Customer Reviews

Earth Knack: Stone Age Skills for the 21st Century

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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If you are looking for a book on basic primitive living skills you will find a goldmine of information in Earth Knack. The broad range of areas covered include making fire, making cordage (from vegetable and animal sources), making tools, tanning, flintknapping, making dyes and colors, baskets, bowls, pottery, food and cooking, soap, music, and clothing.

Each chapter provides everything you need to know to complete a couple of projects of that genre but is hardly a thorough treatment of the subject. For example the food and cooking, animals, and getting dressed sections each could easily consume two or three books and there are many on the market that do. What this book provides is a thorough introduction to the skills and the ability to develop confidence by going through several projects.

Although most areas are not covered in detail, some areas are covered better than any other book of this nature I have seen. For example, fire, cordage, baskets, buckets, and bowls are all treated in detail. It contains an unusually good section on flintknapping and an excellent section on making fire. While the techniques are mentioned in other books this is the first one I have read that provided sufficient information to figure out what you are doing wrong if it doesn't work. For example the first several times I tried to create a fire with friction I only created a glazed effect on the wood. This is the only book that mentioned what caused it and what to do about it.

For anyone wanting a broad introduction of all the basic skills of primitive living, Earth Knack is a highly recommended book.

This book is well written and encourages the reader to be an active participant in the process of discovery (or re-discovery, as the writers may contend). The book is cleverly illustrated and fun to read, offering a wealth of information I have not found in any other sourcebook on primitive skills. I found myself jumping off the couch to venture outside to collect plants for dyeing fabric. Later, I used the description of how to make cordage from native plants found right in my own backyard. I would stongly recommend this book to anyone interested in practical, hands-on, primitive skills.

I know Robin and Bart and enjoyed both their book as well as the excellant Earth Knack School that Robin runs . Both their school and this excellant book focus on hands-on. If you fully intend to learn the skills your ancestors used to keep alive this is THE BOOK. Filled with outstanding drawings that guide you through each skill in a step by step fashion Earth Knack points the way and leaves it up to you to take the path.

I don't even know how many color-by-number wilderness survival manuals I had to buy before I stumbled over this gem. It tops my list of recommended reference materials when researching survival skills. For all of those aspiring authors or hardcore campers who would like to know how to survive in the woods (or anywhere else for that matter) where your list of resources does NOT assume a camping stove, cell phone, emergency kit, or water purifier, this is the book you need.

I saw this book in a picture taken at Rabbit Sticks, a back to the basics meet up. It gives good basic information on living with stone age skills.

I bought this book for an urban outdoorsman, and he was most appreciative when he got into some of the pre-tech problem solving.

I took an Outward Bound Course, and Bart was the Instructor. He was a very intersting man, so i bought his booy, which was just as intersting