Lawrence LaRose

Not the book I was looking for, and wouldn't have checked it out it if I had known. Written to capitalize on the home-reno craze. Focused on how easy it was to bluff his way into construction work. Little detail or depth to anything other than the vast expenses wasted in Hamptons homes of the rich. Amazingly little depth to the emotional consequences to his marriage and interactions with other people. Badly edited and proofread- many references to 'door jams', then low and behold, references to 'door jams' and the correct 'door jambs' on the same page. Many instances of the same- did this man have no idea what he was actually working with? Sad, when he *often* feels the need to mention his graduate degree.… (lisätietoja)

Another book on renovating a house. Interesting in that, once again, I'm afraid the more I learn about other people, the harder I find it to feel sorry for them.

The focus of the book is how the author's life and marriage almost fall apart as he and his wife rebuild a house, and as he loses his job just after they buy it. This sounds pretty sad, but the details show them constantly bickering and worrying about money, even as they keep spending and wasting it like idiots. Much is made of the continual purchases of things like bath fittings and lights a year before the house is ready to accept them, but, although there is constant reference to the hassles these cause cluttering up the house, there is zero reference to the money wasted on credit card interest in buying them a year before necessary. Or, right at the end of the book, they are immensely proud because they manage, at a liquidation sale, to buy a refrigerator for $2200. WTF??? Normal people manage to live their lives quite adequately with $500 refrigerators. Or the compaints about the cost of brand name baby equipment, but apparently never a though to buy the stuff at Costco, or heck, even Goodwill.

A good book to remind you of the stupidity of your fellow citizens.… (lisätietoja)