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Permaculture: A Designers' Manual
Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Without permanent agriculture there is no possibility of a stable social order. Permaculture design is a system of assembling conceptual, material, and strategic components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all its forms. The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against, nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their functions rather than asking only one yield of them; and of allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolutions.
574 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1988
278 people are currently reading
7786 people want to read
About the author
Bill Mollison
36 books199 followersFounder and director of the Permaculture Institute, Bill was the most experienced Permaculture teacher and designe. He taught and developed projects from the Arctic through Sub-tropics and Equatorial regions of the planet. There are few countries left in the world where he has not personally planted the seeds of Permaculture. The Peoples of the Pacific, South East Asia, South Africa and seven Amazonian language groups have been inspired by and acted on his teachings, embracing Permaculture as a dynamic tool. He gave courses in the drylands and developed projects with Native Americans, Indigenous Australians, tribal women of the Deccan, Kalahari, San groups and Pima people of the Sonora. In the USA, Europe and Scandinavia, Bill lectured and helped to develop ecological designs for urban and rural properties, including many city-farms and CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture).
Bill Mollison had been vitally concerned with the environment for over 40 years. His many roles included: scientist, naturalist and University professor. Later he became a vigorous campaigner against environmental exploitation which lead him to develop Permaculture as a positive solution.
Bill had devoted his energies towards designing sustainable systems, writing books and articles on Permaculture, and most importantly teaching.
Bill Mollison had been vitally concerned with the environment for over 40 years. His many roles included: scientist, naturalist and University professor. Later he became a vigorous campaigner against environmental exploitation which lead him to develop Permaculture as a positive solution.
Bill had devoted his energies towards designing sustainable systems, writing books and articles on Permaculture, and most importantly teaching.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
February 21, 2011
Everything you ever wanted to know about Permaculture but didn't have a week to hear the explanation. Check this out at the library. The damned thing costs somewhere around eighty bucks. It's very good, but not that good.
Readers who have become isolated from nature will feel as though they've been hit upside the head with this five pound hardcover. Mollison teaches us that working with nature means learning to see frugality as beautiful. Don't just water your plants, plant them so the water pools up around them in the ground. Don't just turn on the tap, catch rainwater. Don't just carry the rainwater, catch it uphill and let it flow down to the plant. Don't just let it flow downhill, make it pass through rocks and plants that will clean it before it provides a habitat for fish for your table, and THEN let it flow down to the plant. And all this is laid out in the shape of a beautiful nautilus or flower, not for beauty's sake, but for maximum efficiency. Amazing...but still not worth eighty bucks. I learned this book's priniciples too well.
Readers who have become isolated from nature will feel as though they've been hit upside the head with this five pound hardcover. Mollison teaches us that working with nature means learning to see frugality as beautiful. Don't just water your plants, plant them so the water pools up around them in the ground. Don't just turn on the tap, catch rainwater. Don't just carry the rainwater, catch it uphill and let it flow down to the plant. Don't just let it flow downhill, make it pass through rocks and plants that will clean it before it provides a habitat for fish for your table, and THEN let it flow down to the plant. And all this is laid out in the shape of a beautiful nautilus or flower, not for beauty's sake, but for maximum efficiency. Amazing...but still not worth eighty bucks. I learned this book's priniciples too well.
March 6, 2012
I've read this whole thing now, it took one year. All I can say is that this is all damn good common sense and this book is the real foundation work articulating Permaculture design. It is a masterpiece.
We can conciously design our future reality, one that works and provides for us much better than we're currently heading for. We can look at it this way on any scale. Its about how we can learn to make gardens superseed most of 'primary industry' as modern idustrial agriculture meets its inevitable demise. Functional gardens and housing can provide for almost all the needs of our culture, no matter how sophisticated civilization becomes.
Lets get on with the gardens, get on with eachother, reconnect with our Earth and all our ancestors. Meanwhile allow the worlds natural environments space to recover from the vast agricultural wastelands and we can all avoid most of the horrors of the present and potential future.
We can conciously design our future reality, one that works and provides for us much better than we're currently heading for. We can look at it this way on any scale. Its about how we can learn to make gardens superseed most of 'primary industry' as modern idustrial agriculture meets its inevitable demise. Functional gardens and housing can provide for almost all the needs of our culture, no matter how sophisticated civilization becomes.
Lets get on with the gardens, get on with eachother, reconnect with our Earth and all our ancestors. Meanwhile allow the worlds natural environments space to recover from the vast agricultural wastelands and we can all avoid most of the horrors of the present and potential future.
September 27, 2013
Worked through this book as part of a PDC course with Geoff Lawton. Permaculture is changing the world from the ground up(literally), and this book changed how I view the world. The final chapter on building an alternative nation is amazing.
