THE dream of making your own mud-brick home is an alluring one for many.

The problem is that not everyone who has that dream is cut out for it.

Journalist and ABC broadcaster Richard Glover is the first to admit he is such a candidate.

A metrosexual, well in touch with his feminine side, Glover is more at home in the theatre than on a building site, more comfortable wielding a pen than a hammer.

However, after a drunken agreement between him and his mate, Philip, in 1983, the duo - and their partners - set out on what became a 12-year odyssey of frustration, fear, dirt and disasters to build their own mud brick home.

In 230 pages, illustrated with pictures of the project, Glover gives the reader a humorous, self-deprecating account of their bush block near Canberra, where they were determined to make a home the old-fashioned way, including using hand tools.

"Later I found a statistic," he writes.

"Cutting all the two-by-fours for the frame of a small house takes seven days using a handsaw and only 30 minutes with a power saw."

Not fazed by this, he instead finds joy in the handmade.

"Over centuries, so many words have been written about the joy of perfection ... and so few words have been written about the joy of the slapdash, of the liberation and learning that comes when you allow yourself to have a go."

Along the way, Glover learns about his own gender, fatherhood and male relationships.

The book also includes insights into the local history and farming community. A charming read, the book sums up that tenacious "have a go" spirit, equally celebrating life's trials and tribulations.