A WALK AROUND THE BLOCK with SPIKE CARLSEN

 A WALK AROUND THE BLOCK with SPIKE CARLSEN

Spike Carlsen has been writing for more than 20 years. His first book, “A Splintered History of Wood” in 2009 became Amazon’s No.1 Mover and Shaker. Now, after writing many more books and articles he has come up with: “A Walk Around the Block.”


In a recent interview with TODAY’s Dylan Dreyer, Carlsen said there are stories behind everything – in the random things that are all around us. 

He commented that we read books about going up Mt. Everest, sailing down the Amazon, going to the Moon, but we do not know much about what is just outside our front door.

What do we know about the squirrels, the pigeons, what is in the trash? Why do we have manhole covers? What is the history of front porches? What are the secrets in a stoplight?

Spike has had a most interesting life – “a checkered past.” He now lives in Minnesota, USA and over the years has worked as a carpenter, taught at an elementary school in Denver, worked as a teacher in Tanzania, and “built hurdy gurdies and harps.”

He has written books on self-sufficiency, on woodworking and even a construction memoir. At the time when he was Executive Editor of “Family Handyman” he wrote on home improvement.

Spike has made appearances on several Television shows including the CBS Early Show, Cabin Living, HGTV’s “25 Biggest Renovating Mistakes.”

He is encouraging us to “open your eyes, things have a history and a mystery.”

“In a passionate and personal exploration of nature’s greatest gift 2009” he wrote “A splintered History of Wood.”  In a world without wood, he said, we might not be here at all, without wood we would not have had the fire, heat and shelter that allowed us to expand into the colder regions of the planet. Now he encourages us to walk around the block, just walk, and see “a world of wonder.” 

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