Customer Reviews

Earth User's Guide to Permaculture 2nd Edition

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I stumbled across the Earth User's Guide to Permaculture when I was searching for good books on the topic as I was looking for material to help start our permaculture garden, and the good reviews I read online convinced me to buy it. And am I glad I did!

I only had a very general idea about permaculture, and most of it was "theoretical". There's a plethora of free information available online as to WHY permaculture, but there isn't much about HOW. This book is an excellent guide which addresses this need, explaining in a simple manner the varied and multi-faceted techniques and processes of creating and nurturing your own permaculture garden/farm.

The book is divided in to 6 main sections:
Part 1: An observing and appraising eye
Part 2: Ecological themes in permaculture
Part 3: Applying permaculture
Part 4: Adding resilience to design
Part 5: Social permaculture

The first two parts talk extensively on the WHY of permaculture, and the next three sections talk about HOW in detail.

If you are like me, a newbie to permaculture, this is the one book you should have on your shelf. I'm sure veterans too would find it quite useful.

This is my favorite Permaculture book so far. I've read several, but "Earth User's Guide to Permaculture" seems to have the most practical, hands-on information. It is presented in an easy to understand format, with exercises that will help the reader gain the necessary skills. A wonderful overview of Permaculture.

The author has had many years of international experience in training people
in all aspects of the permaculture philosophy and lifestyle.
With global warming making the whole issue more pressing, the book is
easy to read, covers all areas including disaster planning and shows how
fulfilling is is to tread lightly on the earth and regain control of basic
aspects of living. To become a permaculturist is to join a world-wide
movement of individuals determined to leave the world a better place.

Let me begin by saying this isn't a bad book, but it doesn't begin to compare with "Gaia's Garden". A look at the index will explain why. The index is a whole 2-pages long. Would you like to look up "no-till"? You won't find it under either N or T. Sphagnum peatmoss? Not under S or P. Lots of drawings, and some of them useful, even if a bit amateurishly executed. In short. It's useful, but a bit too heavy with ideology and light on instructive info. Again, for an understanding of the importance of permaculture and ecology, there are better books than this.

Well, I am no expert, but if one book were going to get me there, this is the one. It has everything from suggested diagrams for planting your permaculture yard or acreage, to planting techniques for us late starters. If you only get one book on the subject, this is a good choice.

For practical permaculture advice, no one does it better than Ms. Morrow writing and Allsop illustrating. The book is divided into easy to reference chapters and did I mention it is practical. Most permaculture books spend hours talking about design methodologies and theory. Rosemary shows the practices in action and the results.

Of particular benefit is the design analysis at the beginning of each chapter. It is basically a why and why not section. "What results will we get with this way of thinking"

One of the previous reviewers talked about the Liberal leanings but I didn't pick that up. Sure there is the "cars are bad message" and not everything here can be followed to the letter. But regardless of how permaculture helps the environment it will help us be more self-sufficient. And that's coming from a crazy Libertarian. So there...

I'm lucky I stumbled upon this book before I started working on my vacation property. I plan to put many of these suggestions into action and observe. I've learned a lot in this book that I've tried and adapted to my way of thinking into my blog at [...] and my podcast "The Self-Sufficient Gardener".