May 30, 2011
This has got to be the "bible" of permaculture books. It is quite thorough, filled with diagrams and examples. It is a book that is not only about learning to garden by imitating the strengths observed in nature, but it is also about a philosophy of life that I find attractive in many ways. Ultimately, I think we are all going to have to chose to live in either a permaculture-partnership world, or in a command-and-control/new feudalism world. I'm for permaculture-partnership.
September 29, 2010
Authoritative and encyclopedic, well illustrated, this fascinating and useful book is what we need to move forward out of the wretched mess of unsustainable industrialization and the robotic behavior it causes in society. It details permanent sustainable agriculture techniques for a huge range of bioregional situations of flora, climate, landforms, precipitation, and other elements of nature.
September 12, 2007
just found this! woo hoo. this is one of the books that will make you say holy shit why am i working for the man when i could be living. you know. just living. and enjoying and watching the clouds come by and seeing how everything is completely connected and feeling that connection.
November 8, 2012
Read this to experience a profound shift in perspective, from consumer to producer. Many new books have been written on the subject, but this one is still considered the foundation of the philosophy and practice of permaculture.
February 26, 2018
This book contains many questionable concepts, outdated information, and information that is just plain wrong, but I still give it four stars just for the staggering, overwhelming number of ideas presented. Almost every sentence seems like it could be the topic of an entire book. It is EXCELLENT, unparralelled, for getting the creative juices flowing... but when it comes time to actually implement your ideas you should consult other sources.
November 9, 2008
what have i learned from this book? the only things worth knowing...
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July 9, 2019متأسفانه ترجمهی فارسی کتاب ایرادات بسیاری دارد. نخست این که ترجمهی کتاب به صورت گزینشی انجام شده است. بسیاری از شکلها و نمودارهای مفید در نسخهی فارسی حذف شده است. کتاب ویراستاری خوبی ندارد، مملو از اشتباهات نگارشی است. مترجمان در بسیاری از مباحث فحوای کلام را درک نکردهاند. با این حال خواندن این کتاب میتواند راهگشا باشد، چرا که آموزههای بسیاری برای تمدنهای رو به زوال دارد. از آنجایی که مالیسن اهل استرالیا است و دغدغهی احیای اکوسیستمهای نواحی بیابانی استرالیا برای او اولویت بسیاری دارد، راهکارهای ارائه شدهی آن برای کشاورزی پایا در مناطق خشک و نیمه خشک چشمانداز روشنی به کشاورزان فلات مرکزی ایران میدهد. در واقع آنچه این کتاب را از یک کتاب محدود به کشاورزی فراتر میبرد این است که علاوه بر تولید غذا نوعی خودگردانی و خودکفایی را ترویج میکند. این خودکفایی و خودگردانی با مسئولیتپذیری در قبال زمین و جمعیتهای انسانی همراه است. ناگفته نماند که نگارش اولیهی کتاب به دههی هفتاد میلادی باز میگردد، در آن دوران هنوز مسائلی نظیر تغییر اقلیم و گرمایش جهانی به وضعیت خطیر کنونی نرسیده بودند. با این اوصاف، بسیاری از تکنیکهای این کتاب در وضعیت پرمخاطرهی کنونی نیز کاربرد دارند.
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January 24, 2025This is one of my primary references.
October 11, 2021
When I first read this book, in 1990, I was working in the conventional wastewater industry. Because of this book, two years later I had left the energy and materials intensive industry, that doesn't even do a half decent job, and started my own permaculture design consultancy.
For the last 30 years I have used the principles and design directives (which are clearly laid out in this book) to create regenerative systems which integrate wastewater purification, resource production and habitat creation for enhanced biodiversity.
Thank you Bill, for your gift to the world, it is of more use than a college education, and much less costly.
My advice to everyone looking for positive ways to repair the damage we have done to our planet is to, please, get hold of a copy Permaculture: A Designers' Manual, read it, and then apply it in the world!
For the last 30 years I have used the principles and design directives (which are clearly laid out in this book) to create regenerative systems which integrate wastewater purification, resource production and habitat creation for enhanced biodiversity.
Thank you Bill, for your gift to the world, it is of more use than a college education, and much less costly.
My advice to everyone looking for positive ways to repair the damage we have done to our planet is to, please, get hold of a copy Permaculture: A Designers' Manual, read it, and then apply it in the world!
July 5, 2021
Not the most practical guide for a suburbanite wanting to permaculturize her yard, this book is a fantastic overview of how permaculture practices and ideals can work on larger sites. There are sections dedicated to different climates which I found interesting, though I felt my climate was a bit underrepresented. The final chapter on permaculture communities makes me want to join an intentional community.
Overall a seminal and highly influential work. Though somewhat impractical for my gardening use, the insights and philosophy it communicates add volumes to my worldview.
Overall a seminal and highly influential work. Though somewhat impractical for my gardening use, the insights and philosophy it communicates add volumes to my worldview.
