Tower is Bill Henderson's winning personal account of erecting, by hand and almost entirely on his own, a wooden tower on a plot of land in Maine. For Henderson, constructing the edifice -- which he resolutely declares to have "no purpose", religious or utilitarian -- is an exercise in faith and self-reliance. Henderson guides us through the details of design and construction with clear illustrations and humor, often digressing to contemplate the various towers of Yeats, Joyce, Sam Rodia, and Gustave Eiffel. The finished result is not only Henderson's completed tower, in which we share an inspiring sense of accomplishment, but a revelatory insight into what motivates the builders and thinkers who precede our own efforts to gain a higher viewpoint.