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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)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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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

Product Description

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.
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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: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #468,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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John Seymour
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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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40 of 43 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 "Megan" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency: The Classic Guide for Realists and Dreamers (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?
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the best book ever!, March 13, 2008
This review is from: The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency: The Classic Guide for Realists and Dreamers (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..
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25 of 27 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 (secure undisclosed location) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency: The Classic Guide for Realists and Dreamers (Hardcover)
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book worth the price
This is one of the best general knowledge reference books I have come across. The author shares his experience of living a sustainable life and making it work without relying on... Read more
Published 11 days ago by JReiter

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic inspirational book
One of my favorite books ever. Makes you want to get up and start doing things ;-)
Published 9 months ago by Android

5.0 out of 5 stars a place to start
I found this book inspirational and a fantastic place to start when thinking about moving to the country and starting a self-sufficient life. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Lucky Maria

1.0 out of 5 stars European skills
Not wishing to bash this book excessively. However this book is twice the price of much better and more complete books on the subject. Read more
Published 18 months ago by J. Sowell

1.0 out of 5 stars Daydreaming for grown-up children
The author does not deal with the major problem here, which is there aren't enough hours in the day to do all of this. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Geoff Puterbaugh

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you
Thank you for the excellent book and delivery

from Vassie and Gordon
Published 19 months ago by Vasiliki Sollaye

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!
This book helps you learn how to become completely self sufficient, from growing and storing your own food to making your own bricks to build with. Read more
Published 20 months ago by M. Padgett

5.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't get any better than this book
This book covers about anything--I would LOVE to be able to pull off his 5 acre plan but in the meantime this book is invaluable for most self-sufficiancy subjects. Read more
Published 22 months ago by M. LONG

5.0 out of 5 stars also published as "The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It"
"The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency: The Classic Guide for Realists and Dreamers," is a truly wonderful book. Read more
Published 22 months ago by TooManyBooksTooLittleTime

5.0 out of 5 stars The New Self Sufficiency is a great deal
John Seymour has improved and brought his work up to date with the times. It is every bit as informative as his first publication of this great and truly "complete" work for those... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Donald L. Jones

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