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Mud Ball: How I dug myself out of the daily grind.
Librarian's Note: An alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here
I couldn’t teach another lesson. Nor could I tolerate another day with a boss, a punch card and the indigestion I suffered from bolting my muesli. This was why I’d spent the past five months camping in a remote Turkish field. I’d been happy despite the lack of power or running water. Then the first winter storm crashed through the valley, turning my tent into a canvas pole dancer. It dawned on me I might need a house. There were only two problems: I had just $6000 left in my account, and 6 weeks before winter.
I couldn’t teach another lesson. Nor could I tolerate another day with a boss, a punch card and the indigestion I suffered from bolting my muesli. This was why I’d spent the past five months camping in a remote Turkish field. I’d been happy despite the lack of power or running water. Then the first winter storm crashed through the valley, turning my tent into a canvas pole dancer. It dawned on me I might need a house. There were only two problems: I had just $6000 left in my account, and 6 weeks before winter.
218 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 9, 2015
21 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Atulya K. Bingham
4 books5 followersBack in 2011, I ran spectacularly out of funds and ended up camping in a Turkish field. There was no power or running water on the land, and I had little outdoors survival knowledge. None of this mattered though, because my land was special. Magical even. It transformed me.
A few months later, despite knowing almost nothing about building, I gathered a team and constructed an earthbag house. It was probably the most empowering thing I've ever done. That story is documented in Mud Ball.
For five years, I continued living alone up on my beloved Mud Mountain until August 2016, when a peculiar set of events caused me to leave. That story is documented in my latest work Mud Mountain, the blog turned book.
A few months later, despite knowing almost nothing about building, I gathered a team and constructed an earthbag house. It was probably the most empowering thing I've ever done. That story is documented in Mud Ball.
For five years, I continued living alone up on my beloved Mud Mountain until August 2016, when a peculiar set of events caused me to leave. That story is documented in my latest work Mud Mountain, the blog turned book.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 9, 2018
Inspiring.
I'm planning my own earthbag building adventure so this helps with perspective, the reality of the work, and pitfalls. Inspirational and proves it can be an adventurous but satisfying option for those who dream of building their own true home without having to do it the standardized way in construction.
I'm planning my own earthbag building adventure so this helps with perspective, the reality of the work, and pitfalls. Inspirational and proves it can be an adventurous but satisfying option for those who dream of building their own true home without having to do it the standardized way in construction.
October 6, 2025
A fun, well-written personal journey into building a dirtbag house against time and the elements. Great writing, funny and honest. Thoroughly enjoyable read!
October 4, 2016
This book is really inspirational, especially if (like me) you are interested in building your own house. I loved that as a woman with no building experience whatsoever she was able to pull this off and I also liked how she didn't have it all perfectly mapped out before - she just went for it, out of necessity, and it all fell into place. (I am a little too risk averse and I've been feeling that I needed a ton of money and skills to do something like this, and this book proves me wrong).
The book ends very abruptly when she is only part way through the process of building, which reads very strangely. Almost like she got bored of writing it and just decided to finish it up. However apart from that it is generally well-written, very funny in places and easy to read. I think this would appeal to a lot of people who are dreaming of leaving the rat race and especially to ones like me who are interested in sustainable building.
A minor detail: I read the ebook from Kobo and there were quite a few typos and other editorial mistakes, and I am usually not a person that picks up on that sort of thing, so there must have been a few.
The book ends very abruptly when she is only part way through the process of building, which reads very strangely. Almost like she got bored of writing it and just decided to finish it up. However apart from that it is generally well-written, very funny in places and easy to read. I think this would appeal to a lot of people who are dreaming of leaving the rat race and especially to ones like me who are interested in sustainable building.
A minor detail: I read the ebook from Kobo and there were quite a few typos and other editorial mistakes, and I am usually not a person that picks up on that sort of thing, so there must have been a few.
August 31, 2015
very inspirational! I loved the story and it was beatifully written with lots of wit and humor. Although if your looking for something strickly instructional on how to build a dirt bag house I wouldn't look to this book only...there are some areas what she describes what was done to build the house but not totally in detail step by step, as it is more a inspirational story then instructional. I did wish she had gone more into the actual finishing of the house...how the windows were fixed from being wonky, how she rounded the floor out and finished it...ex I felt it left off a bit too early in the end since she wasn't actually living in the house yet at that point.Otherwise a very good book!
November 23, 2015
This is not only a cleverly written and often humorous account of what it's like to build your own home (literally) from the ground up, it's also an inspiring call to action to people everywhere who want to live life connected to people, the earth, and their own beating hearts. Whether you're interest lies in travel, adventure, self-reliance, sustainable building, ecology, or all of the above, this a great read and motivating manifesto to getting the real work done of saving our planet, one home at a time.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews