*What is the Autarky Library?* This is a collection of material to
learn autarky
88 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-sustainability> (economic
self-reliance / self-supply) for individuals, households and villages. All
materials relevant for that can be included here, as long as they are more
comprehensive than the ubiquitous article format. Only material that is
free to download is of interest here (with a few exceptions). Here is what
we found so far, and you’re welcome to extend it (just edit away, this is a
wiki).
*Licence.* This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain
Dedication CC0 1.0 Universal 1
<https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en> licence. This
means “no rights reserved.” By contributing to this first wiki post, you
agree to licence your contributions likewise. Note that this licence only
applies to this page “Autarky Library”, while edgeryders.eu content by
default is instead licenced under CC-BY 3.0 Unported (see section 3.1. here
<https://edgeryders.eu/t/id/44> for details).
[image: Creative Commons License CC0 1.0] 1
<https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en>
*Audience.* Due to the nature of the materials available for free download,
this library is for an “educated” audience: those who can read English,
have the equivalent of secondary education, and access the Internet with a
computer and not “just” a smartphone. Reason: virtually all included
e-books are in English and in PDF file format, not properly navigable on
smartphones (it may work with tablets though).
*Why only in English and PDF?* These limitations are unfortunate, but that
is the only material available for free download. Our ideal case would be a
“Khan Academy 4 <https://www.khanacademy.org/> for autarky”, with all
materials available under open licences and in local languages in the default
e-book format 2 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB> to be readable on
phones, combined with a synced audiobook version in the same EPUB file.
However, that is an amount of work that we simply can’t manage without
significant funding, as it would require licencing negotiations (paying the
publishers to get an open content licence for works). That will often fail,
as it is notoriously difficult to find the copyright status of works and
make contact with the rights holders. In these cases, we’d have to write
new books to fill the gaps. Note that paywalled works are not acceptable:
cash-poor people in villages simply cannot afford them, and they would be
read only by a tiny fraction of those who need them. Another issue is the
translation of books to local languages – we don’t think we can find the
resources to do that for 500 - 1000 books. We would be able to legally
provide a script that converts PDFs to EPUB format, with optimizations for
each work. However, due to the English language and reading level, it would
still be for an “educated” audience, and this audience can handle PDF files
as well.
*How can Autarky Library help in villages?* The real audience of the
Autarky Library are people in low-infrastructure villages, most of whom are
without significant help from government or NGOs. However, it has to reach
them indirectly. One way is that “educated” people adopt one village each,
to live there and consult the locals on appropriate technology solutions
etc. found in the Autarky Library. With one person or couple for one or a
few villages of ca. 5000 people, one million people can be served by 200
“autarky experts”. And to make at least the most relevant content available
to villagers directly, we plan to provide a Stack Exchange style Q&A site
in parallel to Autarky Library. It will be mainly in English, with
semi-automatic translation to and from local languages so that locals can
ask questions and get advice. Providing the essential bits and pieces of
information when and where villagers need it will also be more adapted to
how they like their content delivered, instead of in long books.
*Consulting services available!* If you face a challenge in one of the
areas covered by the Autarky Library and are looking for expertise, you
might find it here in the Edgeryders Community (4,700+ changemakers and
innovators). Especially around innovations in appropriate technology and
projects for ecological restoration, the main author of this autarky
library provides research, innovation and project management services
<https://ma.juii.net/services/autarky-engineering>.
The following is a list of the collections in which the literature listed
below has been found, as named in the references from that literature list.
These collections are huge, so you’ll be able to find gems that we did not
discover yet – welcome to add them here, of course.
The collections below are roughly ordered by how “great” their content is
for our Autarky Library, where “great” is the product of quantity and
quality.
1.
*New Zealand Digital Library 22 <http://www.nzdl.org/>.* An absolutely
amazing collection of relevant works – nearly everything there is relevant
here. Probably exceeding one million pages if printed. However, nothing is
in EPUB format.
2.
*Practical Answers Resource Library 11
<https://answers.practicalaction.org/our-resources>.* Absolutely amazing
collection with hundreds of free e-books about everything in development
collaboration, agricultural extension and appropriate technology. All
e-books are recently written, well researched material provided by
Practical Action, a NGO focused on appropriate technology solutions.
3.
*CD3WD 20 <http://www.fastonline.org/CD3WD_40/CD3WD/INDEX.HTM>.* This is
an amazing collection of more than 800 MiB of books on self-supply and
appropriate technology. (The link goes to a mirror. The original version
was hosted on cd3wd.com, but not anymore.)
4.
*Free Google eBooks 7
<https://www.google.com/search?tbs=bkv%3Ar&tbm=bks&q=search+here>.*
Basically a filter in Google Book Search that allows to find those that can
be downloaded as a PDF. Basically all out-of-copyright books resulting from
the (otherwise failed) Google book scanning project.
Note that the Google Books search will *only* find books digitized by
Google (i.e. on the books.google.com domain), and that this does not
include all out-of-copyright books available digital somewhere : the other
sources in this list may have additional ones. But the Google OCR and
digitization quality tends to be the best, so if you can choose, get the
version from Google, except where a manually proofread version is available.
5.
