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5th out of 23 books
—
15 voters
Back to Basics
This how-to, user-friendly guide teaches self-sufficiency-covering all of life's essentials: shelter; alternative energy sources; growing and preserving food; home crafts; directions for making herbal remedies; and even home-grown entertainment.
Hardcover, 456 pages
Published
July 1st 1981
by Readers Digest
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I've been reading this since I was a kid. It started just because I liked looking at all the animal pictures (though I could never stomach the idea of killing/eating them), and gradually branched out into every chapter. I will probably never apply any of this information in a practical way, but it has provided countless hours of daydreaming and creatively writing about what I could do with the right equipment and level of determination. What I really love is how vast and varied the information i...more
From farming to heating and cooling, from flower pressing to hiking, this book has brief instruction on a number of pre-industrial skills. It is basic and introductory in its instruction. For example, this is not the book to start with if you want to learn finish carpentry, but it does have some basic wood-working instruction. It is a handy general reference in a quaint, romanticizing the pioneer days - in vogue since the 70s apparently, really raging now - kind of way. And while a number of the...more
Every time I see this book at my parent's house, I pick it up. There's something about the depth of the material here, the insane level of illustration, that draws me to this book. My father has kept this book to hand for decades. He is the only person I know who's had the opportunity to apply a fraction of the knowledge contained in this tome.
This book explains how to do everything the old-fashioned way - and I do mean everything. You have to have held this book in your hands to get it. If a nu...more
This book explains how to do everything the old-fashioned way - and I do mean everything. You have to have held this book in your hands to get it. If a nu...more
This is not the first time I have checked this book of my library. This time I am viewing it with fresh eyes. I no longer am interested in this topic, I now have a need to absorb this topic.. good examples and pictures make this book very user friendly for those of us who wish or need to return to a simpler way of living a sustainable lifestyle. Topics covered are once again very timely. Canning, live stock, rural farming, husbandry, and even a gallery of fish. I definitely believe this is a boo...more
This is such a nice book to look at and dream of living in the wilds of Tasmania with chickens and alpacas and living off your garden. Not likely to ever happen, but good daydream. My dad gave me this for Xmas about 15 years ago. It tells you in brief how to do just about everything crafty and self sufficient. I want to keep bees, make cheese and build a refectory table in my daydream too! Oh, and get a goat and weave it a coat of course.
I loved this book because of the sheer amount of stuff in here! It's incredibly fun to just take an afternoon pouring over one chapter. And the sheep-keeping pages? I promise that someday, I'm going to keep sheep just like that, and shear them myself, too! I loved the rawhide pages especially, but everything in this book is incredibly in-depth and comprehensive! Gardening pages were beautiful.
I spent so many hours as a little kid poring over the pages of this book. I always spent the most time on the cabin-building pages, promising myself I'd learn and use the techniques mentioned in the book to build my own cabin someday. Key word, someday! lol! You never know, I might get there yet. And if I do, it will be partly thanks to Back to Basics.
I love this book. It was given as a gift by a Manhattanite friend when we moved "up country"
More of a project or reference book, it covers everything from woodwork to soap making to animal husbandry.
I might never want to do all the things in the book but at least if I ever have to, I'll know how
More of a project or reference book, it covers everything from woodwork to soap making to animal husbandry.
I might never want to do all the things in the book but at least if I ever have to, I'll know how
I have used this book more than any other in my home besides the phone book. Great info and pictures. Lots of fun for wintertime to come up with projects to do on cold days like making root beer or wine, A great section on canning ( Tomato marmalade is the best damn thing) and soap making.
My dad purchased this book for me when I was just a kid and through the years I have read, re-read and then referenced it again many times! It is full of illustrations and step by step instructions for the many skills it describes for the home gardner, hobby farmer, and nature lover.
My parents passed this book down to me, and though I've not read it cover-to-cover I've been very pleased with the information I've found in it thus far! It has a particularly good article on how to make your own moccasins. A good resource to have around to keep the old ways alive :)
My parents had this book when I was child and I loved it. It is full of ideas on how to be self sufficient. So when I saw it at a thrift store, I had to buy it.
Gutting a pig-check. Building a stone wall-check. Making key lime pie-check. This book has it all and likely teaches you to make the kitchen sink as well.
i avidly read this with any homesteading or planning questions in mind..goes well with other "survival" type books; essential for a DIY grrl like me!
I want to work on gradually becoming more self sufficient. This book has massive amounts of information. It talks about planning your house so that it is more efficient, getting water, providing heat, creating energy, growing a garden, raising animals, preserving produce, recipes, making syrup, dying fabric, spinning, weaving, making rugs, making brooms, metalwork, woodwork, soapmaking, basketry and lots more.
I'm sure there are other topic specific books that will provide more information, but...more
I'm sure there are other topic specific books that will provide more information, but...more
Not what I expected. I wanted more indepth tips on basic living and less of a primer on canning and preserving. Not even a good cookbook.
I love everything about this book minus the sad parts about "harvesting animals" etc...nice overview if DIY lifestyles and homesteading!
an oldie but a goodie, has great ideas for living off the land without the comforts society has now, the way our great grandparents lived.
Everything one needs for living a self-sufficient life. Picked this up for a song at a local used book store! Woot!
Wonderful book for those who are do it yourself-ers. Grabbing this book (if) the world starts to end.... :p
This book is absolutely amazing. I want to put it in a backpack and run away from modern life.
I think I have this book. Guess I should dust it off and read it finally.
This book is sweet. I love learning all this how-to-homestead kind of stuff.
If I could only have one book during the zombie apocalypse.
Nov 01, 2012
Sebastian Iordache
added it
is a good book
This book is great. It was published in 1981, so there are current publications that have current issues. But I like this one because it has wonderful how-to's if I decided to move to the mountains of New Mexico with my husband and play hermit. It's a survival guide for the city runaway.
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My mom got this book from the Reader's Digest Book Club when I was about seven, and I have been poring over it ever since. Marty & I call it "The Book". It's a great guide from everything to building your own house, to raising chickens & goats, to tinsmithing, to a recipe for an authentic New England clambake. How-to guide for would-be pioneer folks. Love it!!!
A bit of quick, light reading for the experienced homesteader, or a veritable handbook for the beginner. This book was my bible for years. I built my oldest child's cradle from a plan in this book. It gives you (sparse, over-simplified) instructions on selecting land, building on it, growing food, cooking it, and entertaining yourself the old fashioned way.
May 15, 2008
Laura
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
survivalists
Recommended to Laura by:
Matthew Petty
If a bear mauls you, don't wash the wound out with peroxide. You may end up having something unneccessarily amputated. (For some reason that is the piece of advice that stuck with me from this book.) This book tells you how to build your log cabin from scratch, how to find water in the desert, and loads of other useful things. Thank you, Matthew Petty.
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The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. is a global media and direct marketing company based in Chappaqua, New York, best known for its flagship publication founded in 1922, Reader's Digest. The company's headquarters are in New York City, where it moved from Pleasantville, New York.
The company was founded by DeWitt and Lila Wallace in 1922 with the first publication of Reader's Digest magazine, but...more
More about Reader's Digest Association...
The company was founded by DeWitt and Lila Wallace in 1922 with the first publication of Reader's Digest magazine, but...more
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Nov 03, 2009 04:14pm