Product Description

Racing Alone by Nader Khalili "Is it really sane to follow one's ideals and dreams and race alone in today's world?

Is it really reasonable to insist on holding to one's visions against all odds, and after many trying years?"

The newly published year 2,000 edition of this acclaimed classic chronicles how to sustain a quarter century of quest and inspiration through the arts, architecture, and personal transformation. Published by Cal-Earth Press in beautiful leather-tooled hardback with photographs from the author's original journey.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1325435 in Books
• Published on: 2000-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Library Binding
• 245 pages

Review
Architect Nader Khalili spent five years of his life searching for a method to fire mud houses and turn them to stone... the book documents not merely Khalilis architectural achievements, but also his inner discoveries: the divinity of creativity, the power of beauty, and perhaps most of all, the truth of simplicity. -- - Arts & Architecture

He is an exceptionally graceful, even poetic, writer. His book is delightful as well as informative. It is, in fact, downright exciting -- - Atlantic

About the Author
BIOGRAPHY OF NADER KHALILI

Nader Khalili, California Architect and Author, is the designer and innovator of the Geltaftan Earth-and-Fire System known as Ceramic Houses, and the Superadobe building technologies. He received his education in Iran, Turkey, and the United States, and has been licensed in California since 1970.

In 1975, he closed his successful practice in the U.S. and Iran designing high-rise buildings, and journeyed by motorcycle for five years through the Iranian deserts while developing his Earth Architecture prototypes. His impressions while working closely with local villagers, have been collected in his book Racing Alone.

He serves as a consultant to the United Nations (UNDP/UNHCR/UNITAR) and a contributor to NASA for his development of construction technologies for the Moon and Mars.

He is the founder and director of Cal-Earth, Geltaftan Foundation since 1985 on the cutting edge of research and development in Earth and Space Architecture technologies. He is director of Architectural Research Program at SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture) since 1982.

Awards: "Excellence in Technology", Calif.Council of American Institute of Architects. "Housing for the Homeless", United Nations and HUD. "Lunar Structures Generated and Shielded with on- site materials"- NASA lunar bases symposium.American Society of Civil Engineer, Aeronautic engineering

Publications: "Racing Alone", "Ceramic Houses and Earth Architecture", "Sidewalks on the Moon", "Rumi, Fountain of Fire".

Khalili's current work includes research, development, and teaching of Sustainable Earth Architecture building technologies. Successful testing for building codes, hosting an International Summit on Sustainable Building Codes, and a proposed new chapter in the International Building Code for Earth and Stabilized Earthen Construction. Current design and construction works include the typological model -Earth One- a standard American sustainable house, The Hesperia Museum and Nature Center, a part of the Desert Moon Village oriented towards on-site construction of planetary habititat for Lunar and Martian landscapes.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
"Midway in my life I stopped racing with others. I picked up my dreams and started a gentle walk. My dreams were of a simple house, built with human hands out of the simple materials of this world: the elements - Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. To build a house out of earth, then fire and bake it in place, fuse it like a giant hollow rock. The house becoming a kiln, or the kiln becoming a house. Then to glaze this house with fire to the beauty of a ceramic glazed vessel. I touched my dreams in reality by racing and competing with no one but myself. Horses dont race on their own; we make them race. They simply gallop to the speed of the wind when free and exalted. Bees dont compete, yet they all get to taste the flower; and they produce nothing less than sweet honey. Wings dont run a contest to elevate a bird to the heights, neither does a flock of birds, and yet they all achieve the sky. We too are created not as masses to race, but as individuals to live and transcend. There is an endless reserve of strength in every human to reach his goal, if only this strength is spent in achieving rather than racing and competing. I was born and raised in the Eastern world and lived and worked in the West. I have had a chance to feel the sweet and bitter taste of the contrasting cultures. During the five years of racing alone, following my dreams and aspirations and writing this book, I discovered that:

*The joy of discovering and the ecstasy of creating brought with them a greater sense of achievement than any success I had gained before by racing and competing; *My potential for coping with the struggles and agonies surpassed any limits known to me before; *My quests became more meaningful when my goals met with others needs and goals. And I became important, in my own heart, only when I reached the others, as a drop of water becomes important only when it reaches the sea. I also saw that there is a greater message in the Air than what the wavelengths bring us; a greater power in the Water than the floods; a greater wealth in the Earth than diamonds; and a greater sense to the Fire than what we touch. And if we could see what magic lies in the Fire alone, this age could once again become the age of fire." Reviews: Evocative book. An appropriate gift. - Los Angeles Times Racing Alone is not just a book about architecture. It is also a stunning expose of the limits of Western ideas and technology when they are applied to largely rural cultures. - San Francisco Chronicle

Customer Reviews

Great and inspiring story.
Since the title to the end, it is a beautiful experience that teaches the importance of following a dream raising against our own limitations.

Simply eloquent and surely applicable
This book, as simple as the narrative is, can be incredibly moving. In fact, the autor's words, move very well to describe the simple act of trying to make an architectural idea happen. He describes a method of building that strikes as so close to the earth that it is revolutionary. The book is a quick read, and the time I have spent pushing its premise is well worth it.