*OpenLibrary 5 <https://openlibrary.org/>.* A different kind of
interface to the free e-books of the Internet Archive. They allow everyone
to contribute to adding descriptions to any book, whether it is available
as an e-book or only in print. All e-books can be either read online or
borrow for free (means only one person at a time gets two weeks of access
to it, and there is a waiting list). There are various advanced search
operators <https://openlibrary.org/search/howto>, but unfortunately none
that allows to filter for freely readable e-books only (those you can only
borrow are always included when filtering for e-books only).
The most interesting feature is that you can search by date range,
allowing to easily find books that are out of copyright but not so old as
to be worthless. Examples:
- 7112 science e-books, published 1860-1969 5
*Internet Archive: Texts 1 <https://archive.org/details/texts>.* These
are 16 million texts that can all be read online. Many are not yet included
in the more structured and convenient Open Library interface (but might be
added there by anyone); see above. Especially if interest are some of their
collections:
- books in the “Cookbooks and Home Economics” collection 2
<https://archive.org/details/cbk?and%5B%5D=mediatype%3A%22texts%22>
7.
*Internet Archive: Books to Borrow
<https://archive.org/details/inlibrary>.* 690,000 e-books that can be
borrowed. Probably all of these are also available in the more structured
and convenient Open Library interface (see above), so this collection does
not really add anything.
8.
PDF downloads are usually only available to institutional partners, but
page images can be saved without issues. Works within 1878–1922 that were
published by a non-U.S. publisher are only accessible with U.S. IP
addresses since their copyright status outside the U.S. is unclear (
details <https://www.hathitrust.org/help_copyright#RestrictedAccess>).
Often however, the same work is available both from U.S. based and U.K.
based publishers, for example.
9.
*The Online Books Page 4 <http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/>.* A
listing of more than 2 million freely available e-books from around the
web. Best is to search by title
<http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/search.html>. Does not host books
on its own, but lists works from Hathi trust, Google Books, Project
Gutenberg, archive.org etc.; still, a great way of comprehensive search
in all of these at once.
10.
*WikiSource 4 <https://en.wikisource.org/>.* A Wikipedia-affiliated
project to put out-of-copyright and openly licensed works online, in a way
that everyone can contribute to and edit. Currently includes ~400,000
English books and other texts, all of which can be exported automatically
to EPUB, PDF and MOBI formats.
11.
*GIZ Publications 4 <https://mia.giz.de/esearcha/browse.tt.html>.* More
than 30,000 high-quality publications of the German Society for
International Cooperation (GIZ). Often short documents, but also containing
long books. All in PDF format. Note that this content is not currently
indexed by Google – you can only find these PDFs directly in their online
database. A second database by GIZ providing access to the same content is
the GIZ Publication Database 1
*The National Academy Press 1 <https://www.nap.edu/>.* All Reports of
the U.S. “National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine”,
available free to download as PDF and often also EPUB and MOBI. Contains
amazing works on obscure agricultural topics.
15.
*Scribd <https://www.scribd.com/>.* This is not anymore the PDF sharing
platform it once was, but now contains thousands of books, incl. about
topics like homesteading. These are not free to access, but there is a
flatrate access for ~9 USD/month. Often, a DRM-free PDF download is
provided and if not, saving the page images to disk and creating a PDF from
that is a simple job (that can also be automated). So a paid subscription
is not required permanently.
16.
*Project Gutenberg 6 <https://www.gutenberg.org/>.* A large collection
(ca. 50,000 books) of digitized out-of-copyright works, proofread by a
distributed community of volunteers.
There is a problem with access in Germany. Because of absolutely silly
German laws, access to all works from German IP addresses is blocked by
Project Gutenberg (details 2 <https://cand.pglaf.org/germany/index.html>).
As a solution we provide links to works from Project Gutenberg not directly
to the gutenberg.org files but to a mirror
<ftp://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/pub/mirror/ibiblio/gutenberg/>.
Which is, oh the irony, hosted on the servers of a well-known German
university.
17.
*Hesperian Health Guides 2 <http://hesperian.org/books-and-resources/>.*
An organization that specializes in producing medical books for use in
low-infrastructure regions (“development countries”). They are often
translated in multiple languages, and often they provide the English
version for free to read online and in PDF form. All of these freely
available books have been included in the “complete library” list below as
of 2018-12-17.
20.
*WikiBooks <https://en.wikibooks.org/>.* Wikipedia-affiliated project to
create original, open content licensed e-books. Most of the ~3000 books are
far from being finished, but probably 20-50 of them will be worthwhile
considering. Start with the list of books by subject 1
<https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Subject:Books_by_subject>.
22.
*FAO Documents <http://www.fao.org/publications/en/>.* English documents
by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Mostly
high-level / abstract material, but some will be of direct practical use.
In late 2018, about 30,000 documents were available from here 1
<http://www.fao.org/documents>, but the publication search has since
undergone a rework and only includes ~1400 documents, starting from 2008.
This excludes many older, valuable books (example
<http://www.fao.org/3/q4960e/q4960e06.htm>, from around 1983
<http://www.fao.org/3/q4960e/q4960e06.htm#further%20reading>). These
other documents are still publicly accessible but have to be searched in
other ways, including via Google and “hidden” lists of publications on the
FAO website. Such lists include:
- FAO Forestry Papers 1 <http://www.fao.org/forestry/58718/en/>, a
series of 181 papers on forestry topics
24.
*United Nations Information Centre Kathmandu <http://un.info.np/>.* A
digital repository of ca. 10,000 documents about the work of UN in Nepal.
