Rolling Homes – Shelter on Wheels

Lloyd Kahn recently released his latest book Rolling Homes. A follow-up to his Tiny Homes book. The book is full of unique handmade and homemade rolling homes. They include the following:

• Vans
• All-Terrain Vehicles and Cars
• Solar-Powered Vehicles
• Pickups with Camper Shells
• House Trucks
• House Buses
• Trailers
• Cycles

This book is unique in that it was not planned in advance. People from all parts of the world sent pictures and stories to Shelter Publications of homes that they had built with their own hands. Creating their own shelters their way.

After assembling the book Lloyd points out that two categories became noticeable. Van life and Nomadlanders.

1. Van Life – Young people who generate daily income by posting their life on the road. Often called influencers. Avoiding the high cost of rentals or owning a home they choose to live in their vans and move from place to place. Leaving a lighter footprint on the planet than their counterparts who chose to rent or purchase regular homes.
2. Nomadlanders – Mostly retired people who chose to be houseless, not homeless. They have opted to use a $20,000 van as opposed to a $500,000 home. Choosing to work part-time in places like Walmart, Amazon, park rangers, campgrounds, etc. Many prefer to stay under the radar.

Lloyd Kahn’s books are a must-have as a book you keep on your shelf and hold in your hands. They are large and colorful. I had the PDF version early on but couldn’t wait to get my hands on the real book Rolling Homes. Lloyd puts them together the old-fashioned way by laying the pictures and text out by hand. It makes them special!

I’ve put together a few pictures below of the interior of the book to give you an idea of what it looks like. I really want to encourage you to go to Shelter Publications and get a copy of your own. They should also be in your favorite books store soon so be sure and look there as well.

Thanks, Loyd for another great book.

Lloyd Kahn

In the mid-‘60s, Lloyd Kahn quit his job in the insurance business and began working as a carpenter, first building post and beam houses, then geodesic domes. In 1968, he became the shelter editor of The Whole Earth Catalog, which led him to publish two books on dome building and then, in 1973, the book Shelter (which went on to sell 270,000 copies). 

Lloyd’s publishing company, Shelter Publications, has now published eight books on building; this series is called The Shelter Library Of Building Books. Included are Home Work, the sequel to Shelter, Tiny Homes, and Lloyd’s favorite, Builders of the Pacific Coast.