Racing Alone by Nader Khalili

"Is it really sane to follow one's ideals and dreams 
and race alone in today's world?...
Midway in my life I stopped racing with others. 
I picked up my dreams and started a gentle walk…
I touched my dreams in reality by racing and 
competing with no one but myself."
-Nader Khalili

Originally published in 1983, Racing Alone is Nader Khalili's first book and it takes the reader on a journey through the early years of his quest to provide shelter to people in the world. It tells the story of how an Iranian-born, Western-trained architect — armed only with notebooks, a motorcycle, and his own unique vision — set off on a five-year odyssey through the poor desert villages of his native Iran in search of a simple, inexpensive, yet permanent form of dwelling — and his ultimate triumph in discovering the "untouched magic" of clay. Racing Alone begins as one man's dream, and ends with a village of ceramic houses, an exhibition in Paris, and lectures to schools of architecture all over the world.