Most are short or abstract documents, but there will be some gems for
direct use in a library like this.
25.
*Smithsonian Libraries: Books Online 2
<https://library.si.edu/books-online>.* All the free-to-read books from
the Smithsonian Libraries. However, they simply embed the Internet Archive
reader for all these works, and do not offer any better search option,
download formats or meta info. So we will better simply link to The
Internet Archive in these cases.
26.
*Hardcopy-only works and paid e-books.* These works are not directly
useful for the library, as licence issues prohibit their distribution.
However, we might be able to negotiate an open content licence, and
otherwise can use these works to create own works with information provided
in them.
27.
*Special mention: 405 free books about permaculture and agroecology 2
<https://www.agroalimentando.com/nota.php?id_nota=3979> (Spanish).* All
these books are in Spanish, but if you understand Spanish or perhaps use
automatic translation, the collection will be highly valuable.
3. Selected Works
The “selected works” below are the books we recommend to read, download and
store offline in your personal “autarky library”. It is a fraction of the
complete library list in the chapter afterwards, and each work is linked
into that full list for additional information such as publishing metadata,
a short description, a review etc…
*Requirements for inclusion.*
- only books in English language (we’ll make an exception for
exceptional works though)
- only books that are free to download
- only the best and most up-to-date book about each subject
- avoiding overlap between works as much as possible
*Specification-only entries.* In addition, some selected works are only
specifications – means, we could not yet determine any freely available
e-book that could fill this spot. These items can be recognized by starting
with “(spec)” and not having a linked title.
*Progress marker.* The “complete library” list has been processed up to and
including item no. 399 for inclusion of works into this “Selected Works”
list.
3.1. Introduction, Multi-topic works
- (spec) Practical Anarchy (details [image: :speech_balloon:])
- (spec) You are Part of The Planet (details [image: :speech_balloon:])
- (spec) The Autarky Solution (details [image: :speech_balloon:])
- (spec) The Big Questions (details [image: :speech_balloon:])
4. Complete Library
In no particular order. New works are simply added to the bottom and get a
new number. This way, the number can be used as an identifier / reading
list marker, including in links from the “Selected Works” section above.
<http://files.diydharma.org/other/John_Seymour-The_Complete_Book_of_Self_Sufficiency.pdf>*.
1976. 258 pages. This book is said to be the standard work that
“practically invented modern sustainable living”. Covers all aspects of
farming and home production. Machines and tools proposed are usually
DIY-producable, as nearly none of them are electrical.
3.
*The Farmers’ Handbook 23
<https://permaculturenews.org/2010/01/06/farmers-handbook/>.* A complete
permaculture manual by Chris Evans and Jakob Jespersen. Written for Nepal
but applicable worldwide. Available in English and Nepali, with the Nepali
version available only in print.
8.
*Stone: An Introduction 14
<http://www.fastonline.org/CD3WD_40/JF/440/33-807.pdf>.* 149 pages. with
everything you ever wanted and didn’t want to know about using stone as a
building material, how to work it etc…
14.
*The self-reliant potter: Refractories and kilns 15
<https://mia.giz.de/qlink/ID=27016000>.* Very thorough instructions for
building and using kilns to fire earthenware.
15.
*Small scale production of lime for building 9
<https://mia.giz.de/qlink/ID=26956000>.* Plans for a plant that can
produce up to 14 tons of lime per day. Lime can be used as a replacement
for portland cement in building.
16.
*Supplement Energy for Rural Development 2
<https://books.google.de/books?id=TnwrAAAAYAAJ>.* Not too much in-depth,
but offers quite some inspirations because it touches what they considered
innovations and “future technology” in 1981. Can be downloaded as PDF. Also
available as PDF from National Academic Press 1
<https://www.nap.edu/catalog/19665>.
28.
*Five Acres and Independence: A Practical Guide to the Selection and
Management of the Small Farm 6
<https://books.google.de/books?id=cLN38bXsRNIC> (offline).* 1940. 397
pages. A book covering all aspects of a self-sufficient small farm.
45.
*Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre 6
<https://www.amazon.com/dp/1602399840> (offline).* Mentioned as the
inspiration of the even more extreme “dense farming” practices of The
Urban Homestead 1 <http://urbanhomestead.org>, which they consequently
call “micro farming”.
46.
*A Practical Treatise on Mill-gearing, Wheels, Shafts, Riggers 8
<https://books.google.de/books?id=Wic1AAAAMAAJ>.* 1877. 120 pages.
Discusses how to build a windmill / watermill to do mechanical work.
49.
*A Practical Treatise on Concrete and how to Make it: With Observations
on the Use of Cements, Limes and Mortars 4
<https://books.google.de/books?id=kHYOAAAAYAAJ>.* 1869. 108 pages.
51.
*An Elementary Handbook of Applied Mechanics 3
<https://books.google.de/books?id=UzcDAAAAQAAJ>.* 1873. 149 pages.
Discusses the production of raw metals, mechanical laws, and simple
mechanical devices. Not much in-depth though.
53.
*Appleby’s Illustrated Handbook of Machinery. Section II. – Hoisting
machinery 6 <https://books.google.de/books?id=IVZDAAAAIAAJ>.* 1877. 162
pages. Very interesting because all these lifting devices are quite
low-tech.
55.
