[josephines]

The rope pump, Bombas de Mecate, found from the Practica Foundation site, is interesting. I bought two small fresnel lenses and plan to dig a water distillation pit. People can even put in urine and washing water--at least along the sides of the pit, and use sunlight to distill water from the ground.

 

[josephines]

i agree--everyone needs to know how to compost Human manure. This is only reasonable, to be able to handle our own situations.

 

[ttony]

I was thinking of picking up Mykel Hawkes book - anyone have it? If so, what do you think?

 

[BoyScoutSurvivor]

I have only a few books
2001 Boy Scout handbook
1965 Boy Scout handbook
SAS survival handbook
Not much but it does have a fair amount information about surviving in the wild.

 

[josephines]

seed catalogs

Oh, keep some seed catalogs--the kind that have lots of information: Fedco, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, Bountiful Gardens.

 

[lilmama]

My book library is not that good. I have a list of books I would like to get but just haven't gotten there yet. I do however have a binder that is divided into sections. I put any info I find interesting and handy into it. I don't have to worry about losing it on my computer if the lights go out, and if we have to take off somewhere I can just grab it and go.

 

[rflood]

Hey guys (gals as well), I've tried to find the thread where I saw someone say they got a full download of the Drum-Runners information library and also that Drum-Runners was going to go down by year end. Anyway, there was in my recollection a secondary website that had all the Drum-Runner PDF's as a backup. Can anyone point me to it?

 

[gypsysue]

For anyone who lives in the city, the book "Extreme Simplicity" by Christopher Nyerges is a great book. He also wrote one called "The Self-sufficient Home", which I haven't read, but it's on my list.

 

[greaseman]

@ bunkerbob,
very nice set of books, I'm jealous. If the right conditions happen, such as a giant solar flare, books may be the only reference we can rely on. A bad enough flare, and we are permanently in our own "Little House On The prairie" episodes. The thought of a permanent camping trip isn't very pleasant.
a few books I have in my library, are numerous books on mechanical repair, carpentry, electrical repair, gardening, mechanical reference, grandma's country wisdom, the encyclopedia of country living, raising chickens, medical books, and the lists goes on.
I also started putting together notebook binders of info, from various web sites . This supliments my books.
Happy reading all.

 

[semperscott]

I have only a few books in my library. Last month I recieved a Kindle for my birthday; it holds 3,500 books and will last a full month on a full charge. You can charge it from a outlet or from your computer via USB port. You can also download pdf. files. It it really compact and fits easily into my jacket/vest pocket. I will be building a library of hard copy books as well as my Kindle. The Kindle is 7.5" x 4.8" x 0.335" and weighs only 8.7 ounces loaded with 3,500 hundred books will be much easier than trying to carry that many hardcopies!

 

[vja4Him]

I have one small book on edible plants of the West, several medical and health books, and a few recipe books, and that's about it! I've been saving survival videos and articles to load onto my Archos 70 Internet Tablet 250 GB.

I'm still searching for several solar chargers that will charge the Archos 70 IT and also charge AA, AAA, C, D and 9v batteries ... and also charge my iBook G4 ...

 

[wildone_uk]

my wife constantly tells me i am a mine of useless information,unless its of use to her
ladyship

 

[Daegnus]

Gardening/Homesteading

Five Acres and Independence - M.G. Kains
The New Organic Grower - Eliot Coleman
Four-Season Harvest - Eliot Coleman
The Solar Greenhouse Book - James C. McCullagh
How to Grow More Vegetables - John Jeavons
The Sustainable Vegetable Garden - John Jeavons
Seed to Seed - Susan Ashworth
Forest Gardening - Robert Hart
The Edible Container Garden - Michael Guerra
Gardening When it Counts - Steve Solomon
Cold Climate Gardening - Lewis Hill
Root Cellaring - Mike & Nancy Bubel
Keeping Poultry - Victoria Roberts
Building a Sustainable Business - Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Ag.
Building a Multi-Use Barn - John D. Wagner
Permaculture - Bill Mollison
Organic Farming - Nicolas Lampkin
Carrots Love Tomatoes - Louise Riotte
The Humanure Handbook - Joseph Jenkins
The Slate Roof Bible - Joseph Jenkins
Preserving for All Seasons - Anne Gardon
Foxfire books
A few seed catalogues

Wilderness Survival

Plants of the Rocky Mountains - Lone Pine Field Guide
Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Rocky Mountains - Terry Willard
Stalking the Wild Asparagus - Euell Gibbons
Skills for Taming the Wilds - Bradford Angier
How to Live on Nothing - Joan Ranson Shortney
Wilderness Survival - Bernard Shanks
Scats and Tracks of the Rocky Mountains - James C. Halfpenny

Herbs/First-Aid/Etc...

