The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency: The Classic Guide for Realists and Dreamers [Hardcover]

John Seymour (Author), Deirdre Headon (Editor), William Sutherland (Preface), E. E. Schumacher (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2003

Make the break, realise the dream and start living 'The Good Life!' Packed with comprehensive information on all the practicals, from ploughing fields to milking cows, as well as new information on how to create an urban organic garden and harness natural energy. This new and revised full-colour edition of the illustrated classic is an engrossing read and a wonderful handbook for realists and dreamers alike.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Everyone dreams at some point in their lives of living the good life, albeit not in terms of the BBC comedy series. In this revised and fully updated edition of John Seymour's classic guide to self-sufficiency, the dream becomes more attainable. Now running a School of Self-Sufficiency in Ireland, John Seymour is as committed as ever to living a better life, more simply, by living off the land rather than out of shops. His magnum opus covers every conceivable topic from animal husbandry and butchering, seed sowing and cropping, dairy production and food storage, rubbish and recycling. All delivered in Seymour's inimitable, occasionally brusque style, it is a mine of information artfully illustrated with the original illustrations redrawn in full colour. New material includes GM crops, urban gardens and alternative forms of energy with craft skills rounding the picture of natural wholesomeness off nicely. A classic of its time and a new classic in the making, this revised edition will encourage and assist all those aspiring to a live a healthier, more environmentally friendly life. - Lucy Watson

About the Author

John Seymour is the acknowledged founding father of the self-sufficiency movement. Author of more than 40 books, he draws students from around the world to learn self-sufficiency first hand at his farm in County Wexford.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd; Revised edition (April 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0751364428
• ISBN-13: 978-0751364422
• Product Dimensions: 1.1 x 8.9 x 11.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #795,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Seymour is the acknowledged founding father of the self-sufficiency movement. Author of more than 40 books, he draws students from around the world to learn self-sufficiency first hand at his farm in County Wexford.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book: in a purely aspirational way June 30, 2008

By Megan

Format:Hardcover

Sometimes, when I'm having a particularly bad day, I take down this book and open it up to the section on how to arrange your self-sufficient farm on 1 or 5 acres. "All we would need," I beg my husband, "is five acres! And then we could keep 2 cows! One to milk and one to eat." His response? "You're a vegetarian."

Ahem. Anyway.

I love this book. It's a DK book, so it's well written, with short chapters/descriptions based on specific subjects. This format makes it easy to flip through for fun, or to find the information that interests you. There are lots of illustrations, drawn in the style that appears on the cover. It includes information on growing crops, keeping (and butchering) animals, cooking, weaving, energy, water, building... basically everything you need to know to do everything you need on your own.

Is this a total fantasy for most people? Yes, of course. But this is still such a useful book, even if you just want to learn the information in it without using it. Most everything in here used to be passed down from parent to child, and it was what people needed to know to survive. It's all information that's being lost and forgotten. And who knows, maybe soon enough we'll need to remember it?

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Actually not very useful; a disappointment. February 10, 2009

By J. V. Lewis VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've been looking for a general self-sufficiency skills handbook to help me with the myriad tasks farm life requires, an aid to improvised problem solving in a very remote area where many of the old skills are dead or dying or unaffordable. Positive Amazon reviews pointed me to this revised classic. What I discovered is a far-ranging, beautifully-illustrated, weighty tome that somehow manages to answer very few do-it-yourself question with enough depth to be useful. The author lives in Ireland, and in some cases the materials available to him are almost impossible to find in America: osiers? Slashing hooks? Peat knives? So, here in the American west many of the suggested solutions are simply out of reach. And I was immediately suspicious of the less familiar chapters when I saw that the sections on animal husbandry cover just a few pages. This topic is perhaps the most demanding that a farmer can face, and many beginner's guides are hundreds of pages long. This book leaves the reader with the misapprehension that keeping a hog is like keeping a stuffed bear. I think the subtitle should read: "a Classic Guide for Dreamers", so as not to mislead the realists into thinking that this book actually proposes any farming solutions. The one thing it does perfectly is underline the fact that a small farm is an intensive, demanding, all-encompassing undertaking for which no amount of pretty pictures will ever suffice. I love the idea, and I enjoy flipping through the book, but don't be fooled into thinking that there is much practicality to match the folksy wisdom in this book.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the best book ever! March 13, 2008

By Oyvind Grimstad Gryt

Format:Hardcover

This book is the perfect book for people who want to gain more control over their lives and live healthily in cooperation with the environment. You'll learn everything from rearing cattle, growing onions, harness natural power and furnishing a dairy. The perfect starting point for a better life away from the grind. And the best thing is that it's written in a very introductory manner so you don't have to be raised on a farm to understand it.

It changed my life..