*Handbook for Battery Energy Storage in Photovoltaic Power Systems
<https://books.google.de/books?id=mcL3P6x7xTcC>.* 1979. 131 pages.
Discusses lead-acid and nickel-cadmium batteries. Lead-acid batteries have
not progressed much since 1979, so it might still be applicable.
56.
*The handbook for midwives 2
<https://books.google.de/books?id=VCIDAAAAQAAJ>.* 1872. 151 pages.
Obviously not to be followed as it is, as medicine has progressed a lot
since then. However, so far this is the only book on the subject we have …
57.
*Handbook of Chemistry, for School and Home Use 1
<https://books.google.de/books?id=TpwIAAAAIAAJ>.* 1869. 205 pages.
Includes a discussion of the elements, of distillation and fermentation.
Probably not too useful, as when processes have to be developed this is not
enough in-depth, and obviously omits modern chemical processes. Still,
sometimes the older ones are better for small-scale operations.
58.
*A Handbook of Chemical Manipulation 5
<https://books.google.de/books?id=JQ0uAAAAYAAJ>.* 1857. 580 pages. Very
nice, as it discusses not so much chemical reactions but lab equipment and
how to make it.
60.
*The handbook of turning 3
<https://books.google.de/books?id=4wcuAG733z4C>.* 1842. 225 pages.
Available in EPUB and PDF formats for downlod (not just PDF as most other
Google Books). Something more concise and in-depth would be desirable, but
this is a good start.
61.
*A Handbook of Chemical Technology 3
<https://books.google.de/books?id=G0Q3AAAAMAAJ>.* 1872. 745 pages. Very
in-depth, detailing all the processes available in the chemical industry of
the time, at a technology level that is achievable in autarkic settings.
62.
*A new family herbal; or, A history and description of all the British
and foreign plants which are useful to man 2
<https://books.google.de/books?id=oKJgAAAAcAAJ>.* 1870. 439 pages.
Obviously, extreme care and diligent research has to be exerted before
trying any herbal preparations of times before modern medicine. So this is
more a basis for research and not a manual, though some gems are in it for
sure.
63.
*The New Family Herbal: Comprising a Description, and the Medical
Virtues of British and Foreign Plants, Etc.
<https://books.google.de/books?id=tw5hAAAAcAAJ>.* Very similar to the
one just above. The same precautions apply.
64.
*Practical Pharmacy: the Arrangements, Apparatus, and Manipulations, of
the Pharmaceutical Shop and Laboratory 2
<https://books.google.de/books?id=miHrAAAAMAAJ>.* 1849. 390 pages.
66.
*A Manual of Vegetable Plants: Containing the Experiences of the Author
in Starting All Those Kinds of Vegetables which are Most Difficult for a
Novice to Produce from Seeds 2
<https://books.google.de/books?id=hMtEAAAAIAAJ>.* 1877. 102 pages.
Available in EPUB and PDF format.
67.
*Drying Fruits and Vegetables in the Home: With Recipes for Cooking 5
<https://books.google.de/books?id=--mLj_11SvgC>.* 1917. 29 pages. With
many illustrations of driers, and instructions how to build them.
69.
*Control of Diseases and Insect Enemies of the Home Vegetable Garden
<https://books.google.de/books?id=iIcoAAAAYAAJ>.* 1917. 72 pages.
Contains many natural remedies, but also instructions for mixing pesticides
that seem *very* bad (“Bordeaux
mixture combined with lead arsenate”). So only use the natural ones …
71.
*Diseases and insects of garden vegetables 1
<https://books.google.de/books?id=lSVPG0nRLaUC>.* 1937. 58 pages. Again,
natural remedies and chemical concoctions. Better only use the natural ones.
72.
*Vitamin and Mineral Values of Vegetables as Served in an Army Mess 2
<https://books.google.de/books?id=DBsuAAAAYAAJ>.* 1947. 18 pages. Some
interesting knowledge on simple analysis methods, and some interesting data
points (“potatoes lost 50% of vitamin C during boiling, mashed potatoes
lose more than 80%”).
76.
*The Home Vegetable Garden 2
<https://books.google.de/books?id=_N4ybtu2TCYC>.* 1906. 47 pages.
Includes planting times, cultivation hints, and a section on home gardening
tools.
80.
*Soil Fertility and Animal Health 3
<http://soilandhealth.org/book/soil-fertility-and-animal-health/>.* A
very substantial work discussing nutrient cycles in grasslands and their
implications fr animal health (and by extension, for human health). This is
by one opinionated author and contains original research and some
assumptions, so don’t take it as the consolidated opinion of scientists but
as a great inspiration for solving local problems.
87.
*Conquest of the Land Through Seven Thousand Years
<http://soilandhealth.org/book/conquest-of-the-land-through-seven-thousand-years/>.*
1948. 32 pages. A survey of soil erosion worldwide, documenting how
short-sighted human activity ruined most places that were once fertile. It
asserts that, for example, the loss of agriculture from Roman times to
today in Tunisia is due to loss of soil, not due to climate changes.
95.
*The Biochar Revolution: Transforming Agriculture and the Environment
<https://books.google.com/books?id=vS-6bwAACAAJ> (offline).* 2010. 361
pages. The first chapter (52 pages) is available for download 1
*Knots, Splices and Rope Work 12
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009095271>.* 1944. 146 pages.
