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Back to Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills (Second Edition)
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List Price: $30.00
Our Price: $51.99
You Save: $ ( % )
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Manufacturer: Reader's Digest Association
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 640.973
EAN: 9780895779397
ISBN: 0895779390
Label: Reader's Digest Association
Manufacturer: Reader's Digest Association
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 456
Publication Date: 1997-03-17
Publisher: Reader's Digest Association
Studio: Reader's Digest Association
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Very informative
Comment: This book has some interesting things for the diy type of person that I never considered doable on a small scale before.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Back to Basics
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Some good information, but unfocused (details)
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Resource for learning how to do about anything!
Comment: 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!
Customer Rating:
Summary: I will now retreat from civilization
Comment: 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.
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Editorial Reviews:
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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.
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