FreEBook: Bulletin of Primitive Technology

The second free publication I'm featuring is actually a magazine, not a book: Bulletin of Primitive Technology, first issue.  At 52 pages, though, it rivals much of what is being published today as e-books.  The only thing that makes it a magazine is the variety of articles.  Some are deeply philosophical, others are intensely practical.  The magazine is no longer being published, but the material has been collected into several books put out by the Society for Primitive Technology (which are not free).

FreEBook: Plant Guilds

There are a ton of free E-books to download on the Internet (and considering how little electrons weigh, a ton is a whole heck of a lot), and many of them pertain to the topics I cover in this blog.  There are two ways to approach this bounty: one is to provide long lists to download en masse, and the other is to review them one-by-one.  The major advantage of the first is that you have all the information if you lose access to the Internet; the main disadvantage is that you won't go through them when you download them, so you'll need to discipline yourself to come back to them later.

Since a number of people have already done the first option, I will not be doing it here.  I will, however, provide links to those links and even repositories.  Instead I will be providing links to individual e-books in the same annotated manner I have been for articles, videos, and everything else.

The first free E-book comes from MidwestPermaculture.com: Plant Guilds.  This is a bit of a "cheat sheet" for doing permaculture in temperate climates, having done some of the design work for you.  In it are 10 plans of plants that go together.  Most of them are labeled by the largest tree in them; the two notable exceptions are the Bee Guild, to attract pollinators, and the Wet Meadow Guild.

Something Fishy about this Method of Farming...

Barry at RatherYes.com has a rather extensive article about raising tilapia using aquaponics.  While it is an advertisement to sell you a book, unlike most of its kind, it lets you know upfront exactly what it is, and instead of teasing you with all the benefits you will get from buying the book, this article has information that is actually useful; insufficient for actually raising the tilapia, but extensive enough to make a decent decision whether this is something you might really be interested in.

Related articles

• Is Tilapia Unhealthy?
• Should I Eat Tilapia?
• Grilling with Hannah: Tilapia Tacos
• McCook woman raises fish, vegetables using aquaponics

Rules for Communites that Last

Dmitri Orlov has been studying communities that have been able to stay together for long periods of time. He has distilled the rules into the post, Communities that Abide — The XIII Commandments. This is part of a book he is writing, Communities that Abide, which will only be available in paper form for a short time by preordering at http://cluborlov.blogspot.com; after that you will only be able to get it in ebook format.

The Bug-Out Movie

I've read the book, at some point I want to watch the movie:

Joel Skousen's Strategic Relocation

I still say, this late in the game, you should either stay where you are, or go home.  But if where you are is not home, or there are several places you feel at home, I think the book can help you decide.  Even if you're staying in place, he does a fine job of threat analysis for every area in these united States of America, so it can be useful for figuring out what to prepare for.

Related articles

• Map: Where You Don't Want to Be When It Hits the Fan
• Is It Time to Relocate? Top 100 Most Dangerous Cities in the USA in 2013
• Joel Skousen: Strategic Relocation, Feature Length Film, the Link

Captain Dave's Survival Guide

I recently came across a very interesting e-book entitled "Captain Dave's Survival Guide".  What amazes me is that he has the whole thing for available for free on his website.  I have only read a few pages so far, but it easily looks as good as the ones I see advertised everywhere for $20-$40.  Of course, he apparently doesn't spend the money advertising, so I wanted to let people know.

The Ascent Of Humanity

I'm so glad to see I'm not alone...

The Ascent Of Humanity by Charles Eisenstein (this is essentially the full text online).

I just discovered this book, due to the fact that he is the keynote speaker at the 2013 PASA Conference. After I finish reading it, I will be posting a review on the Long Ascent.

Planet Whizbang Updates

The Deliberate Agrarian posted a neat innovation in his June 2012 Blogazine: solar pyramids.  They serve the same purpose as Leandre Poisson’s Solar Cones® but cost a lot less.  They probably will adapt well to my Square Foot Garden.

The "garden clamp" system of underground storage he uses sounds interesting, too.  I first read about garden clamps in Mother Earth News.

I'll definitely want to get a copy of The Planet Whizbang Garden Idea Book For Gardeners when it comes out next winter.

Review: Healing Lyme Disease the Natural Way

William Hunter Duncan just posted an excellent review of the book Healing Lyme Disease the Natural Way by Wolf-Dieter Storl, along with his personal experiences with Lyme disease and thoughts on health care.