Also available in an older addition, with proofreading, as Project
Gutenberg text no. 13510 2
*Ten Acres Enough : A practical experience, showing how a very smal farm
may be made to keep a very large family. With Extensive and Profitable
Experience in the Cultivation of the Smaller Fruits
*An encyclopaedia of gardening
<https://openlibrary.org/works/OL244970W/An_encyclopaedia_of_gardening>.*
“Comprising the theory and practice of horticulture, floriculture,
arboriculture, and landscape-gardening, including all the latest
improvements; a general history of gardening in all countries; and a
statistical view of its present state, with suggestions for its future
progress in the British Isles.”
209.
*Labour saving on the farm 2
<https://openlibrary.org/works/OL12520476W/>.* 1997. “Work less, do
more: save time, men and money by using more horses and larger machines.”
218.
*The new cyclopædia of domestic economy, and practical housekeeper
<https://archive.org/details/newcyclopdiaofdo00elle/>.* 1872. “Adapted
to all classes of society and comprising subjects connected with the
interests of every family, and five thousand practical receipts and maxims.
From the best English, French, German, and American sources.”
230.
*Five thousand receipts in all the useful and domestic arts :
constituting a complete and universal practical library, and operative
cyclopædia <https://archive.org/details/fivethousandrece00mack/>.* 1829.
232.
<http://www.pustakalaya.org/documents/detail/8cd7198b-d707-4fc1-b736-934ab6442658/>.*
2004. 224 pages. “This book addresses current controversial debates about
food quality. What is it that makes people decide that food is of good, or
alternatively of dubious, ‘quality’? How food is produced, how it is
prepared, how it tastes and in what circumstances it is consumed are all
dimensions of its quality.”
241.
*Joy Of Making Indian Toys 8
<http://www.pustakalaya.org/documents/detail/8fff1646-459f-43cb-9a8a-d25189459ead/>.*
1992. 58 pages. “This simple activity book teaches two things, namely, how
to make 101 handmade toys which are playthings even today in remote corners
of our country and how toys, simple in design and based on science and
technology, can be made at home with discarded materials.”
242.
*Pesticides Are Poison 1
<http://www.pustakalaya.org/documents/detail/0538f881-cf63-4f08-8c45-9e5f80c389bf/>.*
2005. 44 pages. “‘Pesticides are Poison’ is part of a forthcoming book by
the Hesperian Foundation, A Community Guide to Environmental Health. The
Community Guide will cover other environmental health topics such as
sanitation, water quality and supply, food security and sustainable
farming, mining and oil drilling, industrial pollution and forestry.”
243.
*Beekeeping Training For Farmers In The Himalayas : Resource Manual For
Trainers 1
<http://www.pustakalaya.org/documents/detail/a7b18bf1-7485-4cb1-9d71-2641232d7eaa/>.*
2012. 190 pages. “This manual is designed to help provide beekeepers with
the up-to-date training they need. It presents an inclusive curriculum
developed through ICIMOD’s work with partner organizations in Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India, and Nepal, supported by the Austrian Development Agency.”
244.
*Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise
for Worldwide Cultivation 4 <https://www.nap.edu/catalog/1398>.* 1989.
428 pages.
246.
*Microbial Processes: Promising Technologies for Developing Countries
<https://www.nap.edu/catalog/9544>.* 1979. 213 pages.
247.
*Insect-Pest Management and Control 2
<https://www.nap.edu/catalog/18674>.* 1969. 533 pages. Contains 400
pages of controlling insects biologically (with competitors and predators).
249.
*Neem: A Tree for Solving Global Problems 5
<https://www.nap.edu/catalog/1924>.* 1992. 152 pages. Explores the
potential of neem for pest control and medicine.
250.
*Biobased Industrial Products: Research and Commercialization Priorities
1 <https://www.nap.edu/catalog/5295>.* 2000. 162 pages. Only
introductory, but interesting, as it states that aroudn 1900 almost all
non-food industrial materials were also plant based, while 100 years later
it was 95% petroleum based. So there is a way back!
255.
*Emerging Technologies to Benefit Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and
South Asia 1 <https://www.nap.edu/catalog/12455>.* 2009. 292 pages.
257.
*Ecologically Based Pest Management: New Solutions for a New Century 1
<https://www.nap.edu/catalog/5135>.* 1996. 160 pages.
258.
*Alternative Agriculture 1 <https://www.nap.edu/catalog/1208>.* 1989.
464 pages. Mostly case studies of U.S. American farms that “do things
differently”.
259.
*Applications of Biotechnology in Traditional Fermented Foods
<https://www.nap.edu/catalog/1939>.* 1992. 208 pages. Not directly
useful, but provides the science background of fermenting processes that
are already applied in traditional food processing.
260.
*Appropriate Technologies for Developing Countries 2
<https://www.nap.edu/catalog/19922>.* 1977. 161 pages. This is a
high-level analysis of appropriate technology, without any concrete
examples or instructions.
262.
*Roofing in Developing Countries: Research for New Technologies
<https://www.nap.edu/catalog/20115>.* 1974. 88 pages. Many interesting
ideas, for example about the use of plastics and sulfur to create roofing
and other building materials. No ready-to-use solutions though, but a lot
if interesting technical data points.
263.
*Prospects for Managed Underground Storage of Recoverable Water 6
<https://www.nap.edu/catalog/12057>.* 2008. 350 pages. Very interesting
discussion of how to store excess water in groundwater, by infiltration
with basins, trenches and wells. Quite high-level and not containing
instructions directly, but instructions can be derived from this after
study.
