Overall,I believe this book is well worth the money for an introduction to adobe and rammed earth buildings. Additional books would be needed to learn enough to build one yourself though. Ever since a magazine article I read I've always been fascinated by earth covered houses. This book outlines all the major steps in designing and building an earth covered house. They go from site selection to house layout and then on to surrounding features.
Every statement is backed up by large quantities of data and references.
But the data is always just there to back up the text and never becomes truly overwhelming. By Robert L. Roy Based on the title and editorial reviews, I was expecting details on building a house which was entirely underground except maybe some skylights and an entrance from above. Rather the book focuses almost exclusively on earth-sheltered houses. That is, buildings surrounded by dirt on two or three sides. By Malcolm Wells Using his humor and whit, Malcom Wells describes the process of designing many earth sheltered, light filled residential and commercial buildings.