Title: The Year of Mud
By: Brian Ziggy at Dancing Rabbit ecoVillage, 2011

'The Year of Mud' is a natural builder's story of his first cob house, a home constructed largely of natural, local materials, many literally straight from the earth. A documentary story and inspirational guide for other individuals wanting to create more sustainable, simple, human homes. Lots of pictures, cob lessons and recipes and a detailed report of how Ziggy built his home.

Title: The Hand-sculpted House: A Practical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage
By: Ianto Evans, Linda Smiley, Michael G. Smith of Cob Cottage. Published Jun 2002

 

The Hand-Sculpted House is theoretical and philosophical but intensely practical as well. You will get all the how-to information to undertake a cob building project. As the modern world rediscovers the importance of living in sustainable harmony with the environment, this book is a bible of radical simplicity.

Build Your Own Earth Oven
By: Kiko Denzer, 2007

This book will appeal to bakers, builders and beginners of all kinds, from the serious or aspiring baker who wants the best low-cost bread oven to gardeners who want a beautiful outdoor kitchen to creative people interested in low-cost materials and simple technology. Build Your Own Earth Oven is fully illustrated with step-by-step directions, including how to tend the fire, and how to make perfect sourdough hearth loaves in the artisan tradition.

Title: The The Cob Builders Handbook: You Can Hand-sculpt Your Home
By: Becky Bee of Groundworks. Published May 1998

 

The handbook includes detailed building instructions; designing your home; choosing a site; making different types of foundations; how to put in windows & doors; basics of roofs; floor options; natural plasters and paints; helpful pictures and diagrams and lots of practical tips. A partial online version is available here

Title: Cob Buildings - A Practical Guide
By: Jane Schofield, Jill Smallcombe Published Jan 2004

 

Clear concise, informative and instructive. Anyone who wishes to understand the rational as why cob was used for construction; or is embarking upon a restoration project should buy this book before starting work. It helps understand the pitfalls of restoration work and helps to ensure the continued life of a Cob building.

Title: Building with Cob: A Step-by-step Guide
By: Adam Weismann, Katy Bryce of Clay Works Published Feb 2006

'Building with Cob' shows how to apply this ancient technique in a wide variety of contemporary situations, covering everything from design, mixing, building walls, fireplaces, ovens and floors, lime and other natural finishes, and gaining planning permission and building regulation approval.

Title: Rammed Earth Structures: A Code of Practice
By: Julian Keable and Rowland Keable of Rammed Earth Consulting. Published Feb 2012

 

Ramming earth has been a method of construction for centuries in many parts of the world and the technique can produce buildings that are strong, durable, safe and desirable. Because earth is an abundant and cheap resource, rammed earth buildings are often very economical. The right techniques for the selection and testing of soils must be used to protect walls from water damage and shrinkage. This book shows how high standards can be achieved and the criteria on which rammed earth structures and building techniques can be judged.

Since the first edition of this book was published, Rammed Earth Structures has been adopted as a Building Standard in Zimbabwe. Further progress is being made extending the use of rammed earth as an officially sanctioned building material across all SADC countries. This book is now therefore becoming an important guide and resource for those wishing to employ this economical and low-carbon building material in the construction of public as well as private buildings in Africa and elsewhere..

Title: Owner-Built Adobe House
By: Duane Newcomb. Published June 1, 2001

Title: Adobe Houses for Today: Flexible Plans for Your Adobe Home
By: Laura Sanchez and Alex Sanchez (Here's one of their adobe home designs) Published October 2001

Features 12 plans for compact, beautifully-proportioned adobe homes in modern and traditional styles. Yet the book offers much more. The richly illustrated text shows how the basic houses, designed for today's smaller families, can be as flexible as a set of building blocks. Intriguing drawings demonstrate how readers can expand and adapt the plans to fit their own budgets, family sizes, style preferences, and building sites.

Title: Simone Swan: Adobe Building
By: Dennis Dollens. Published April 2006

In the late 1990s, Simone established the Adobe Alliance in the Big Bend area of West Texas in order to realize low-cost housing in the border region. The Alliance has since constructed houses that demonstrate the innovative use of earthen materials to create a new building standard for environmentally compatible, sustainable homes and communities.

Title: Building with Earth: A Guide to Flexible-form Earthbag Construction
By: Paulina Wojciechowska of Earth Hands and Houses Published October 2001

This informative book on earth construction demonstrates how to build a structure, cheaply and robustly with earth using the earthbag technique. Paulina, using excellent illustrations and photographs, details every step of the process from design of the walls, buttresses, foundations and roofing, to the particularities of setting out the building on site, and its construction.

Title: Earthbag Building: The Tool, Tricks and Techniques
By: Kaki Hunter, Donald Kiffmeyer Published June 2004

A comprehensive guide to all the tools, tricks, and techniques for building with bags filled with earth. A four-year project, this book is profusely illustrated with photographs, drawings, and technical diagrams, and based on years of experience in building with earthbags.