264.
*Water Conservation, Reuse, and Recycling: Proceedings of an
Iranian-American Workshop 1 <https://www.nap.edu/catalog/11241>.* 2005.
292 pages. A not-too-relevant collection of scientific papers, but with an
interesting paper about the construction of small-scale solar
desalination plants <https://www.nap.edu/read/11241/chapter/6>.
266.
*A woodstove compendium 9
<https://pure.tue.nl/ws/files/4440076/175114.pdf>.* 1981. 378 pages.
Investigates in much detail how to build a good wood or charcoal burning
stove, with many examples of existing designs.
268.
*Traditional Knowledge Digital Library <http://www.tkdl.res.in/>.* A
database of 1200 medical formulations from the Indian Ayurvedic, Unani and
Siddha traditions. In total 250,000 formulations, but the rest is only
available to patent offices for research of “prior art”. The website has
some severe usability issues, you have been warned.
269.
*Popular British fungi: containing descriptions and histories of the
principal fungi, both edible and poisonous, of our country
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001996808>.* 1877. 138 pages.
270.
*The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise: Its Habitat and its Time of Growth
2 <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001496438>.* 1908. 609 pages.
Also available as Project Gutenberg text no. 29086
*Edible and poisonous mushrooms : a descriptive handbook to accompany
the author’s colored chart of Edible and poisonous mushrooms 1
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001497475>.* 1916. 76 pages.
274.
*Toadstools, mushrooms, Fungi, edible and poisonous; one thousand
American Fungi; how to select and cook the edible; how to distinguish and
avoid the poisonous, with full botanic descriptions
<https://archive.org/details/toadstoolsmushro00mcilrich>.* 1912. 942
pages.
277.
*Edible insects: Future prospects for food and feed security
<http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3253e/i3253e00.htm>.* 2013. FAO Forestry
Paper 171. More a high-level overview, not farming instructions. Still
useful.
278.
*Deep well drilling; the principles and practices of deep well drilling
and a hand book of useful information for the well driller 3
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005746394>.* 1925. 662 pages.
Concerned with oil and gas wells, but much of the technology will also be
applicable to water wells, horizontal hole drilling etc…
283.
*Starting early vegetable and flowering plants under glass, including
details of construction, heating and operation of small greenhouses,
sash-houses, hotbeds, cold frames, etc. for the amateur and commercial
grower 1 <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009120492>.* 1929. 303
pages. Full-text access with a U.S. IP address only.
290.
*Profitable plants; a description of the principal articles of vegetable
origin used for food, clothing, tanning, dyeing, building, medicine,
perfumery, etc. 2 <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011631914>.*
1865. 359 pages.
292.
*Pharmacographia indica. A history of the principal drugs of vegetable
origin, met with in British India
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002070958>.* 1889-93. Full-text
access with a U.S. IP address only.
294.
*New method, which teaches how to make vegetable manure, by a course of
high fermentation, in fifteen days, without cattle, as good and more
durable than farm manure: to appropriate it to the nature of soils and
families of plants, and with great economy: it further shows how to prepare
vegetable and mineral composts, and contains various processes 2
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011621696>.* 1848. 90 pages.
About the so-called “Bommer method” of composting.
295.
*The indigenous drugs of India; or, Short descriptive notices of the
medicines, both vegetable and mineral, in common use among the natives of
India 1 <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011561903>.* 1867. 130
pages.
297.
*Gardening for pleasure. A guide to the amateur in the fruit, vegetable,
and flower garden, with full directions for the greenhouse, conservatory,
and window garden <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008595690>.*
1888. 404 pages.
300.
*A Description and history of vegetable substances used in the arts, and
in domestic economy <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006051000>.*
1830-33. 3 volumes, >1000 pages in total. Concerns all plant based
substances, not just of modern-day “vegetables”.
301.
*The Bommer method, for the manufacture of a superior quality of manure;
both from vegetable and mineral substances, with strict economy and great
dispatch. Further showing the best mode of preparing vegetable and mineral
composts, and a diversity of processes 4
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006826360>.* 1867. 90 pages.
302.
*Animal and vegetable oils, fats, & waxes, their manufacture, refining,
and analysis, including the manufacture of candles, margarine, and butter;
a practical treatise 2 <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100574315>.*
1920. 218 pages.
304.
*The book of vegetables and garden herbs; a practical handbook and
planting table for the vegetable gardener 1
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006647471>.* 1907. 312 pages.
Full-text access with a U.S. IP address only.
305.
*Every gardener his own seed grower : part II : home grown seed of
annual vegetables 2 <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100300572>.*
1918. Full-text access with a U.S. IP address only.
307.
*Origin and history of all the pharmacopeial vegetable drugs, chemicals
and preparations with bibliography
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000223248>.* 1921. This is indeed
only about the history or herbal medicines, often referring to a work
“Pharmacopeia” that should contain the actual recipes for preparation.
310.
*The Indian’s secret of health; or, What the white race may learn from
the Indian 4 <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006250102>.* 1917.
280 pages. Refers to native Americans in the U.S…
314.
*Chinese biogas digester : a potential model for small-scale, rural
applications : a manual for construction and operation 5
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011328909>.* 1985. 92 pages.
319.
