Boyce Thompson

Boyce Thompson is the author of six works of non-fiction spanning the fields of architecture, history, and home building.

His most recent book, Innovations in Mass Timber, published by Schiffer in 2024, explores the environmental benefits and innovative uses of mass timber in commercial buildings. Lincoln's Lost Colony, published by McFarland in 2023, tells the quiet, bloody history of a New Orleans entrepreneur's attempt to establish a cotton plantation on a deserted Haitian island during the Civil War.

Thompson is also the author of our books on residential design and construction. The Forever Home outlines a method of designing and building homes to last a lifetime. It is based on interviews with the owners of three dozen homes built or remodeled during the pandemic. The book lays out a method for cost-efficiently designing and building homes to last a lifetime.

His previous book, Designing for Disaster, published by Schiffer, identifies best practices for building homes to resist hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and shifting earth. It received a gold prize from the Independent Book Publishers.

Anatomy of a Great Home (Schiffer Publishing 2018), Thompson's second book, demystifies the elements of award-winning residential architecture, presenting best practices for use by anyone. His first book, The New New Home (The Taunton Press 2014), identified innovative building techniques practiced during the recession. It was named book of the year by the National Association of Real Estate Editors.

Thompson is the founding editor of business titles such as Residential Architect, Digital Home, ProSales, Big Builder, Developer, and ihousing magazines. He directed the editorial content of Multifamily Executive, Affordable Housing Finance, and Apartment Finance Today magazines.

For 17 years, Thompson served as editorial director of Builder magazine, the flagship magazine for the residential construction industry. Builder in 2010 was named the best business magazine in America by the Association for Business Publication Editors.

Thompson began his career as a writer for publications such as The Washington Post, Governing, Practical Homeowner, Venture, and Changing Times, the precursor to the Kiplinger Letter. He also served as a Washington correspondent for Reed-Elsevier.

In 2008, Thompson received the Crain Award from American Business Media for a lifetime of achievement in business media. In 2010, he was inducted into the magazine Hall of Fame by Min magazine, a magazine for publication professionals. Thompson holds a BA in English from Northwestern University and a Masters degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri.