Bookshelf: Back to Basics

I'm trying out a new book review format below, so please let me know what you think. Also you might notice that the book links below are Amazon Affiliate links. If you click the link it will take you to the Amazon page for the book and if you order it, I'll get a small kickback. When I get enough money, I'll order another book for reviewing. If you want to order the book without me getting a payment, don't click the link.

Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition by Abigail R. Gehring (editor)

I discovered this book through Amazon's recommendation system after looking at survival books, and I'm glad I found it. I think it's a great addition to the bookshelf. The book is a broad survey of many "traditional skills" that early American settlers and pioneers had. This includes things like building a log cabin, making your own timber, raising livestock, preserving foods, traditional crafts and so on. You can find the index of the book on the Amazon page.

(Disclosure: I haven't finished reading the book - it's slow going and I wanted to get this review up quickly. If any of my opinions change once I'm done, I'll be sure to update this review.)

Physical Structure

The book itself is standard sized for a large hardcover textbook, but it's bound landscape style instead of portrait, so it's long and will probably stick out of your actual bookshelf if it's not very deep. Textbook is a good comparison and the construction reminds me very much of textbooks I've used in the past - a stiff, strong cover with thin glossy pages. The binding seems strong and of better quality than I usually see in hardcover books. One pleasant surprise was that the longer landscape form helps to keep the book open to whatever page you're on without needing to hold it open, which is a great feature if you need to reference it while you're working. Overall I feel like this is book is of high quality construction and I wish I had more like it.

Layout

The book is divided into six sections, each focusing on a different aspect of traditional skills. Within each section are a number of subsections concerning specific tasks. For instance, Part One is all about picking out a piece of property and building on it. It includes topics like Preparing the site, Converting Trees into Lumber, Raising a Barn, Sanitation and so on. The book uses a 3 column per page layout for most entries, but makes heavy use of diagrams, illustrations and sidebars so you never get a page with just three columns of text.

The illustrations are designed to be as clear as possible and have explanatory text. Usually the illustrations have information that is not included in the general text. Sometimes the text has a brief high-level overview of a particular task and the illustrations have much more specific steps. I get the impression that they wanted each entry to be as complete as possible, so they were careful to not have redundant information.

The book is printed in full color and has many photographs. Because "traditional skills" are old and becoming more rare, a lot of the source images are quite old and still in black and white. Fortunately there are still a good number of color photos. Rarely is a photo in place simply for decoration - most have some important bit of detail to impart. Illustrations are mostly two color for simplicity, but a few (like plant identification) have full color illustrations.

I feel like the layout of this book was very carefully planned, and it shows. The layout can be complex at times, but it remains very easy to read and see how sections are separated. There is also a fairly complete index at the end, which is always nice to see.

Content

This book is packed with information. I was surprised by the breadth of information in it, and even more surprised that it wasn't dry and boring like a textbook. Most of the content is very clear and easy to understand, and can hold your attention if you have at least a little interest in it. Step by step instructions make complex operations relatively simple.

It should have been obvious to me when I ordered the book, but I was actually hoping for a bit more depth. In hindsight, that's fairly ridiculous - this book is just a survey. For any one of the subsections of this book you can probably write another whole 464 page book. I've got a pretty good idea of how I might go about building a log cabin now, but I'm sure there are things that I would prefer to know that the book didn't cover in any significant detail. Still, I know a heck of a lot more than I did before. Many sections also have a block of references at the bottom, so if you want to explore a topic more fully you've got a list of source material right there.

Another thing I didn't really expect was the extremely practical spin the book takes on "traditional skills." For instance, in the log cabin section they give instructions on how to use an axe to cut notches in logs, but also give an example of how to use a chainsaw to do it. In fact, most of the building section either explicitly recommends using power tools for ease of use but also gives examples of how you might do it with only traditional tools. They also recommend plastic or tar paper as moisture barriers in homes, and that's something folks didn't have 200 years ago but is a very important improvement over traditional methods. The section on juicing apples for cider has three examples of cider presses - one traditional screw press, one improvised lever based press, and one that uses a car jack. Cool!

Current Usage

The book is targeted at back-to-nature folks and people who want to live a more green lifestyle. I think I will find this book at least a little bit useful even if the world doesn't end any time soon. My wife saw the composting section and she wants to try that out in our garden this year. We're also intending on preserving food that we grow in our garden, and this book has some good info on that. I think it's most useful for people who live in the country and have some room to do the outdoor projects. An apartment dweller will be limited in the projects they can take on but could still find quite a bit to do, especially in the crafts section.

