I'm guessing that this would be a pretty good guide for people who a) have enough room for proper compost piles and b) aren't vegans. For me, however, I want absolutely NO animal products (especially those created by the farming industry - manure and blood meal, both suggested in this book) touching my food and I live in a townhouse so I have a tiny space. I have purchased a mini tumbler from Amazon (tumbler's get a brief mention in this book) and definitely picked up a few pointers from reading this. However, if I had it to do all over again I would've checked it out from the library rather than purchased it as a would-be reference manual.