More Other Homes and Garbage: Designs for Self-Sufficient Living, Complete Revised, Expanded, and Updated [Paperback]

Jim Leckie (Author), Gil Masters (Author), Harry Whitehouse (Author), Lily Young (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 374 pages
• Publisher: Sierra Club Books; Revised & enlarged edition (June 12, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087156274X
• ISBN-13: 978-0871562746
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #399,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An incredible reference, March 4, 2000

By 

"daphage" (Ithaca, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: More Other Homes and Garbage: Designs for Self-Sufficient Living, Complete Revised, Expanded, and Updated (Paperback)

While ageless classics exist, I must deduct one star per 25 year for technical manuals. This however is a library of practical knowledge in one book. This book from '75 found the perfect balance between techno-engineering texts that no one could read and the books that told you to conserve energy without any real direction or practicality. This book give practical design tips and easy to use formulas for everything from designing passive solar collectors to generating your own electricity to methane digesters and other waste handling techniques. Water supplies, photovoltaics, house insulation and even placing windbreaks around your house to both cool in the summer and protect in the winter are covered!

I used this book as a text in my Renewable Energy Systems course and learned more practical knowledge from it than I think I have in my 4 years at Cornell! Highly recommended and I hope people will buy it so we can get it back in print!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent if somewhat dated., October 13, 2000

A Kid's Review

This review is from: More Other Homes and Garbage: Designs for Self-Sufficient Living, Complete Revised, Expanded, and Updated (Paperback)

The calculations are essential, the thinking superb, the objectives truly exciting. Some of the technology noted in this 25 year old classic is somewhat dated, but its easy enough to update that data on your own. In short, a very worthwhile reference manual, and written without the a priori commercial motives found in much of the current literature.

5.0 out of 5 stars 40 years ahead of its time and a groovy title too!, September 15, 2011

By 

Nathan Chattaway (Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: More Other Homes and Garbage: Designs for Self-Sufficient Living, Complete Revised, Expanded, and Updated (Paperback)

This revised and expanded version of the original 1970s masterpiece is amazingly relevant today. Written by a bunch of very smart alternative academics, it was incredibly subversive when first published. Now, while still being firmly on the fringe of our cultural norms (how many people actually build their own sewerage treatment ponds and methane digesters?)the technologies explained within are far more available nowadays.

The book remains an excellent handbook for the keen DIY homesteader or self reliance practitioner. I love the home-made solar water heating schematics and examples. There could be more detail on dwelling design and construction, but since this topic is well catered for with loads of great books available, I will forgive it.

And it has one of the grooviest book titles ever! Buy it now, then pull it apart and get it ring-bound. The glue is probably falling apart on most copies by now anyway, and you'll need to lay it flat while building the many projects detailed within.