Post-Apocalyptic Usage

The first year or two after the apocalypse this book isn't going to be all that useful. At that point you'll either still be able to find preserved food and sturdy shelter or you'll be so fixated on basic survival that you won't be able to do anything else. The likelihood of you needing to move around a bit is also very high, so you won't be able to build a permanent home bring a lot of stuff with you. However, from year 2 through year 50 this book will be invaluable. It covers critical skills like growing and preserving food, building shelter, making clothing and so on. It gives enough info that you should be able to get by and learn by doing. Admittedly some things like building a log cabin aren't going to be very likely with plenty of abandoned housing around, but having a basic understanding of the concepts involved would be a big help when you do need to construct a new building.

The book does make assumptions about supplies that are available that might be hard (or impossible) to find in a PA world. Cement is a good example. Cement is difficult to make and is beyond the scope of the book, but it's really a requirement for the section on building with stone. Cement is such an amazing building material that I'm going to have to try and find a separate resource for that.

Overall

Well written, sturdy and packed with information. I paid about $17 for it, so it's also relatively cheap. Other books might have more info on specific topics, but the breadth of this one is hard to beat. Once you're past running for your life on a daily basis and start to settle in one place, you'll want this book.

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

FreakAngels

FreakAngels is a graphic-novel style webcomic by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield. The story follows 12 psychic teenagers who are trying to survive in flooded Post-Apocalyptic London. It's starting to pick up speed, and Warren Ellis is his usual charming self. The violence in the comic can be a bit graphic and it's definately not for younger readers, but it's pretty interesting stuff. Their first book is also available.

FreakAngels

Book: Bugs in the Arroyo

Reader (and friend) Abra pointed out this excerpt from "Bugs in the Arroyo" by Steven Gould. The story has a very interesting form of apocalypse: metal eating bugs. I get the impression they might be some kind of self-replicating machine gone wild. It reminds me of Ray Bradbury's short story "A Piece of Wood," where a man discovers a compound that quickly turns metal into rust.

A metal-free future would be a particularly difficult one. Certain things like saws would be difficult, if not impossible to make. Plows and axes are possible with other materials, but inferior. There would be no guns or bullets, or even nails. Harnessing electricity would be basically impossible. On the other hand, glass has a very sharp edge even if it doesn't hold very long, and some types of wood are as strong as some metals. I suspect that a culture prepared for an event like that might be able to develop some strong plastics (or as mentioned in the story, fiberglass) to replace certain metal items, but they'd still be locked into a permanent metal-free existence.

I'm sure these aren't the only two examples of metal-free futures, or ones where certain resources are "off-limits." If you can think of more, let me know in the comments.

World War Z

I finished World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War a few weeks ago. Written by Max Brooks, author of the famed Zombie Survival Guide, this book is a fictional collection of accounts from the survivors of a zombie apocalypse. While there are some creepy parts, that's not really the point of the book. The stories are mostly of survival and dealing with the effects of the "war". Overall, I liked it. If you're a Zombie fan or a P-A fan, it's worth a read.

I'd like to give a better overview, but it's been too long since I read it. I've got a bit more spare time now, so I'll hopefully resume posting regularly.

The World Without Us

Cool Tools writes about The World Without Us. It's exactly what it sounds like - what happens to the world when mankind disappears. Be sure to check out the multimedia page on the book's website for some time-lapse decay and beautiful artist's renderings of a dying New York.

This one is going on my wish list.

Bookshelf: Where There Is No Doctor

My wife recommended this one to me. She grew up in Brazil, Mozambique and other parts of Africa, as a missionary kid. Missionaries to third-world countries often end up in places where there literally are no doctors. Hence the name of the book, Where There Is No Doctor. This is a really, really basic book about keeping in good health in places where there aren't government implemented public health initiatives, like municipal water supplies. There are chapters on recognizing and treating illnesses, a first aid chapter dealing with injuries, information on antibiotics and similar things. There's also a chapter on putting together a medicine kit, which is a good thing to have ready. The book is written in plain English with minimal use of technical terms. The illustrations are pretty poor, but they're very clear. Medical information is constantly being improved, so make sure you get a recent edition.

This book is in widespread use in third-world countries and has been translated into over 75 languages and there are millions of copies in circulation. Obviously, the book is useful. I imagine that whatever form our post-apocalyptic world will take, it won't be drastically different from a third-world country. Disease and injury will be common, and failure to take care of yourself is going to lead to a quick and probably unpleasant death.

One thing the book is missing, and this is really only a P-A complaint, is a chapter on Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) effects, i.e. dealing with common forms of bio and chem warfare and radiation poisoning. Obviously, this isn't really appropriate for the book in it's current context, but hopefully I will run across an advanced text that deals with some of these.

The book is available online as well, at the publisher's website, so you can take a look before you buy it.

I Am Legend

I saw a trailer last night for I am legend. The tag line is "the last man on earth is not alone." Sounds pretty post-apocalyptic to me. Not many spoilers in the trailer (kudos to them for not ruining it). It's based on the book by the same name, but watch out - the wikipedia article will spoil it. There's another book I need to pick up...