The Earth Construction Handbook is unique in providing a survey of applications and construction techniques for a material which: is naturally available and easy to use with even low craft skills; absorbs and desorbs humidity faster, and to a higher extent, than any other; produces hardly any environmental waste; and balances indoor climate and moisture creating a healthy environment.
It also includes physical data, and explains the material's beneficial qualities and how to maximize these. The information given can be practically applied by engineers, architects, builders, planners, craftsmen and laymen who wish to construct cost-effective buildings which provide a healthy, balanced indoor climate.
Minke (architecture, U. of Kassel, Germany) also has a practice devoted to ecological planning and architecture, and has built earth buildings in many countries. He surveys applications and construction techniques, includes physical data, and explains the material's beneficial quality and how to maximize them. His treatment could prove useful to professionals and amateurs alike. It is translated from Lehmbau-Handbuch published by +kobuch Verlag, Staufen, in 1994. The distribution in North America is by Computational Mechanics, Inc. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