*Improved food drying and storage : training manual
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007397456>.* 1983. Indeed “only”
a manual with lesson plans about this topic, not dense in instructive
information.
322.
*Homemaking handbook for Village Workers in Many Countries 1
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007413745>.* 1971. 237 pages. A
teaching handbook for managing a household in a village. Provides the
“basics for everyone”, but nothing very in-depth.
332.
*Shaving Made Easy: What the Man Who Shaves Ought to Know 19
<https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Shaving_Made_Easy>.* 1905. 80 pages.
Includes how to shave with a blade – very useful as disposable safety
razors are not easily self-producable.
362.
*Knots, ties and splices; a handbook for seafarers, travellers, and all
who use cordage; with historical, heraldic, and practical notes 2
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100764975>.* 1884. 101 pages.
368.
*Drilling ; Lathe work ; Boring-mill work ; Working chilled iron ;
Bench, vise, and floor work ; Erecting 3
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005768982>.* 1914. Probably >1000
pages.
372.
*Building stone, lathing, plastering, and tiling, common brickwork,
ornamental brickwork and terra cotta, lighting fixtures, use and design of
lighting fixtures, architectural design 8
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008411031>.* 1909. 496 pages.
374.
*Meteorology for all; facts about the atmosphere, air travel, weather
forecasting, clouds, winds, storms [and] how to read the weather map 2
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007156767>.* 1946. 162 pages.
399.
*Meteorology: a text book on the weather, the causes of its changes, and
weather forecasting, for the student and general reader 3
<https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001997897>.* 1936. 549 pages.
400.
*Plowman’s Folly 2
<https://soilandhealth.org/copyrighted-book/plowmans-folly/>.* 1943. It
was an influential work about alternatives to mainstream agriculture at its
time. The value of the content for the present time has to be checked,
though.
414.
*Soil, Grass and Cancer
<https://soilandhealth.org/copyrighted-book/soil-grass-and-cancer/>.*
1959. It’s said to be a good work establishing the connection between
nutrient balance in soil and health, but also that the parts about cancer
are outdated now and better ignored or read with a lot of salt. A facsimile
(not searchable) PDF variant is here
*The Keyline Plan 2 <https://soilandhealth.org/book/the-keyline-plan/>.*
1954. About keyline plowing, the method of plowing along terrain
contourlines to let water seep into the ground instead of running off.
435.
*The Survival of Civilization 1
<https://soilandhealth.org/book/the-survival-of-civilization/>.* 1982.
From the time in the 1980s when people feared a new ice age. Might offer
some interesting insights about rock dust fertilization of soils, though.
440.
*Trees and Toadstools
<https://soilandhealth.org/copyrighted-book/trees-and-toadstools/>.*
1945. A foundational work of the organic movement, stating that trees and
fungi are in a symbiotic relationship and thus that it’s important to care
for the microbial soil life instead of destroying it with chemicals.
447.
*Handbook of Biomass Downdraft Gasifier Engine Systems 3
<https://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/old/3022.pdf>.* 1988. 148 pages. A
very detailed, technical design manual how to run engines up to 200 kW from
woodgas and other biomass-derived syngas.
450.
*Companion Planting: Successful Gardening The Organic Way
<http://soilandhealth.org/copyrighted-book/companion-planting/>.* 1983.
A unique organic gardening system created by Gertrud Frank from Germany,
from her own long-term observations of growing the family’s food.
454.
*Construction of a Simplified Wood Gas Generator for Fueling Internal
Combustion Engines in a Petroleum Emergency 3
<http://www.drtlud.com/?resource=prs94430>.* 1994. 90 pages. This is the
second edition. The document as a whole is an improved version of a
public domain document by the same name
*Esther Dean’s Gardening Book: Growing Without Digging 1
<http://soilandhealth.org/copyrighted-book/esther-deans-gardening-book/>.*
1977. An early permaculture book of a method the author developed for
gardening with “artificial” soil made from layers of paper, hay, straw,
fertilizer and compost, yielding phenomenal crops.
459.
*This Ugly Civilization 3
<http://soilandhealth.org/book/this-ugly-civilization/>.* 1929. An
economic rationale by a U.S. homesteader family about how domestic
production of food, shelter and clothing can provide modern comforts while
saving abut 30-40% of total worktime. Quite old material at the very start
of the back-to-the-land movement but it could inspire a modern version for
such an account, updated to include automation in both industrial and
domestic production.
461.
*Henley’s Twentieth Century Formulas, Recipes and Processes; Containing
ten thousand selected household and workshop formulas, recipes, processes
and money saving methods for the practical use of manufacturers, mechanics,
housekeepers and home workers 4
*Gardening for Profit; a guide to the successful cultivation of the
market and family garden
<http://soilandhealth.org/book/gardening-for-profit/>.* 1888. Including
great techniques for growing vegetables out of season, for storing them etc…
463.
*Gardening Without Irrigation …or without much, anyway 2
<http://soilandhealth.org/book/gardening-without-irrigation/>.* 1993.
Developed in Oregon, U.S., but with many applications in all places where
rain-fed farming is not possible during part or all of the year.
464.
*Organic Gardener’s Composting 2
<http://soilandhealth.org/book/organic-gardeners-composting/>.* 1993.
Contains both basic instructions for composting, and then a detailed
analysis of the nutrition value consequences of composting and how to make
great compost.
468.
