Gives practical, detailed, understandable descriptions of the main systems of a house and the process of building a new one. Invaluable reference for anyone building or buying a house. Very unfortunate that it is no longer in print (2002).

From this book I was able to construct a foundation drain around a section of my basement had cracked and was leaking water. The drain is a great success. No more water, it relieved the soil pressure on the concrete block basement wall, and provided exterior insulation against the cold for the associated room.

This reads like eloquent fiction, but is in truth the story of Tracy's father. He doesn't say which character his father is, and he doesn't insert himself into the story. But what a wonderful, heart-bending story it is. At all times the sadness of the situation is eclipsed by the bravery and courage of people without hope; people who do the best they can, and it is more than enough. For any of us who will grow old, which is most of us, this is a must read.

"For most of those long-lived, ailing people, Linda Manor represented all the permanence that life still had to offer. It was their home for the duration, their last place on earth." Thus writes Tracy Kidder in "Old Friends", an account of life in Linda Manor, a Massachussets old folk's home. It would be a useful exercise to watch a day's television and see how many elderly people are featured. The old are increasingly invisible in our society.

Once respect for one's elders was a maxim in most cultures. Now all has changed in the consumer capitalist west; with a prevalent worship of a narrowly-defined sense of "youth" - physically slim, impulsive, impatient; and the traditional virtues of the elderly - experience, deliberation, rumination - are derided in that accurate barometer of the spirit of the times, advertising. In medical training, there is an unspoken but clear bias against the elderly; students are advised to ensure that the stereotypically scatty little old lady sticks to matters of strict clinical relevance.

The notion that we have anything to learn from the elderly has disappeared from most contemporary culture. The elderly are a nuisance, a problem to be medicated and managed and forgotten. Kidder's book - unsentimental and heartbreaking, a clear-eyed portrait full of dignity and beauty and humour - is a counterblast to the cult of youth and the pathologising of old age. Increasingly we, as young people, live lives surrounded by people of our own age only - the decline of large families mean that we are less likely to have infant siblings or indeed much older siblings, while the large extended family gathering is increasingly dwindling.

The blurb on the back of "Old Friends" begins:"What's wrong with Tracy Kidder? A robust man, even a youthful one, a father fit and healthy, with years of life ahead of him: why did he voluntarily enter an old people's home?" One might fear a self-fixated meditation on the authors own concerns; but Kidder is an absent presence in the book; he gives his elderly cast the stage. The focus is mainly on Lou, a serene, wise ninety year old Philadelphian; and his roommate Joe, a tempermental impatient seventy-two year old who chafes at existence in the home after an active life. Kidder presumably had an extraordinary degree of access; not merely physical but also emotional. We are taken into the rooms of the dying, the deepest fears of those who will shortly join their ranks, the sadness and guilt of relatives. We see the power structure of the nursing home, a relatively enlightened one where nevertheless elderly people with enormous professional and administrative experience are made - with the best intentions - to feel like children.

We learn from the elderly in this book; and the elderly learn from each other. The gruff taciturn Joe is gently coached by Lou into telling his wife he loves her. Joe and Lou coach the staff of Linda Manor in tact and sensitivity- for example the hearty "Did you have a bowel movement today?" is replaced by the less intrusive"Did you or didn't you?" The full emotional range is here; love, ambition, anger, jealousy, pride; life in its most distilled, pure form - life facing

Ever since reading Tracy Kidder's "Soul of a new Machine" years ago, I've admired his ability to get you inside the lives, minds and hearts of the people he chronicles. Old Friends is Tracy's best yet. You will finish this book feeling like you really truly understand what it is like to live in a nursing home.

I read this book a few years back and i've just finished reading it again. It's a well told story of the birth of pre-PC microcomputers. The effort of the engineers and "microkids", who struggled to make the first "Eagle", told with intense care and attention to detail. If you ever wondered how a computer is made from idea to production, this is the book to read.

This book was written at one of the times in computer history when computers were evolving, and the industry was greatly changing; something which has happened quite a few times in the computer industry over the past 40 years. This is a must read for all engineering types, and a good intro to those outside the industry towards what goes into making new computer products - though much of what it details is now quite aged. A great read that details how engineering greatness is made...and how the creators are often passed over and forgotten.

...I've read in a very long time! Some of the technologies may be a bit dated but the core issues remain the same and this book is a timeless treasure. Anyone of us who has ever worked hard and under a lot of pressure can relate to the characters (which I found very well described). It's a real page-turner and you won't be able to put it down until you are done - a real thriller! All the technological background is explained very well so even the non-computer savvy folks can easily follow this exciting story.

I chose Among Schoolchildren as a supplemental text for an Introduction to Education class. I had read the book some time ago, and remembered it as being a realistic portrayal of life in classrooms. I thought my students might enjoy this glimpse into the life of a teacher, warts and all. I re-read the book and still enjoyed it very much, and found many of the relationships with students, Chris's worries about her students, and the variety of problems that teachers deal with to be on target. However, many of the elements of the elementary school curriculum have changed even in the relatively short time since the book was published. It is not the overall picture of life in elementary schools that it might have been when it was first published. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating and fun read. I enjoy reading about how other people handle difficult situations. There is always something new to learn.

