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  • How to Build Impossible Things

  • Lessons in Life and Carpentry
  • By: Mark Ellison
  • Narrated by: Paul Bellantoni
  • Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (9 ratings)
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How to Build Impossible Things cover art

How to Build Impossible Things

By: Mark Ellison
Narrated by: Paul Bellantoni
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Wildly irreverent and beautifully warm, this is a story about practice, competence and failure, told through tales in a world most of us never see.

Life is worth regular examination. I have found a great deal of meaning in learning to make things. Each of us has tidbits of understanding that others might appreciate were we to share them. As a carpenter building high-end homes for New York City's richest, I work on multi-million dollar projects every day. People come to me when they want the impossible. Most are ill conceived; many are inadvisable, some are downright dangerous. But when I'm able to craft something glorious, it's magic. Yet in every project, without fail, things go wrong.

Glamour, luxury and refinement are products of a flawed, human process, of missed deadlines, overrun budgets, heated tantrums and scrapped blueprints. Throughout my career I have observed, erred, learned, finessed, apologised, and resisted the urge to say I told you so. I offer these tales from the trade in the hope that others might find them amusing, instructive and inspirational. There are many good reasons to work. Here are a few of them.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Mark Ellison (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Like sitting in a room with Mark and hearing the best stories in the world, wound up with wisdom, craft, and hard-won philosophy (Burkhard Bilger)
A brilliantly engaging storyteller, laugh-out-loud funny, loving, cheekily smug . . . An enjoyable read on making, inventing and what might contribute to a life worth living (Julie Mehretu)
Mark is an amazing polymath - and an Olympic-level aesthete. Unlike many polymaths and aesthetes, though, when he gets up in the morning, it's to make real, physical things - including this book (Craig Nevill-Manning, Engineering Director, Google NYC)

What listeners say about How to Build Impossible Things

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

Practical experiences in art and life in general. I really enjoyed not only the story but also the reading. Touches several aspects of life. Really enjoyable.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Thoughtfully written.

An honest tale that shows there is peace and opportunity in work that you can enjoy. The author provides a great deal of insight into how he works as a human too. The book is reflective and thoughtful. Performance is excellent.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Didn’t finish it.


Dull. I wanted more detail on the actual work and craft. Didn’t enjoy the extra polemics on art and architecture.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fun, good first book

Good fun. A decent first book.
Reader’s voice is tremendous.
About 40 percent of the book doesn’t need to be there.
The author has too many ideas and cares too much about his readers. If he didn’t worry if we’d learn something valuable from his book, it might have been funnier or more engaging. But it is good for what it is.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant funny and profound

Subjects close to my heart and experience on a different scale, but reflective of life and philosophy.
Humorous and moving.
Very self-effacing, excellent listening and reading .
Would listen again !

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Self-indulged piffle

Written with the self aggrandisement of a tradesman who fancies himself interesting. And the reading was as pretentious. Refund please.

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