Controlling it shouldn't be a problem - with a 16 month and 5 year old,
daycare running twice what our mortgage runs, and a wife who won't put
up with the kids calling me Uncle Daddy. :-o

I've always wanted to try my hand at pens, etc. and a mini is small
enough to set up in the basement. My main shop is in one bay of the
garage but there's still not a ceiling and just a kerosene heater so it
gets too chilly to do much in the winter.

If/when it does become an obsession, I can always move up in lathe size
like I did with tablesaws - Pro-Tech direct drive to Craftsman
contractor to Powermatic 65 cabinet saw that I restored from the ground
up. ( http://www.musial.ws/woodworking_and_old_iron.htm ) I've been
keeping an eye on the classifieds, Ebay, etc but old lathes don't seem
to come up for sale in St. Louis for some reason - maybe that speaks to
the obsession part...

Thanks for all the answers everyone. What books would you recommend
for a beginning turner?