All reviews are written by members of The H2G2 Bookworm's Club. We hope this review is helpful, and that we'll see you airing your views at the Club soon.

Every so often, along comes a little book, hiding at the back of the shelf, that ends up brightening your day and making you feel a bit cosy. One such endearing oddity is Men and Sheds. Unsurprisingly, it details several men and their often eccentric uses for their shed.

Each description is accompanied by a full page photograph of said men and adored shed, in glorious whimsical black and white. Before this is an explanation of sheddism, the phenomena that leads males to escape to a wooden hut in the garden. However, this is a book that can be enjoyed by either sex, and probably will serve as education to females about the joys of sheddism.

So what of my own shed. Well, I am two things, a female and living with my parents. So it's actually Dad's shed. It's a grand affair, sitting proudly in the middle of our garden, rather like a giant green
stained Wendy House. Currently, it houses a motley collection of Dad's tools and oddments of wood and paint. Once or twice a year, Dad takes everything out of the shed, and then puts everything back in a primitive sense of 'tidiness'. He then chirpily bounces up to the
kitchen window, informing Mum and me 'right, you can get in there now.' For years, the shed is supposed to have been converted into a 'Summer House', a shady spot for the family and our friends to relax in. I
seriously doubt that Dad's shed will ever be anything but a shed. Still, it looks pretty...

Men and Sheds, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with less traditional uses for sheds. My favourites include the pensioner who runs a gardening shop for his friends and neighbours, and the group of arty metropolitans, who solved the problem of dividing up the open
plan warehouse into separate living quarters for each of them by erecting several sheds in the space to live in. Genius!

So, have a peek at Men and Sheds, I suggest with a nice English cuppa tea, and be inspired.

The Bookworm Club Review Archive

Review written by Pinwheel Pearl

18.03.04 Front Page

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