The Natural Way of Healing Asthma and Allergies - Gary McLain
The Way of Herbs - Michael Tierra
The Way of Chinese Herbs - Michael Tierra
The Way of Ayurvedic Herbs - Michael Tierra
Planetary Herbology - Michael Tierra
Chinese Traditional Herbal Medicine Vol. 1 & 2 - Michael Tierra
Herbal Medicine From the Heart of the Earth - Sharol Marie Tilgner
Healing with the Herbs of Life - Lesley Tierra
The Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook - James Green
Many, Many, Many Others.... (Herbalist in training....)
A couple old military first-aid manuals

 

[gypsysue]

Shoestring Survivalism by Andy James.

Absolutely the best book for low-budget prepping. Everything you need to know, and how to get started and get set up without spending much or anything at all!

 

[IlliniWarrior]

Daddy-sitting again today. I spent forever in the basement going through boxes of books.

Butchering, Processing and Preservation of Meat by Ashbrook
Wilderness Survival by Berglund
Americas Camping Book by Cardwell
and a bunch of canning, dehydrating, gardening books.

I have found the Foxfire books #1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9. I will look again to see if the others are there, but I will probably have to find them at the store (I will keep checking the thrift stores also).

FoxFire Books 1 thru 6 are available in PDF format for free downloading on a number of websites .......

 

[IlliniWarrior]

I'm curious . . .
anyone have the complete set of Firefox.

FoxFire Books 1 thru 6 are the best of the set ...... a few sections of the other books are worth reading ...... the research got skimpy as they published .....

 

[IlliniWarrior]

Anyways as far as my collection, I collected American Survival Magazines from age 12 or so i think? Either 12 or 13 can't remember, have a lot of those. I also have a good collection of US FEMA/MILITARY survival guides on various disasters, basic construction manuals using raw materials for building homes, etc.

The back issues of the 1970s published American Survival are available for free downloading ...... can't give the site location here, the website owner doesn't want the publicity ...... ask me in a private message

 

[worldengineer]

I have one small book on edible plants of the West, several medical and health books, and a few recipe books, and that's about it! I've been saving survival videos and articles to load onto my Archos 70 Internet Tablet 250 GB.

I'm still searching for several solar chargers that will charge the Archos 70 IT and also charge AA, AAA, C, D and 9v batteries ... and also charge my iBook G4 ...

Harbor Freight has several small 5 watt (i believe) solar chargers that say will charge AA AAA C D and 9V batteries. For the tablet I suggest using an DC to AC power invertor in a vehicle to charge it. Although you might be able to rig that panel to charge it.

 

[NaeKid]

I have one small book on edible plants of the West, several medical and health books, and a few recipe books, and that's about it! I've been saving survival videos and articles to load onto my Archos 70 Internet Tablet 250 GB.

I'm still searching for several solar chargers that will charge the Archos 70 IT and also charge AA, AAA, C, D and 9v batteries ... and also charge my iBook G4 ...

Sorry - I missed this as well.

I have solar panels that connect directly to battery-packs to keep them topped up and ready for use. Some of the battery-packs have USB power-ports, some have 12-volt power-ports and some have built-in inverters to provide 120-volt-AC.

Some of the solar-panels are rated for 1.5 watt (small trickle-charge) for my RV-batteries and my motorcycle batteries and then I have some larger 13-watt panels that will keep the battery-packs loaded with power. Finally, I have 80-watt panels for the camper to keep those batteries topped-up all year around.

Solar systems can be quite expensive to setup, but, it gives you the ability to decide how to keep power to electronics. Currently, I have around $2500 into solar-tech (panels, batteries, controllers, wiring, converters) and to me, it is money well spent. I have a long way to go before I am capable of going completely off-grid, but, getting my feet wet (and learning) about how the systems work, bit-by-bit.

 

[ReconCraftTheta]

Possibly one of the best survival books of all time.

Out in the field, on the subject of survival:
US Army Field Manual 21-76, 'nuff said.