A farmer's almanac, Whole Earth Catalog, and scouting handbook all rolled into one. Contains information on a wider range of topics than other books of its kind.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
Praise for the first edition:
"How we have survived this long without Public Works I don't know. The concept is brilliant and simple. Szykitka has assembled 1,000 pages of sheer Information, almost all of it in the public domain, almost all of it available in booklet form from various government agencies or other public services. You and I are lazy and feckless, and if we are troubled by mildew we don't get around to writing the Department of Agriculture for guidance. (Or if we do, the mildew has either vanished or triumphed by the time the booklet arrives.) Szykitka, however, is a persistent fellow with an unbridled lust for collecting basic knowledge. If we had lived in a rural community a century ago, much of the knowledge gathered here would have been in our bones."
--Harper's Magazine, October 28, 1974
"How we have survived this long without Public Works I don't know. The concept is brilliant and simple. Szykitka has assembled 1,000 pages of sheer Information, almost all of it in the public domain, almost all of it available in booklet form from various government agencies or other public services. You and I are lazy and feckless, and if we are troubled by mildew we don't get around to writing the Department of Agriculture for guidance. (Or if we do, the mildew has either vanished or triumphed by the time the booklet arrives.) Szykitka, however, is a persistent fellow with an unbridled lust for collecting basic knowledge. If we had lived in a rural community a century ago, much of the knowledge gathered here would have been in our bones."
--Harper's Magazine, October 28, 1974
"It has the hand-hewn feel of the old Whole Earth Catalog and the weight of a phone book. . . . I find it to be perfect bedtime reading, and my dreams are filled with the care of corn crops and methods of collecting water after falling from an airplane. Public Works gives me fantasies of starting over with a few acres of farmland, a hammer, and a saw, and provides me with a vision of unelectrified reliance." --Paul Ford, The Morning News (Web-based periodical), November 26, 2002
From the Back Cover
Rural homesteaders and urban apartment dwellers alike will find a mother lode of practical information in The Big Book of Self-Reliant Living. This selective compendium of public-domain documents, many of them no longer available today, provides in one single volume a wealth of knowledge and useful instruction on just about every aspect of self-sufficiency, from building a living structure and growing food to staying healthy and using tools of all kinds.
More than 600 pages of pamphlets, documents, and articles are reproduced here in facsimile, making this a true cornucopia of practical advice. Learn how to:
Build a greenhouse
Administer first aid
Stock a shelter in case of nuclear attack
Build a stone wall
Survive in the wilderness, at sea, and in the city
Plant, prune, and propagate trees and shrubs
Read architect's drawings
Care for your pets
Keep bees and harvest honey
Remove stains and prevent mildew
Weave fabric and repair clothing
Hunt, trap, and fish
Repair a screen or leaking faucet
Relieve allergy symptoms
Build a wood-frame, brick, adobe, or log house
Stay safe during storms and floods
Can, freeze, and dry your garden produce
Control high blood pressure
Cut metal and stone
and much, much more!
More than 600 pages of pamphlets, documents, and articles are reproduced here in facsimile, making this a true cornucopia of practical advice. Learn how to:
Build a greenhouse
Administer first aid
Stock a shelter in case of nuclear attack
Build a stone wall
Survive in the wilderness, at sea, and in the city
Plant, prune, and propagate trees and shrubs
Read architect's drawings
Care for your pets
Keep bees and harvest honey
Remove stains and prevent mildew
Weave fabric and repair clothing
Hunt, trap, and fish
Repair a screen or leaking faucet
Relieve allergy symptoms
Build a wood-frame, brick, adobe, or log house
Stay safe during storms and floods
Can, freeze, and dry your garden produce
Control high blood pressure
Cut metal and stone
and much, much more!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
95 of 96 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More than you would expect,
By
This review is from: The Big Book of Self-Reliant Living: Advice and Information on Just About Everything You Need to Know to Live on Planet Earth (Paperback)
I really do not know where to start with this book. I am a former executive that left that world behind 2 years ago. I am currently working towards more self-reliant living and ways to cut down on money that leaves my driveway. This book will tell you how to do everything from raising little farm animals, to prepping and planting a garden, selecting an appropriate water heater, positioning your new home to take advantage of shade in reducing costs for heating & cooling, building a bench, construction techniques (large and small), home remedies (including making cleaning supplies), country cooking (with numerous recipes and substitutions), to selecting land. There is just too much in this book to cover everything. In every section it gives you the good and the bad. Unlike other books of this type, it does not contain radical, anti-anything, just hard facts, and common sense suggestions.Examples are: types of solar power, advantages/disadvantages of each, and their ROI (some of which are years [up to 25] to recoup the costs); raising sheep correctly, ensuring that you can rotate pastures to prevent diseases that I haven't heard of since I was in vet school; and, not raising turkeys where you will have animal A or B. Just good stuff!! I know that many people my age (mid-30s) are realizing that debt is too easy, and we need to take responsibility for ourselves. This book will give you the tools you need, the rest is up to you. I have purchased a dozen copies of this book so far, to give to people that really want to live self-reliantly, or that just want help in making informed decisions to become a little self-reliant. This book can be useful anywhere for most of it; however, unlike other books that contain information on gardening and small-scale farming, this book covers the southeastern US like a blanket in regards to winter grazing and feeding for animals, and planting times. I just cannot say enough about this book. This will be the best money you spend on a library of books...it is large, small print, and packed with information, without being radical like other books...its just good, common sense.
