How to Build Impossible Things

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

Wildly irreverent and beautifully warm, this is a story about practice, competence and failure, told through tales in a world most of us never see.

'Life is worth regular examination. I have found a great deal of meaning in learning to make things. Each of us has tidbits of understanding that others might appreciate were we to share them. As a carpenter building high-end homes for New York City's richest, I work on multi-million dollar projects every day. People come to me when they want the impossible. Most are ill conceived; many are inadvisable, some are downright dangerous. But when I'm able to craft something glorious, it's magic. Yet in every project, without fail, things go wrong.

Glamour, luxury and refinement are products of a flawed, human process, of missed deadlines, overrun budgets, heated tantrums and scrapped blueprints. Throughout my career I have observed, erred, learned, finessed, apologised, and resisted the urge to say I told you so. I offer these tales from the trade in the hope that others might find them amusing, instructive and inspirational. There are many good reasons to work. Here are a few of them.'

©2023 Mark Ellison (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

Like sitting in a room with Mark and hearing the best stories in the world, wound up with wisdom, craft, and hard-won philosophy
The New Yorker
A brilliantly engaging storyteller, laugh-out-loud funny, loving, cheekily smug . . . An enjoyable read on making, inventing and what might contribute to a life worth living
Julie Mehretu
Mark is an amazing polymath - and an Olympic-level aesthete. Unlike many polymaths and aesthetes, though, when he gets up in the morning, it's to make real, physical things - including this book
Craig Nevill-Manning, Engineering Director, Google NYC
On a job site Mark makes irreverent banter while scribbling measurements on the back of pizza box as works of astonishing complexity and precision materializes under his direction. Now he has somehow applied this same deceptively offhand but exacting craft to unspooling this collection of tales from his ascent to the summit of one of the most demanding construction habitats on earth
David Hotson, architect, Skyhouse and Pinnacle
Wry, laconic and packed with salient life lessons, this is a book that will encourage everyone to attempt to build the life they wish to live
Simple Things Magazine
Who knew Mark Ellison's handiwork would include a book this exquisite, purposeful, absorbing? How To Build Impossible Things merits reading and rereading -- it's a book with much to teach us all.
Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prizeu2013winning author of HOMELAND ELEGIES
Mark Ellison is known for building beautiful rooms, but here he has crafted a gorgeous book. This cross between Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Kitchen Confidential contains fascinating insights about working with your hands, the nature of talent, and how to create a meaningful life, whatever your craft is. Oh, and lots of juicy stories of pain-in-the-ass clients. Even if you aren't handy -- I can barely hang a picture frame -- you'll find this book a wonderful read
A. J. Jacobs, bestselling author of THE PUZZLER
Sturdy advice, delivered with humour and the occasional splinter
Guardian

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