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  •  While I applaud your fiction choices ... (none / 0)

    I'm planning on interspersing my motivational uplift fiction with heavy doses of non-fiction in the next year.

    You know, boring stuff like ... How to Garden, How to Can, How to Make Practical Things from Crap Around Your Yard and House, Guide to Edible Wild Plants, How to Chop Wood Effeciently, etc.

    I think it's time for all of us to get practical. While we may never have to use any skills we learn from these hands-on books, it's nice to be prepared. It's also nice to get reconnected (or connected in the first place) with practical handcrafts and practical survival techniques that our grandparents and great-grandparents knew. We all need to get out of our heads a little bit anyway as the storm clouds darken, and feeling like we've learned some skills can help us feel more in control and better prepared if there's any sort of societal collapse is a good thing for people who live in their heads and on the internet.

    I have NO practical survival skills whatsoever (beyond good endurance because of exercise) and it's feeling pretty crappy right now.

    by SusanG on Thu Oct 20, 2005 at 08:05:41 AM PDT

    •  great idea (none / 1)

      I think we should all be doing this.  Please let us know if you find a particularly good book or publisher.

      UNLESS

      by Marek on Thu Oct 20, 2005 at 08:13:21 AM PDT

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      •  oldie but goodie (none / 0)

        "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" by Euell Gibbons - you know, the odd old guy who used to do the Grape-Nuts commercials where he's ready to eat a chair or a tree or some such thing.  The book actually goes into a lot of useful info, including preparation suggestions that in some cases make things palatable and in some cases make them safe to eat at all.

        And there's another one called "How to Stay Alive in The Woods" by Bradford Angier - got more outright survival info in there, too.  Things liek shelters in the wild.

        What's a city kid like me doing with those???

        by MN camera on Thu Oct 20, 2005 at 10:31:08 AM PDT

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    •  & if the apocalypse doesn't happen (none / 0)

      you can write a novel & have characters that know how to can. & stuff. ;-)
      s.

      the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity --w.b.yeats the second coming

      by synth on Thu Oct 20, 2005 at 08:14:09 AM PDT

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    •  I've dug out (none / 0)

      all my old Mother Earth mags with just this in mind.  Got into horticulture as a profession 10 years ago. Not much money in it, but I at least feel I will be able to feed my family when the compost hits the fan.

      -7.63 -6.72 "A lot of people are waiting for MLK, Gandhi to come back. They are gone. We are it. It's up to us. It's up to you." Edelman

      by ZaphodsSister on Thu Oct 20, 2005 at 09:13:25 AM PDT

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    •  SusanG (none / 0)

      email me at soonergrunt@cox.net, please.  Thanks.

      "I don't belong to an organized political party. I'm a democrat."--Will Rogers

      by soonergrunt on Thu Oct 20, 2005 at 02:34:57 PM PDT

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