From: Don Bowen KI6DIU <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>
To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [Homestead] Alternative home building
Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2007 10:37:40 -0700
At 10/3/2007, you wrote:
The Good House Book: A Common-Sense Guide to Alternative Homebuilding
by Clarke Snell
Building Green: A complete How-To to Alternative Building Methods by
Clarke Snell & Tim Calahan
They do overlap but are very different. I have not done any more than a
brief look through them, another book landed on my pile that pushed
everything else aside.
Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises by Charles P.
Kindleberger & Robert Aliber seems to be a serious study on the whys and
ways of financial crisis. Fascinating book but slow going as I have to
stop and think about what I just read. It is more an advanced economics
text but not jargon filled or I have been reading so much economics that I
understand it.
The part about manias was very interesting and something seen in the recent
housing bubble. During a mania, everyone tries to get on the "next good
thing" and there is much talk about how things have never been better,
things will only continue to get better, better get in while you have a
chance. Manias always lead to panics when appreciation of the asset no
longer covers the interest on the loans. A panic is when holders have to
sell to cover loans and prices go below loan values. If prices fall far
enough it is a crash. The book has several examples from the well known
Tulip bubble, the Mississippian bubble of the early 1700s, up to the stock
bubble of the late 1990s with several others in between. He covers what
are called shocks that launch either a mania or a panic. The industrial
revolution is such a shock as was the advancement in telecommunications
first in the 20s then in the 90s.