*Solargas: How to easily make your own auto and heating fuel for pennies
a gallon 5 <http://soilandhealth.org/copyrighted-book/solargas/>.* 1979.
How to DIY produce ethanol and methanol from all kinds of organic wastes
and solar power.
471.
*Biochar as a Geoengineering Climate Solution: Hazard Identification and
Risk Management 3 <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233306803>.*
2012. 310 pages. Collects all the available knowledge about the impact of
different types of biochar on plant life and the climate. Even when not
applied on global scale, the informed use of biochar as a soil amendment
makes it simple to achieve a carbon negative lifestyle.
473.
*How to Grow More Vegetables: Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less
Land Than You Can Imagine 5
*Terra Preta Sanitation 1 3
<https://www.dbu.de/phpTemplates/publikationen/pdf/180615110354odmi.pdf>.*
2015. 148 pages. A manual about all aspects of terra preta, including its
formation. Then also discussing a low-tech system for the treatment of
human excreta that results in urine and vermicompost for agricultural
application. (Year of publication is found in the imprint, p. 146).
475.
*Construction Plans for the Champion-2008 TLUD Gasifier Cookstove
(including operational instructions) 6
<http://www.drtlud.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Construction-Plans-2009-03-11.pdf>.*
2009. 18 pages. This is quite a unique device because creating small-scale
wood gasifier stoves is thermodynamically difficult (as a large portion of
biomass must be kept pretty hot to keep the reaction going). This was the
first device that pulled this off. It can be fitted to be used in kitchens
around the world and will run on a variety of biomass. See also here 1
<http://www.drtlud.com/introduction/> for demonstration videos and other
materials.
476.
*EarthOS 9 <http://ma.juii.net/ma-documents/main/EarthOS.pdf>.* 2013.
856 pages. The “Earth Operating System” is a comprehensive proposal for
sustainable and peaceful life on the planet by enabling everyone to live in
autarkic, sustainable units in village size. The document is written as a
list of equipment to enable this, optimized for maximum mobility by
separation into multiple levels of varying mobility and completeness
(individual, group, network, village, seastead). The document is still
rather in a draft state, but contains a lot of ideas and inspirations for
autarkic living that have never been tried before. I (@matthias
<https://edgeryders.eu/u/matthias>) wrote this myself. See also the release
announcement page 2 <https://ma.juii.net/blog/earthos-0-13> on my
website. An updated 2018 version will be published soon, replacing this one.
477.
*The Bathroom 7 <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000703182>.*
1976. 286 pages. An alternative version (better scan quality but without
text) is available on scribd.com 1 <https://www.scribd.com/doc/268909137>.
The classic book by Alexander Kira that challenges (and challenges) the
construction of sinks, showers and toilets. Very thorough background
information on human anatomy as needed to design bathroom furniture, and
also including his own designs that are still not realized in any
off-the-shelf equipment. Interestingly, the book is listed as having public
domain licensing (CC-0).
478.
<http://hesperian.org/books-and-resources/#a_community_guide_to_environmental_health>.
Discusses all kinds of influences of the environment on human health and
what to do about it: 23 chapters about water safety and toilet issues,
solid waste and medical waste, forestry, mining and oil production, indoor
air pollution, pesticides and other chemicals etc…
487.
*OHORIZONS Wood Mold Construction Manual 3
<https://www.ohorizons.org/manuals>.* How to build a wooden mold and use
that to build slow sand filters from concrete for water house-level
purification.
493.
*Introduction to BioSand Filters 3 <https://www.ohorizons.org/manuals>.*
Background information for building a slow sand water purification filter.
495.
*UT Extension Plan Files 6
<https://ag.tennessee.edu/BESS/Pages/Plans.aspx>.* The University of
Tennessee’s collection of 300 plans for agricultural buildings and
equipment. They are in the public domain and may originate from the 1970s
to 1980s. Not a single PDF but you can download and combine the PDF files
yourself, so we count it as one “book” here. Abut 150 MiB in total.
496.
*Handy farm devices and how to make them 9
<https://archive.org/details/cu31924080109832>.* 1912. 304 pages. With
many illustrations, showing how to make all kinds of simple tools oneself,
incl. for gardening, farming, livestock keeping, woodworking and other
workshop use.
498.
*Wood for Energy 1 <http://www.fao.org/3/q4960e/q4960e00.htm>.* Ca.
1983. A document by the FAO’s forest department, discussing the main ways
how to use wood for heating, cooking and electricity in a sustainable way.
499.
*Simple technologies for charcoal making 2
<http://www.fao.org/3/X5328E/X5328E00.htm>.* 1983. A document by the
FAO’s forest department, discussing earth pits, eath mounds, brick kilns
and metal kilns for wood carbonization.
500.
*A manual of home-making <https://archive.org/details/cu31924000454854>.*
1920. 736 pages. A detailed treatment of most household and kitchen work.
Due to the technology in use at the time, it contains many “low-tech
solutions” for today.
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From: IPS - Special Issue <newsletter@ipsnews.net>
Date: Fri, Mar 22, 2019 at 5:31 PM
Subject: World Water Day 2019
Editorial team led by:
Nalisha Adams in Johannesburg
Estrella Gutierrez in Caracas with Stefanie Wildes and Veronica Firme in
Montevideo
Tharanga Yakupitiyage, IPS UN Bureau in New York
Walter Garcia in Madrid with Mauro Teodori in Rome