Zoned underfloor heating is used throughout, which allows lower water temperatures in some of the heating circuits and suits the highly energy-efficient condensing boiler. Rainwater is collected from the roof in an underground garden chamber to be filtered and recycled for toilets, the washing machine and garden-watering, saving a significant amount on bills.A continuous ventilation system with heat recovery prevents heat loss, but also substantially reduces draughts and moisture content. This improves air quality which, coupled with the use of tiled and laminate flooring, reduces the occurrence of house dust mites which could trigger Joan’s asthma.”We started out wanting a smaller, more manageable property for our retirement, but have actually ended up with a larger house than before,” says John. “The layout allows us flexibility, and although we currently use the basement level as an office and workshop with a conservatory sunroom, this could easily become bedrooms or a self-contained unit, depending on our needs. I’m no spring chicken – although I still feel like one – but our self-build project was certainly an interesting challenge at my time of life.”A full version of this article appears in the latest issue of Homebuilding & Renovating magazine, priced £3.50.

Designing your own tailor-made home is the second best bit of self-building – second of course to moving in to the finished house. It’s a highly exciting and dreamy process – yes, you will be living in this imaginary home in less than a couple of years and here it is at the moment, at best a sketch on A4 paper and at worst a vague mental fog. Virtually nothing escapes from the all-pervading influence of the ground beneath our feet – even the taste of single malt whisky.The Earth may seem a solid place, but it is constantly moving, grinding, groaning, spewing lava and venting gases. It is as dynamic as a living organism, but on a far grander timescale – measured in millions of years rather than minutes. Fortey tells the story of our planet in fascinating detail, and takes us on a tour of the highlights, from the hot Icelandic springs to the lush forested slopes of the Pacific islands.Geological history has played a critical role in moulding human history, more so than many realise. Cannabis is used regularly by at least 150 million people in the world and 15 billion cigarettes are smoked every day worldwide.

Some of us are addicted to the drug of our choice, and the rest of us can be described as regular users.Edwards is an addiction specialist. Physics can explain the apparently random movements of atoms and galaxies, but can it help to do more than this? Can it help us to anticipate and, thereby, avoid problems and improve societies? “Or is that merely another dream destined for the already overflowing graveyard of utopias past?” asks Ball.Matters of Substance: Drugs – and Why Everyone’s a UserBy Griffith Edwards (Allen Lane Science, £18.99)There are more than 7,000 coffee bars in Britain and more than £27bn a year is spent on alcohol. He deals with all sorts of complex interactions, from the random movements of a gas molecule to the swirling rotations of spiral galaxies.This is more than a book about science; it’s about despotism, war and utopia It’s also about more mundane things, such as town planning. Ball takes us on a tour of them, and throws in a quite a lot of philosophy on the way.Ball describes his book as an enquiry into the interplay of chance and necessity. He is a true observer of the landscape.Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to AnotherBy Philip Ball (Arrow, £9.99)The movement of atoms, the formation of snowflakes and the organised chaos of a crowd – they are all governed by physics, mathematics and an element of randomness. “I loved Proust’s details and his historical perspective,” says the German writer-director when I meet him in London.
He was in town to promote Heimat 3, the concluding (or maybe not, as we shall see later) part of his staggering trilogy, which has been 25 years in the making.

Praise indeed from a member of the judging panel, which must make this rich tome one of the competition favourites.Whoever said that geology is just a load of old rocks? Fortey brings the subject alive, quite literally, given the role that geology has played in the origin and evolution of life on Earth. The feelings are not unlike those we experience when tormented by bouts of obsession. Love, it seems, is very similar to mental illness.The Earth: an Intimate HistoryBy Richard Fortey (Perennial, £9.99)According to Bryson, who is quoted on the cover of Fortey’s latest book, this author is dazzling and without peers among science writers. Brain scans have even located the part of the brain that is stimulated most when we gaze on photographs of loved ones.