Product description

Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition

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Average customer rating: 5.0

Binding : Hardcover
EAN : 9781602392335
Edition : 3rd
ISBN : 1602392331
Label : Skyhorse Publishing
Manufacturer : Skyhorse Publishing
Number of pages : 464
Publication date : 2008-04-08
Publisher : Skyhorse Publishing
Title : Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Studio : Skyhorse Publishing

Editorial reviews

Product Description
Over 100,000 sold! Now newly revised and up to date, with over 2,000 color photographs and illustrations.

Anyone who wants to learn basic living skills—the kind employed by our forefathers—and adapt them for a better life in the twenty-first century need look no further than this eminently useful, full-color guide. Countless readers have turned to Back to Basics for inspiration and instruction, escaping to an era before power saws and fast food restaurants and rediscovering the pleasures and challenges of a healthier, greener, and more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Now newly updated, the hundreds of projects, step-by-step sequences, photographs, charts, and illustrations in Back to Basics will help you dye your own wool with plant pigments, graft trees, raise chickens, craft a hutch table with hand tools, and make treats such as blueberry peach jam and cheddar cheese. The truly ambitious will find instructions on how to build a log cabin or an adobe brick homestead. More than just practical advice, this is also a book for dreamers—even if you live in a city apartment you will find your imagination sparked, and there's no reason why you can't, for example, make a loom and weave a rag rug. Complete with tips for old-fashioned fun (square dancing calls, homemade toys, and kayaking tips), this may be the most thorough book on voluntary simplicity available. 2,000 color photos, 200 b/w illustrations.

Amazon.com Review
"Voluntary simplicity" has become a catch phrase for what seems to be a yearning for a simpler, more self-sufficient and economical way of living in the late 20th century. This book, first published in 1981 and recently updated, was probably many folks' first in-depth exposure to the idea of a simpler life, making things by hand, and enjoying a stronger sense of control over personal budgets, home projects, and lifestyles. Hundreds of projects are listed, illustrated in step-by-step diagrams and instructions: growing and preserving your own food, converting trees to lumber and building a home from it, traditional crafts and homesteading skills, and having fun with recreational activities like camping, fishing, and folk dancing without spending a lot of money. This book will have you dreaming and planning from the first page! -- Mark A. Hetts

Customer reviews

review by: Roy Sternhagen,Old timer date: 2008-10-28 rating:

Back to Basics
This particular book is as it's title implies Back To Basics. It is an excellent book which will give you a historic view of how things were done in the past and give you a foundation to build your skills on.

In the event of a disaster, it will give you guide lines on how to do tasks and build skills to help you come out on top of many situations that can result from a natural disaster, a financial disaster and hone your survival skills. I recommend it for this reason.

While the book is out of print, it is still available at a reasonable cost through the connections that Amazon.com offers.

review by: The Old Grottomaster date: 2008-10-24 rating:

Some good information, but unfocused (details)
This illustrated book has been published chiefly for those who are new to country living, and/or who have an interest in self-sufficiency and in retrieving some of the "lost arts" which are appurtenant to traditional country life. The information is mostly introductory and rudimentary... a good start for most folks new to these areas of interest.

I have lived in the foothills of rural Appalachia for 55 years and have been involved in carrying out nearly all the construction, activities, arts, and crafts found within this text. Some of the text, (along with the accompanying drawings and photos), is quite good. The information is solid and one can get started along the right track; however, the work goes astray (the publishers sort of "threw in the kitchen sink"), into areas which are not particularly relevant to traditional country living. The editors simply went too far afield when they got into topics such as "Winter Sports," "Kayaking and Rafting," "Foraging for Flour and Emergency Rations," and so on. Most of these subjects are tagged on at the end, I felt just to make the book longer, (it's plenty long enough at 456 pages!)

Additionally, on topics such as "Emergency First Aid," "Fly Fishing" (and fish identification), and "Recipes," there are obligatory sections, none of which are all that useful since these are subjects, any one of which could fill volumes. Had these areas of specific interest been omitted, the more appropriate topics could have been somewhat expanded, such as "Barn Building" or "Preserving Meat and Fish".

There is a far superior (albeit, much older) version of this sort of book which was published by Reader's Digest some years ago: READER'S DIGEST BACK TO BASICS. I can highly recommend it and I've referred to my worn copy time after time.

While there is quite a great deal of quality information in this Skyhorse Publishing Third Edition (2008) for those seeking a new or improved life in the rural countryside, I still feel that the editors strayed off-base to the point that I cannot heartily recommend the work.

review by: Mom of Boys date: 2008-09-21 rating:

Great Resource for learning how to do about anything!
We have found this resource wonderful. There's more in this book than I could have asked for gardening, preserving, how to chop would, how to make tools... Our 10 year old son enjoys reading it too and learning about how to really make items that he would use. We were looking for a resource to help us "survive" if need be on our own, also we were looking for items that were more cost effective in this hard economy. Great resource!

review by: Hurricane Mitch date: 2008-09-19 rating:

I will now retreat from civilization
One of my top ten books. I am an avid outdoorsman and believe in being prepared(Boy Scout Motto) to take care of one's self "off the grid". This book might as well be my bible. It does skim a little on some subjects but on the whole it gives a thorough enough explanation of all the skills one would need to scout out, build, propagate, and flourish on a frontier farm. Excellent illustrations to accompany all the subjects.

My only thing to change about it would be a slightly larger thickness of stock for the pages. I know this would make this rather large book even heavier but the pages have a tendency to bunch and fall midway through the book. A slight qualm about an otherwise flawless book. Read it flat to avoid this problem.

If you want to learn about how to be completely self sufficient I highly recommend this book.

review by: date: 2008-09-09 rating:

Best book for skills I know of!
This book will teach you best tips and tricks for raising your own food, and a whole lot more. I purchased it as a replacement of my original book that I bought in the early '80s. I was so thankful it is still around! I wore the cover right off my old book and passed it onto a friend in need of this knowledge.

If you are into living off the land and need advice on how to do it, get this book!

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