If you are not building your own home, I don’t recommend this book
Rating: 3 / 5

This book is excellent. It gave me all the information I wanted/needed plus more.
Rating: 5 / 5

This book covers post and beam, as opposed to timber framing. This is more a practical tip&tricks book than a design or engineering book. It starts with philosophical review of house construction and emphasizes on building cheap, using wood. It covers A LOT of subject, but not deeply. You will find in that book some joinery details, but not a lot and not complete. The focus is on how to build a modern house, as opposed to timber framers who build a classic house without metal. The author doesn’t have any problem to build with metal, where and when et makes sense. He will also use wood to wood joinery, where it makes sense.

For all the steps to build a house (with his techniques) he will offer step by step instructions. By itself, I don’t think there is enough details in any section to take any non-builder person and make him a builder, but it will give general knowledge for somebody who has minimal manual experience. Then there is always the time and money issue: The book philosophy is to build a house cheaply yourself, which implies a lot of time. If you fit that model, and happen to have a land with a lot of trees on it, this book is perfect for you.
Rating: 4 / 5

This book is by far the best I have read on the subject of post and beam construction. Lots of nice drawings and understandable instructions. Good advice for average person. Explains wood joinery very well
Rating: 5 / 5

This is a great, well written book that will educate no matter what your level of building expertise. James Mitchell has some great ideas on building that more people should be aware of. I plan on visiting his school in British Columbia and I will be building a post and beam style some day. Probably a plan referenced in this book.
Rating: 5 / 5