with his own hands while lacking any such skills. After enjoying Pollan’s voice in A World Appears and my love for Patrick Hutchinson’s Cabin (another story of cabin-building by a novice), I was excited to come across this gem. Pollan’s version is headier and more brooding with lots of contemplating and philosophizing: man’s relationship with nature, society’s relationship with architecture, meaning and symbolism in architecture that influences culture and vice versa, the dynamics of idealist architects vs. in-the-trenches craftsmen, and so on. Pollan could expound at length about what the choice of roof style says about the architect, builder, owner and society at-large. And expound he does. It’s mostly great stuff, but does drag a bit, especially in the roof chapter (didn’t need like 30 pages on that). While he warned it wasn’t a technical guide to building a cabin, I had quite a few questions about technical challenges that weren’t covered or glossed over. I was also left wondering how he managed to work on a cabin for two-and-half years with a newborn. His third trimester wife and eventual toddler were mere bookend mentions in the story. Despite those nits, this was an enjoyable read with multiple takeaways on architecture, construction, literature and life. Some may find it pretentious: a writer over-intellectualizing the symbolism of different types of window treatments as he spends enormous amounts of time and money building a non-essential office space. I get it, but that’s authentic Pollan. An intellectual. A writer. A thinker. And he had the financial means and schedule to pull off the project. Coming up on 30 years since its publication, I’d love to see a special edition with more drawings, photos and small details that support the text. Overall, a great book for Matt, while others may place it somewhere between pedestrian and good.