Dwelling in Possibility: Searching for the Soul of Shelter

The mystery that attracts Howard Mansfield's attention is that some houses have lifeare home, are dwellings, and others aren't. Dwelling, he says, is an old-fashioned word that we've misplaced.
When we live heart and soul, we dwell. When we belong to a place, we dwell. Possession, they say, is nine-tenths of the law, but it is also what too many houses and towns lack. We are not possessed by our home places. This lost quality of dwellingthe soul of buildingshaunts most of our houses and our landscape.

Dwelling in Possibility is a search for the ordinary qualities that make some houses a home, and some public places welcoming.

Table of Contents

Introduction: House Hunting
Dwelling in the Ordinary
Pages From an Ice Storm Journal
The Age of Clutter
Finding Heaven in the Most Hated House on the Block
The Perilous Career of a Footpath
Dwelling in Destruction The Hut on Fire
Keep the Home Fires Burning
The Storm After The Storm
Dwelling in Possibility
Counting Houses
Sheds
The Beginner's Book of Dwelling
Bibliography
Acknowledgments