A Treehouse of Your Own: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building an Amazing Treetop Retreat

I had high hopes - misplaced - for this outdated book. The pictures on the front and in the introductory pages suggest one is going to learn a lot of details on treehouse building plans and technique, but it never delivers. There are lots of picture of the outside of treehouses, lots of pictures of individual tools (do I need a picture of a cordless drill?), lots of detailed descriptions of how to be safe -- e.g., make sure you've got two people when using a 20-foot ladder. DUH! If you don't know how to safely use power tools, or what they look like, a book on building a two-story treehouse weighing several thousand pounds is probably not for you!The book is written as a kind of diary of building a particular treehouse, but there are never any actual really planning scheme-drawings to show how the drawings lead to the treehouse in the book -- it only says you should have such drawings. There is no description of the dimensions, construction methods, or approaches to building the turret (which is a loft). And, where there are descriptions of detail work or construction, it is very difficult to follow and there are very few accompanying pictures of specific joints or attachments, mainly limited to the joist hangers which are circa 2004 and no longer used! Modern high-quality treehouse construction involves the use of treehouse attachment bolts (TABs) that minimize the intrusion points into a tree, which is critical for tree health. The author seems to enthusiastically drill or nail into a tree with abandon, using all manner of attachment methods to make holes into the tree - not an approach most current treehouse experts would recommend.I was hoping/looking for a book that would help me plan and execute on building a 250 square-foot treehouse with a loft. This book was a waste of money, as far as I'm concerned. I bought it because it was recommended by a company with whom I took a tree-building class and after I subsequently built a two-story, open platform treehouse with a zipline (using TABs, single-bolt knee-brace brackets and cables -- it is awesome). I'm looking to build another treehouse on our property, enclosed as a studio apartment style, with a loft. So, I was hoping I'd get some specific planning and construction tips from this book, but both were lacking. I'm going to search for something that is up-to-date, at least understands TABs and modern construction techniques, and really geared toward specific and practical methods and designs for treehouse construction. This book ain't it.

This book outlines the stages, techniques, and materials to build one particular, very complex treehouse. While it does attempt to use the specific example to provide general guidelines and recommendations for treehouse building, there are other books out there which do a better job at this. That said, the author of "A Treehouse of Your Own" is obviously an incredibly talented guy, and it is cool just looking at the photographs of the featured treehouse as well as some of his other projects. The intricacy of design is truly incredible, and there are some cool features which might actually be practical to a backyard treehouse. Basically, I think there are very few people out there who will be building the treehouse described in this book or anything even close to it, as it would require the right tree, lots of expensive tools and materials, a huge amount of time, and a reasonably high level of expertise. But, if you want to challenge your conception of what is possible, this book will certainly do it.

We now have a tree house in the woods of our property. This Tree House book helped me a great deal in the planning and implementing of this project. With ideas from this book, the tree never saw one nail hammered into it. We have room to expand with a rope bridge and tower on another tree...probably will attack that this summer. In summery, this book was worth every cent spent. I have loaned it to a friend already. Amazon is a great partner in helping find what I need for any project or as a resource for the classes I teach.

This book had fairly detailed instructions for building one specific type of treehouse in one type of tree. Very little information on general building techniques, how to handle trees that shift in the wind, etc. If you happen to want the type of treehouse the author describes, and have the same tree situation, it would be useful.

Very good concise coverage of process to construct a unique dwelling off the ground. Enjoyed reading the narratives and will use as a good reference through the various steps. Good detail summary.

For hubby to build his tree house . He loves it!

The book is fine; it is a "rip" off to pay more than double listed price which is just plain wrong for a paperback hobby book. If this book is as the seller states: a 'collectible', 'rare', 'out of print' and 'popular' topic which is why the seller is charging more than double' then the SELLER needs to ADVISE the customer of this fact PRIOR to purchase. I was very surprised that to pay MORE than double the price appearing on the book. Very disappointed in this purchase but am not returning it...don't want to pay more money to return the book!

Can't wait to utilize this book. My little niece loves it. Look forward to building our own tree house. Thanks

Buen libro, bien estructurado. Lectura muy útil. Las descripciones de las técnicas y fases previas a la construcción tienen gran valor y utilidad.

Very interesting and informative