122 of 131 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Probably not what you're expecting,
By annamosity (GA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Big Book of Self-Reliant Living: Advice and Information on Just About Everything You Need to Know to Live on Planet Earth (Paperback)
...at least it wasn't what I was expecting. The title, "The Big Book of Self-Reliant Living" lead me to believe that it was a handbook for living off the land. However, when it arrived I was dismayed to find that the "health" section did not contain home remedies or herbal medicine, but 40 pages (40 pages!!) of lists of the nutritional value of foods. Who has time to count calories on a farm? Furthermore, the "health" section had oodles of detailed information on diagnosing a wide variety of cancers and chronic diseases. I found this to be frustratingly unhelpful information. The bizarre material can be perfectly illustrated by the bee-keeping page. It instructs the reader to buy factory made hives, and to have a bee-keeper bring you bees. Self-reliant my foot. So, in summary: if you are a hypochondriac who lives in a city and you want a book with tips on environment-friendly heating methods, instructions for removing stains from clothing, money saving ideas for the grocery store or a chart of toy dog breeds, then please contact me because I have the book for you!
48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A lot of information, "if" you can read it!,
By
This review is from: The Big Book of Self-Reliant Living: Advice and Information on Just About Everything You Need to Know to Live on Planet Earth (Paperback)
The first thing I noticed about this book was the terribly small print. I have 20/15 vision (better than 20/20) and even I considered using a magnifying glass to read this book! I bought this book mainly because I am preparing to build my own house and I will be doing 99% of the labor myself. And because of this, I concentrated mainly on sections of this book that are dedicated to home construction, masonry, brickwork, etc.
I found a lot of usefull information about building a house. But I would not advise using this book as a "stand alone" guide for home construction. However I do highly recommend this book as a companion reference on the subject. I especially enjoyed the section on "before you build", which pointed out a lot of design details that I will incorporate in my own floor plan. I would have given the book 5 stars for overall content. But the small print still irritates me and is worthy of taking away 1 star on its own. And the lack of detailed instructions on certain key topics can be annoying at times. So a half star loss there.
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Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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shortening allowance, length rafter table, needed headspace, prescribed grade elevation, sterile bandage compress, subsill header, cravat bandage, roof framing diagram, lapping member, double side cut, fireless cookery, theoretical basis for protection, appropriate schedule for checkups, framing allowance, doctor before treatment, machine darn, main roof ridge, marking gage, wye level, people with atopic dermatitis, cancer treatment depend, inflatable plastic splint, running spatula, rafter projection, thimble scale Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Calcium Iron, West Nile, Hot Pints, Walk Walk, Food Description, May I-June, National Institutes of Health, Raw Pints, Weight Water Calories, Federal Specification, June I-July, Extension Service, New York, Toxic Shock Syndrome, Big Dipper, North Carolina, Red Cross, Source List, True Cross, African American, Close Use, Clothing Repairs, Great Northern, Lean Protein New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
shortening allowance, length rafter table, needed headspace, prescribed grade elevation, sterile bandage compress, subsill header, cravat bandage, roof framing diagram, lapping member, double side cut, fireless cookery, theoretical basis for protection, appropriate schedule for checkups, framing allowance, doctor before treatment, machine darn, main roof ridge, marking gage, wye level, people with atopic dermatitis, cancer treatment depend, inflatable plastic splint, running spatula, rafter projection, thimble scale Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Calcium Iron, West Nile, Hot Pints, Walk Walk, Food Description, May I-June, National Institutes of Health, Raw Pints, Weight Water Calories, Federal Specification, June I-July, Extension Service, New York, Toxic Shock Syndrome, Big Dipper, North Carolina, Red Cross, Source List, True Cross, African American, Close Use, Clothing Repairs, Great Northern, Lean Protein New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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