[dmtu]

Can anyone suggest how to books. Books along the line of tanning, making candles, black powder etc. Think rocky mountain trapper, not Rambo survivalist books.

[Pops]

The first “Prepping” book I always recommend is Carla Emery’s “Encyclopedia of Country Living”, probably not so much trapper, as farmer / homesteader - but a great, basic book with lots of resources. I want to get the new edition. Mine is pre-www.

Pops

[CeeCee]

A website with a lot of excellent "how to" information, including city farms, biodiesel, solar cooking methods, making stoves, water pumps, seeds, etc. is:

http://journeytoforever.org/index.html

and another useful one -if you have the engineering skills- called "Construction of a simplified wood gas generator for fuelling internal combustion engines in a pertoleum emergency"

http://www.gengas.nu/byggbes/1.shtml

CeeCee.

[Pops]

The “Journey” website has lots of appropriate Tech stuff, I like it.

"When Technology Fails" – Mathew Stein, Clear Light Publishers. www.clearlightbooks.com The first book I read that mentioned PO, Published in 2000, not as thorough as the Encyclopedia, more TEOTWy than Homesteady.

The "Foxfire" books are fun and have some info.

I have a few old and out of print books, find a local use bookstore and look for farming and how-to books from the twenties and thirties. There were also many books written during the seventies “back-to-the-land” days that are worth a look, they combine some of the old ways and tools with some new hippy type stuff like sustainability and environmental concern.

I may have mentioned this before: “Small Scales Grain Raising”, it was published by Rodale in the '70s but I can’t remember the author and it’s packed away. Not really trapper material but thought I would mention it.

Oh and here is every Mother Earth News article ever (since Jan, 1970):
http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=archindex

[azreal60]

Ahh books. Now this is a subject i can sink my teeth into.

1. Mortgage free. Author Rob Roy. Great book on how to start saving for and building and living a sustainable lifestyle.

2. Power from nature by Rex Ewing. Good book as a primer for home renewable energy usage.

3. Any number of books on building homes in a sustainable way, I will see if i can find a list from one of my sustainable building friends.

I focus mostly on building tis true, but there are alot of books on other topics that are equally useful. I personally need to get some books on small scale farming and conflict resolution. It s all well and good if you live alone, but if you live in groups, you better know how to get along in a formal manner.

[RIPSmithianEconomics]

It isn't much use out of the UK, but "Food For Free" is an absolute classic for finding out what to forage and what not too. It also contains some excellent advise on cooking shellfish and examining mushrooms. Obviously, the old (I mean old) Scouts books are useful, but to learn how to run a farm you need to work on a farm.

[Pops]

I really like the old camp craft books, you know the ones that say when you get to your campsite cut down every tree around to make lean-tos, pot holders, clothesline posts, etc.

Ah, the good old, old days.

[Muffin]

I think this thread should be kept up, in my humble opinion. Before I head off to bed (I've been here for five hours, it's 2:00 am, yeah my first exposure to PO) I just wanted to say a few things. Might I make a point or two:

-We need you to recommend real, tangible, physical books you can buy in a bookstore and keep. The internet will not be an option when we need that information to survive.

-Please specify the author, the country, and if possible, the stores in which the book is available. Books on such matters are necessarily specific to climate zones.

On the importance of preserving books:
Useful books will be an indispensable resource of knowledge which generations to come will greatly appreciate. Learning and literacy were preserved through the Dark Ages in monastic establishments in Europe. One can only imagine the value of preserving mankind's accumulated knowledge on nearly every useful subject---even as the world as we know it passes into memory, we will never regret the salvage of good books from a once-powerful doomed culture.

There, I've said my piece. Now I simply must tear myself away and go to bed, though probably not sleep. I have to get up early tomorrow...(today) and look at this city through my new eyes. How surreal.

-Muffin

[Chocky]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he first �Prepping� book I always recommend is Carla Emery�s �Encyclopedia of Country Living�, probably not so much trapper, as farmer / homesteader - but a great, basic book with lots of resources.

[BastardSquad]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'T')he “Journey” website has lots of appropriate Tech stuff, I like it.

"When Technology Fails" – Mathew Stein, Clear Light Publishers. www.clearlightbooks.com The first book I read that mentioned PO, Published in 2000, not as thorough as the Encyclopedia, more TEOTWy than Homesteady.

The "Foxfire" books are fun and have some info.

I have a few old and out of print books, find a local use bookstore and look for farming and how-to books from the twenties and thirties. There were also many books written during the seventies “back-to-the-land” days that are worth a look, they combine some of the old ways and tools with some new hippy type stuff like sustainability and environmental concern.

I may have mentioned this before: “Small Scales Grain Raising”, it was published by Rodale in the '70s but I can’t remember the author and it’s packed away. Not really trapper material but thought I would mention it.

Oh and here is every Mother Earth News article ever (since Jan, 1970):
http://www.motherearthnews.com/index.php?page=archindex