Search Amazon for self sufficiency, and this is the first book in the list. And with good reason. John Seymour’s hefty tome is beautiful, indispensable and one of the first and finest works on the subject.
Running to an impressive 312 board-bound pages, it’s a book that’s built to last, and it covers everything from conserving water and growing your own vegetables to brewing beer and slaughtering your livestock.
A lot of it won’t be relevant to the back-yard self-sufficientist, which perhaps explains the subheading, ‘the classic guide for realists and dreamers’, but even those parts that don’t immediately relate to your own particular set-up are an interesting read, illustrated using simple woodcuts in rich earthy tones.
The book, first published in 1976, is now over 30 years old, but in its third edition has lost none of its relevance, and has become, in words of Seymour’s obituary in The Guardian, ‘a vital resource for disillusioned city dwellers seeking a more wholesome existence in the countryside’.
To buy this book alone – and nothing else – would be to make a good start on your library, but you’d find some obvious holes. Seymour’s aim was to promote the idea of breaking away from the rapidly consumerist industrialisation of society (he started work on it not long after the 1973 oil crisis), but to cover so broad a subject in anything less than several volumes is an ambitious, and ultimately impossible task.
As such, this book presents the reader with an excellent primer on the subject, and would be enough to help you assess whether the idea of self-sufficiency, to some degree, is for you. It should be considered a leaping-off point, and an inspiration for further research and reading that will flesh out the interest it will undoubtedly spark.
Price £20
ISBN 0-751364-42-8
Author John Seymour
Pros Well-written, wide-ranging and beautifully produced.
Cons In covering such a wide subject area it’s been necessary to provide only a brief overview in some sections.
Verdict This classic book is as relevant as ever, and it’s sure to be an inspiration to any who read it. Make it the start of a growing self-sufficiency library, though, rather than relying on it as your only source work.
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There’s now a ‘concise’ updated version available which is specifically aimed at those with smaller plots of land (including small urban gardens) which is certainly helpful for my little plot.
I also liked 101 Forgotten Crafts by John Seymour, although it’s not nearly as usefull.
There are 13 copies of Forgotten Household Crafts on sale at Amazon, starting at £29.80.
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