A Handmade Life

In Search of Simplicity

The Nautilus Award 2004
Category: Ecology/Environment

Honoring Distinguished Literary Contribution to Conscious Living and Positive Social Change

William Coperthwaite is a teacher, builder, designer, and writer who for many years has explored the possibilities of true simplicity on a homestead on the north coast of Maine. In the spirit of Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, and Helen and Scott Nearing, Coperthwaite has fashioned a livelihood of integrity and completeness—buying almost nothing, providing for his own needs, and serving as a guide and companion to hundreds of apprentices drawn to his unique way of being.

A Handmade Life carries Coperthwaite's ongoing experiments with hand tools, hand-grown and gathered food, and handmade shelter, clothing, and furnishings out into the world to challenge and inspire. His writing is both philosophical and practical, exploring themes of beauty, work, education, and design while giving instruction on the hand-crafting of the necessities of life: house, tools, clothing, and furniture. Richly illustrated with luminous color photographs by Peter Forbes, the book is a moving and inspirational testament to an new/old way of life.

"I want to live in a society where people are intoxicated with the joy of making things."

—William Coperthwaite, from A Handmade Life

About the Author

William Coperthwaite is a native of Maine who has traveled the world in search of folk-art techniques and subsistence skills. Impressed by the beauty and intelligence of the traditional central Asian nomadic tents called "yurts," Coperthwaite adapted and introduced to North America yurt design and construction. In the past four decades has participated in building more than three hundred yurts for family homes, schools, camps, and outbuildings. Awarded a doctorate from Harvard University's School of Education for his work with Eskimo villagers, Coperthwaite has taught in a variety of innovative educational settings. His organization, the Yurt Foundation, now serves to promote sensible and economical self-reliance through workshops, lectures, and publications.

Peter Forbes is a long-time leader in the American land conservation movement, both through his work with the Trust for Public Land and his talks, writings, and photography.