March 30, 2012
Even if you're not a gardener, if you work with systems at all (and if you're living, you do), this is THE book on how they work and how to be an effective part. And while you're applying the contents metaphorically, you'll be learning all about how the planet you live on operates. Welcome to Earth!
February 17, 2008
Honestly? Bill is just a rambler with a lot of big ideas. There's much better books on the topic out there that will actually inform the reader and make them feel smart, not stupid. It does have a lot of rad pictures though.
February 5, 2008
mollison is a crusty cantankerous curmudgeon. he's great.
July 10, 2008
I've only read a couple chapters so far, but this book is amazing. It could become my bible.
October 22, 2008
The manual on permaculture. Mollison's opus reads like a spiritual textbook for the secular humanist. Drawings alone are worth the hefty price tag.
May 16, 2010
There is a lot of practical wisdom in this book for a variety of geographical and climatic locations. Some of Mollison's systems are pure practical genius.
August 9, 2016
Türkçesi de var artık, ne güzel. Sinek Sekiz yayınevinden.
Doğada yaşamın el rehberi.
Doğada yaşamın el rehberi.
September 5, 2021
A great collection of systems: weather/climate, trees, water, soils, earthworks, climate-specific regions (humid tropics, drylands, humid cool), aquaculture, patterns (recognition of), methods of design, ... completing with strategies for an alternative global nation.
Each section is dissected into many smaller chunks and the book can be followed sequentially, which I think is best, or could be skipped around. Mollison was a big ideas person, (while seeming quite grounded and practical), but this is NOT a gardening book per-se. This is a book to slowly read and put down while you observe natural systems - and slowly you may begin to recognize the underlying patterns of nature - as presented in the book.
A very enjoyable book, if you have some time. I read it as material for a Geoff Lawton Permaculture Design Course, which I also highly recommend for the embellishment of materials, and bringing Mollison's book to life.
Each section is dissected into many smaller chunks and the book can be followed sequentially, which I think is best, or could be skipped around. Mollison was a big ideas person, (while seeming quite grounded and practical), but this is NOT a gardening book per-se. This is a book to slowly read and put down while you observe natural systems - and slowly you may begin to recognize the underlying patterns of nature - as presented in the book.
A very enjoyable book, if you have some time. I read it as material for a Geoff Lawton Permaculture Design Course, which I also highly recommend for the embellishment of materials, and bringing Mollison's book to life.
October 25, 2023
If there is a single book that can be regarded as the gold standard for permaculture, this would be it. It is correctly called "A designer's manual" and not "A practitioner's guide", given that it focuses more on laying out the principles and the backgrounds. It discusses comprehensively and incisively how to regenerate our planet's soils for food production, physical health, animal welfare and environmental stewardship. The illustrations have the necessary level of detail and clarity for anyone to understand the concept, whether one is academically schooled or not. There are other books with an earlier release date that bring the same message, The One-Straw Revolution being one of them (freely available).
May 10, 2024
While the book is now very much out of date, It does make for a good starting point to try and understand permacultural design philosophy.
For everything else I highly suggest text on specialist fields that is related to the methods espoused by the book, especially in the fields of ecology, conservation, fundamental botany, Mycology, zoology, and the engineering sciences. While many of the methods spoken of in this book are very much outdated the values and goals that they have are not. You do not need an expensive PDC program to understand or put into practice permaculture, permaculture is a knowledge intensive and design intensive practice. It is much better to directly study the fields that practice utilizes.
For everything else I highly suggest text on specialist fields that is related to the methods espoused by the book, especially in the fields of ecology, conservation, fundamental botany, Mycology, zoology, and the engineering sciences. While many of the methods spoken of in this book are very much outdated the values and goals that they have are not. You do not need an expensive PDC program to understand or put into practice permaculture, permaculture is a knowledge intensive and design intensive practice. It is much better to directly study the fields that practice utilizes.
December 23, 2023
I have read Bill Mollison's Permaculture: A Designer's Manual once all the way through and use it frequently as a reference. Very thorough information. I read this as the textbook in my permaculture design class. I then went on to practice different aspects. Then, went back and re-read sections relevant to my work. So many levels of information. I recommend this read for all Permaculture enthusiasts. Now, I enjoy much interaction with Permies.com and https://permies.com/w/paul-wheaton.
December 14, 2017
I love Bill's message but his delivery didn't match my style (especially given the book's price). I will continue looking for permaculture books, specifically ones that are more straight to the point and actionable.
August 3, 2017
THE canon. Enough said.
December 8, 2017
ارزش خواندن و حداقل یکبار امتحان کردن رو داره
May 13, 2018
Very long read, took me some time to finish and comprehend but it's really interesting, full of knowledge.
December 28, 2018
The original Permaculture Manual. Great book for all permaculture designers to keep handy and reference.
May 14, 2021
Great reference for future use.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews