Book Review – My 12 Most Recommendable Permaculture Readings
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Excellent Resources! I would say the top 5-6 should be more-or-less the same for most established Permies... There is also lots of great new stuff (Ben Falk, Richard Perkins, Jean Martin Fortier though not all formally 'Permaculture', JMF) I would also wish to include Mycelium Running By Paul Stamets and Radical Mycology by Peter McCoy since fungi is like an entire continent of potential only just getting discovered in the modern world and embraced by the Permaculture Community. Barefoot Architect and the Earthship Trilogy could be great for Zones 0 to 3 as well as A Pattern Language for community/city planning. I could go all night.... WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A BOOK CLUB! If anyone wanted to hear info from any of my library I can check the relevant chapters and either read out the appropriate section, write a post or take a picture of the best section. Literate Anarchist Unite! Dislexikz Untie!
Resteeming with Gusto!
Book club!!!
I have pdfs of most of these books that could facilitate a book club!
Im not always sure how freedom of information and intellectual property fit into permaculture, so feel free to berate me and I might do a post about it.
on having a Club: Yeay, I always enjoy sharing a connection with others.
on collecting and sharing books: 100% behind it. I've been trying to acquire all the books I remember having read on .pdf It's coming along nicely, though far from being complete. But at least the ones I mentioned in this post I do have, and don't mind sharing if there is interest. I also have a bunch I have NOT read, such as A Pattern Language which I've been trying to get around to for quite a while now.
on having a book club / reading circle: It sounds awesome to read something, chapter by chapter, and discuss it with other minds. I'm a bit uncertain if I can go through with it, on the other hand, it would be so rewarding that I'd probably make the time. It also depends on the book. :-)
Ditto, maybe we see each other for coffee and compare notes ;) Someday, would be great! In the meantime, we should probably behave ourselves publicly.
Right, you've felt it, @ecoknowme. This post is either too broad or not inclusive enough. I realized that when I got to the part about the food forestry books. And indeed, there is another post in the making, about some more specialized ones on fungi, fermentation, earth-works, construction, and invisible structures. In fact, all my previous book reviews could also fit in quite comfortably.
we should just do a skype call and record us talking about our favorite books! Some day, by wire or walk, we'll share a coffee, mate, mead or yarn someday, my friend.
sounds like a great way to spend time "together".
I just dunno how to do the recordy stuff, but we could even just take pictures and summize a brainstorm.. show an example of interconnection and collaboration thanks to Steemit. I probably never would have encountered you otherwise!
Oh, we could do a book-club so simply: decide what to read, give each member a chapter and a deadline, and each one of us writes a post about it. Then all other add their comments. Sure, it's not as fancy as recording a video-conference, but it can be done with minimal effort and flexible times.
First I would like to be able to make the books available though. There are files online or videos to review But, for example, My copy of Radical Mycology is this massive beast not everyone would be into, or could get easily in some parts of the world. Maybe we just encourage everyone to do reviews of What books they have and hope for some cross pollination of ideas? The video conference idea does sound like a nightmare... too many variables, I'm probably better off blithering into a 'podcast' then everyone can retort. Will do some research...
That's why it's important to pick a good book all of us would be into, and focus on one chapter at a time. But I feel that organically we're headed into that direction anyway. Book reviews are well liked post here (at least in my experience), and even book lists like this one. For example, @frugallady just posted one of hers, almost at the same time as I did mine.
Love hearing about new books! Thanks for the suggestions. Gaia's Garden is the one that opened up the rabbit hole for me.
Yes, that is such a well written one. And the Designers Manual is great for looking things up. From then on it depends on the area of your interest. Most specialized books such as Jenkins' Humanure Handbook I didn't even include here for its specialized nature.
I was just talking about the Humanure Handbook with @ecoknowme. Another great one!
Hey don't talk shit about me :P
opp, probably should have used this account for that. I have two alter egos on here... I take my personal profile for a walk to get exercise.... but it's still moi. ;)
Haha! that's awesome! I had no clue. Why did you decide to have 2 seperate accounts like that? Do you see a benefit? Or is one a business?
the personal one will be for me waxing poetically or randomly... the ecoknowme will be for the project to replace the Economy with Love, I mean Permaculture... I mean Personal accountability for the future empowered by Ecologically based Solutions and The Best Knowledge the Internet and I have to Offer, all while paying people to do so, here on Steemit. That is why I repost like crazy on Ecoknowme but will keep my feed crisp for meself. Also allows for double votes, less obvious self votes, resteems, double resteems, good cop better cop and silly online tricks for newbies, if applicable. The ecoknowme can host competitions, projects, promote the works of others and all the revenue will get REdistributed to the people who dig it 80/20 I only get 20% but I can choose to pay that to my personal account, donate it, or just put it towards the SP of @ecoknowme I wanted the 'me' part to come last... so I might introduce myself with the personal account soon enough... for now, let them eat cake in a hammock!
I had a post about getting a planteconomy for medicinal tonic herbs from around the world (He shou Wu, Gotu kola, Rhodiola, whatever works where you are but not for someone else... I think of all the times I drive past sage brush, grab a handful and wonder why I didn't just get two? @farmstead is there sage near you?) Anyway... I think I am looking at about 4 bucks on that once 25% is deducted for curation... That would be about $3.20 SBD for the Ecoknowme participants (this time will be guided random) and 0.80 for myself.
Stuff like that. I can try to do a post for your global steem circle test, and add my 20% to that for a full 100% toward global interconnection. I think it could work :)
opp I didn't read right and thought you were storte... for example, I would have chosen YOU for the secret draw, but I figured you already got a book to chew on recently, so I will be directing the Ecoknowme surplus to another unknowing participant. Just being transparent. But now you know my secrets Oo
You've thought some stuff through! What do you do when you aren't on Steemit? I'm certainly a fan of your planteconomy for herbs idea. If I knew more people who weren't flakes around me I'd have handed out a few dozen plants today from lemon balm and catnip to mint, anise hyssop, plantain, and iris rhizomes, instead they went to the chickens!
Ha! Now I even remember reading this comment, and still not getting that @ecoknowme and @wuji are the same people!
tricky with Permaculture and specialization. I'd almost have to say Bill and David's two books are the only generalized Manuals... after that it get pretty focused. Alternative Economics could be considered just as central as say, food forests... but if you live in Hong Kong, Permaculture is not inaccessible, just different... Window gardens and Patio Permaculture could be the main thing. Was wondering about underground permaculture.... like literally. What if you had to be sustainable in a bunker for a year/indefinately? Just a thought exercise... I really dunno where to draw the line so I tend to branch out with vigor and reckless enthusiasm. But the 'philosophy' is important. One way I heard it... "if it doesn't care for people, the Earth or return the surpluses back into the system... it's not Permaculture' an easy starting point I spose.
Saw this on SteemitBC's Slack channel. Thanks for the recommendations. I've barely got a toe into permaculture, but I've been fascinated by its principles for years.
Me too, hahaha, and you know what? It's not going away. I love how in a few simple guidelines it lets you come up with you own best way of doing things... which ends up well for everyone involved.
Its a design system! There are no right answers, just best practices for finding the right answers.
Another way to look at it is technique vs strategy. There are many techniques, such as swales, perrenial crops etc, but its up to you to combine those techniques in your own unique way to develop a personalized strategy.
Doodle, wander... explore. It's a long journey even after decades (I hear) but such a lovely one. Permaculture was the first thing I came across that gave a set of guidelines, principles and ethics to empower anyone to turn problems into solutions through a deeper insight into the Natural World. Anyone can do it, you just have to start walking. Follow your nose!
I actually have a copy of Gaia's Garden, but it was a workshop that I attended on permaculture principles that really started making sense to me. The instructor was talking about thinking of your home (your life) in zones, circles radiating out from the center. The things that need your attention the most should be close, and so on from there. Now, you'd think that we'd all already understand that. It seems like common sense, but the way that my instructor explained it made me see that I wasn't doing that quite so well, neither in my garden areas nor in my life. It blew me away.
Oh, I know... there are so many new things to discover in every-day situations. Looking at the flow of things is one interesting way of learning of relationships: flow of people, flow of energy (including money), or very concretely, flow of hot / cold air, flow of water, where animals move, etc. Or repetitions, that is things occurring on a regular basis. Why? How? Alternatives? Are there any unclosed loops? Sure, all this sounds confusing in theory. Once you put them into practice, it's like: how come I've never noticed?
I've been collecting books on permaculture for years. Reading them is a different story. One day I'll find the time :) Thank you for these suggestions, I'll keep an eye out for them.
That's usually how it works. But good to have the books around. For me actually it was the other way round: I found myself frequently stuck on the metro, and had just gotten my first smartphone: that's when I went through a bunch of them in electronic format.
Thank you so much for this!! I actually have sepp's book and the gaia's book saved to eventually read but didn't know about the others :) Also happy to see you point out the food forest specific books!
Definitely two of my favorites. Both of them are such a pleasure to read, beside being informative.
Watch Videos of Sepp on Youtube... the book is wonderful and an excellent resource but we are fortunate to be able to see his operation in action online.... much to explore!
Yes I have seen pretty much every video on there of sepp's property!
Are there any topics in particular that are on the periphery of your studies now that you would like to expand on these days?
Ah fantastic! Great new suggestions, just got into that whole permaculture thing so this come in pretty handy ^^ thanks!