Could feel overwhelming

This is a book about play structures for children (swings and climbing frames) and adults (ladder golf, a backyard putting green!) but it is not a book to play around with. Sloppy work could endanger your children. Several of the projects here are complex, expensive, and difficult. You or your construction partner will need good skills and a wide range of tools to do them.

The book is comprehensive, covering not only the actual construction of the play structure – design, materials, tools, and safe carpentry – but also how to lay out your play area, level and prepare the soil, terrace a hillside with a retaining wall of blocks or timber, install concrete footings, and improve site drainage whether you are designing and building a unique creation or assembling and installing a kit project like the putting green. You will learn a lot from reading the book, even if you never touch a hammer.

On page 108, the book veers off into a discussion of swimming pool construction. This mostly focuses on the kinds of pools – concrete, fibeglass, vinyl lined, etc., and descriptions of how pool surround decks are built. This is not a how-to discussion, really, and is a bit unmatched to the remainder of the book.

The final section of the book is about building tree houses. The discussion is detailed, suggesting ways to gauge weight of the house and stress on the tree.

The tree house designs, and the earlier Zipline and Tree Swing projects rely on eyebolts running through the wood of the tree for support. I was taught that drilling though like that is terrible for the tree, allowing water and bacteria easy entrance. If it is possible, I would consider other attachment methods. For ziplines and tree swings, chains can be wrapped around the trunk or branches, for example, although these should be carefully padded (and the padding renewed often) to prevent destruction of the bark, which is perhaps even worse for the tree than the eyebolts.

I can't imagine myself building any of these structures, even if I were very handy. I suggest that you borrow the book from a library before buying.

I received a review copy of "Black & Decker Play Structures & Backyard Fun: How to Build: Playsets - Sports Courts - Games - Swingsets - More" by (Quarto - Cool Springs) through NetGalley.com. ( )