As an education major at Macon State College, I read Among Schoolchildren for an assignment for my education in a diverse society class. This book really opened my eyes to what teaching is like in the "real world." Tracy Kidder supplied very detailed information about each student in Mrs. Zajac's class and about Mrs. Zajac herself. I took note of many excellent teaching strategies used by Mrs. Zajac, and I hope to be able to apply them when I myself am teaching. Kidder's awesome description and remarkable ability to recreate various events in the book made me feel as though I were right there in the classroom. At times this was scary, seeing as how the students misbehaved quite often, but at least I now know what to expect from my own students. Hopefully I can become a wonderful teacher as Mrs. Zajac is. If you are at all uncertain about what it is like to be a teacher read Among Schoolchildren! You will never look at teaching the same way again!

I just recently finished reading Among SchoolChildren for an education class that I am taking in college & I found the book VERY easy to read, humerous, inspiring & very useful! I loved the way that Mrs. Zajac treated her students individually and never riticuled them. She was a teacher that I would consider very dedicated and devoted to teaching. I think that it is a great book to read for anyone who is considering becoming a teacher because the book shows what it is really like being a teacher. There are so many people who think that teaching is easy so I also recommend this book to anyone who is not an education major because it makes you appreciate what teachers actually do!

i am building an american house in the south of england. i was given the book by one of the professionals involved in my build three years ago. i sat on it and only read it recently. if only i had known the journey on which it would take me. i was absorbed into the lives of the seven people around whom this ultimately human drama revolves. rarely is a book genuinely unputdownable - unpickupable more like - but this is such a book. even if you are only vaguely interested in concept of the human nesting experience this is still a book for you. the house in question is both subject and setting, a theatrical backdrop upon which the characters reveal themselves. fascinating and quite brilliant.

If you are thinking about becoming a builder, or are thinking about having a house built for you, this is a must-read. Be prepared for Kidder's no holds barred account of how devious a home buyer can be just to save relatively little money, how unprepared a builder can be to deal with such situations, and what crucial role good communication between the home buyer, architect, and builder plays getting the project completed on time and on budjet. Kidder emphasizes the fact that building a house is not just about people doing buisiness in an impersonal manner, but that personalities play a crucial role in any business relationship. Kidder also makes clear that the involved parties' abilities to see the other sides point of view in a dispute are paramount to achieving the ultimate goal in business: the customer gets a quality product on time and no one feels they're cheated at the end of the transaction. This is not an instruction manual; Kidder offers little advice on what is proper or what the characters could do better. Kidder simply relates an accurate account of the process of building a home, mostly with an eye toward human relations; a wise reader will learn from the successes and mistakes of the characters herein.

I read this book when it came out thirteen years ago and I enjoyed every minute.

In this book, Tracy Kidder describes the process and personalities involved with building a new home, but it's more than that. Like his "Soul of a New Machine", it chronicles what it's really like to be caught in the middle of a major project. Even someone who hasn't built a home from scratch or developed a new computer system will gain an basic knowledge of the topic and an appreciation for what it takes to do something really big.

This book is a pot pourri of stories about people who live in a little town in western Massachusetts, called Northampton.

However well the author writes this book, it is very hard to get involved if there is no real story that holds the book together. I found it very hard to be able to follow everybody's comings and goings if there is no real central story and no central character. Of course the policeman, Tommy O'Connor if interesting, but there is absolutely no relation to Laura (the single mother) or to Alan, or even to his friend Rick because Tommy "does not want to be involved".

The writing is very good, and the descriptions of characters and places are also very good, but without a real plot to the book, it just feels as if you are reading a newspaper story.

Kidder lives in western Massachusetts, the setting of his last four books. Elementary education, institutional care for the elderly, and custom home building each gets his observer/reporter treatment. HOME TOWN is partly a collection of impressions saved out from earlier books. None have the exciting beginning, middle, and end of his 1981 triumph, THE SOUL OF A NEW MACHINE.

Yet all are fine, fine pieces of writing. The chapter on obsessive-compulsive disorder ("Hands") in HOME TOWN is as good an essay on behavior accommodation as I've ever read.

It's not easy to like all of Kidder's people, especially Tommy the native cop who shaves and shines his head and wears shades and practices a narrow-eyed stare to look more fearsome, and who loves the bulk that Kevlar jackets provide and the creaking leather from Sam Brown belts. His kind is probably necessary for the public order in unsafe places. But as Judge Ryan (my favorite person in the book) observes: as likable as Tommy is, he is dangerous.

If you visit Northampton, watch the inappropriate laughter while waiting in line with academicians and genXers for a table in a Main Street restaurant. It's a Woody Allen setting shot through with hip neuroses and about as representative of American urban life as Istanbul.

A far better book is HOMETOWN (1982) by Peter Davies, an Academy Award documentary filmmaker. Hamilton, Ohio, is the location because it is Northern enough to the industrial, Southern enough to have a gently rural aspect, Western enough to have once been on the frontier, and East enough to have a past. Davies developed a wonderful connection with his subject over six years. His book is briefer than Kidder's, but contains more insights. And it has a beginning, middle, and end.

Tracy Kidder is the best non-fiction writer in America since John McPhee went off the deep end and became fixated on rocks. Kidder takes seemingly small subjects, in this case a nice little town in Massachusetts that works pretty well for most of the people who live there, and manages to tell us a great deal about a great many things: cops, friends, yearning for family, homelessness, a single woman's dreams and even obsessive-compulsive disorder. The writing seems effortless but only because the book is so well crafted. This is one of those books where you feel you have more life inside you simply for having read it. He manages to bring real people to life in a way that makes us truly care about what happens to them. A less talented writer might tell his or her publisher I want to spend a year watching what happens in a small town and the publisher might say forget about it. In Kidder's hands it works beautifully, as we've come to expect. I loved this book.