(Part 2) Best sustainable living books according to redditors
We found 73 Reddit comments discussing the best sustainable living books. We ranked the 31 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
If you move the decimal over. This is about 1,000 in books...
(If I had to pick a few for 100 bucks: encyclopedia of country living, survival medicine, wilderness medicine, ball preservation, art of fermentation, a few mushroom and foraging books.)
Medical:
Where there is no doctor
Where there is no dentist
Emergency War Surgery
The survival medicine handbook
Auerbach’s Wilderness Medicine
Special Operations Medical Handbook
Food Production
Mini Farming
encyclopedia of country living
square foot gardening
Seed Saving
Storey’s Raising Rabbits
Meat Rabbits
Aquaponics Gardening: Step By Step
Storey’s Chicken Book
Storey Dairy Goat
Storey Meat Goat
Storey Ducks
Storey’s Bees
Beekeepers Bible
bio-integrated farm
soil and water engineering
Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation
Food Preservation and Cooking
Steve Rinella’s Large Game Processing
Steve Rinella’s Small Game
Ball Home Preservation
Charcuterie
Root Cellaring
Art of Natural Cheesemaking
Mastering Artesian Cheese Making
American Farmstead Cheesemaking
Joe Beef: Surviving Apocalypse
Wild Fermentation
Art of Fermentation
Nose to Tail
Artisan Sourdough
Designing Great Beers
The Joy of Home Distilling
Foraging
Southeast Foraging
Boletes
Mushrooms of Carolinas
Mushrooms of Southeastern United States
Mushrooms of the Gulf Coast
Tech
farm and workshop Welding
ultimate guide: plumbing
ultimate guide: wiring
ultimate guide: home repair
off grid solar
Woodworking
Timberframe Construction
Basic Lathework
How to Run A Lathe
Backyard Foundry
Sand Casting
Practical Casting
The Complete Metalsmith
Gears and Cutting Gears
Hardening Tempering and Heat Treatment
Machinery’s Handbook
How to Diagnose and Fix Everything Electronic
Electronics For Inventors
Basic Science
Chemistry
Organic Chem
Understanding Basic Chemistry Through Problem Solving
Ham Radio
AARL Antenna Book
General Class Manual
Tech Class Manual
MISC
Ray Mears Essential Bushcraft
Contact!
Nuclear War Survival Skills
The Knowledge: How to rebuild civilization in the aftermath of a cataclysm
https://www.amazon.com/Going-Off-Grid-How-Happiness/dp/0983929866
I recently read this book and it is full of good info. Not really on how to live off grid but the steps you need to take and things you need to know about buying property, permitting, cost to drill a well, building types, etc.
I'm personally very interested in the idea of re purposing shipping containers into unconventional living spaces. If you can use multiple containers and compartmentalized(for use in space). I've seen a few interesting projects, the most interesting one being the Ecopods.
I also just stumbled upon this book in my quick search but its more so the practical aspect of modifying containers.
Gotta cultivate that conscience
I admittedly haven't followed their progress, but have a look at the concept of the Global Village Construction Set. The idea was "open [source] blueprints for the building blocks of civilization."
The Transition Handbook is also an excellent read with lots of concrete information and instructions on just the sorts of things you're looking for.
edit: I accidentally confused The Transition Handbook with the Toolbox for Sustainable City Living. Both are good, but the latter is definitely the hands-on, nitty-gritty book I was thinking of!
If you just use The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding as a reference, it is good. I also liked What to Expect. I kinda split the difference between crunchy SAHM and epidural-loving working mom, though.
My husband LOVED the daddy book I got him called Be Prepared. He ended up bringing it to the hospital with him, and eventually even I read the whole thing.
My friend who is really into nutrition of her babies just recommended Super Baby Food to me, but I can't vouch for it. Also seems to have mixed reviews on Amazon. I was given a book called The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet that I haven't really looked at yet, but might now that we're starting solids.
The only cloth diapering book I read was Changing Diapers by Kelly Wels. It was okay, but I did better just by internetting.
And if you're a frugal momma, pick up the most recent edition of Baby Bargains. I've only heard good things.
That's our goal, too. We have offered grass hay, but they've never been too interested in it. Their favorite forage (in the summer) were areas of clover, but they really loved pasture grasses.
In the winter, we've been giving them all of our windfall fruit, squashes, root crops as they become less optimal, etc. But, they still love the grasses, too, and have rooted it all up. Which is a big bonus for us! See book Plowing with Pigs
You're welcome. It seemed that my own choices/experience lined up with the kind of place you were already picturing.
There is other stuff too -- but most of that is more in the form of "generic" home buying advice (i.e. make certain you get a REALLY GOOD home inspection done before signing, ideally you should be there WITH the guy as he inspects the place).
And in addition to the basics of "inspection" {blatant of big existing problems} you also want to checking for {and at least know about} things like what construction/material choices went into the place {watch out for particle board [bad] or OSB/chipboard [not so great] or plywood [better] or actual boards [best]; and look for PVC/CPVC [acceptable] or copper [best] supply line plumbing rather than Galvanized [bad] or blue Polybutylene [BAD] or even PEX [trendy/debtable], etc -- Cf http://plumbing.about.com/od/basics/tp/Types-Of-Pipe.htm -- Oh and note that copper has other advantages {antimicrobial, etc} that often aren't talked about, and that the other types of pipe lack; plus while PEX is "fast" and cheap to install, it's durability over decades is questionable {tends to get brittle is exposed to UV -- and not all vendors properly store their PEX out of sunlight -- tubing installed might work fine for 10 years, then become brittle and something triggers a break and suddenly start flooding the walls, and unlike copper, "patching" a section of pipe isn't really possible}).
Or other things like making certain the house ISN'T in some recently land-filled or the low-lying area (not just some "flood plain", but you want to avoid too much settling or shifting, not to mention seasonal "muck") -- ideally you should rather want the house itself to be located up a bit higher than much of the surrounding land, enough so that natural drainage will prevent "wet/damp basement" problems, and so on.
Also... especially if you're looking for exurban/rural "country" home & land... make certain you learn a bit about private wells, and private septic systems. Both so that you know what "inspections" should be done, as well as how to "live with" a small residential septic system -- people moving out from cities where they are used to city water/sewer, tend to NOT understand that a private well and private septic are DIFFERENT critters; for example, you don't use the toilet as a "garbage disposal" the way many city folk use their sewer system (at least not unless you want to have to rip out and replace your entire septic leech bed). Think about picking up one of the following (or similar):
I'd do some additional reading (books or online) about building -- even if you're planning on buying something already existing rather than building your own place -- but keep in mind that a LOT of crap is focused on what is "trendy" and aesthetically appealing (i.e. resale "value" and/or spec home crap designed to get WOMEN to "fall in love" with "dream homes" and etc) rather than solid advice on livability/durability. Plus of course, most everything in the industry is aimed at "families" rather than single people (especially single MEN).. who are considered an unimportant/irrelevant and trivial market niche.
Here is a book that I really need/want.
What makes me happy? spending time with friends and family, my FurBabies, and being able to stay home instead of the hospital.
I found this cool book on amazon, restore. recycle. repurpose. : create a beautiful home.
hope your home reno goes smoothly!
If you have decided this is a real chance of this happening, there are apparently good books on training oxen.
I rarely buy into end of the world ideas, but I have long considered collecting books on subjects I would want to know if civilization collapsed and I somehow survived. That would be a good one to add to have as a subsistence farmer.