Synopses & Reviews
"By far the best of its type...that's crossed my desk in ten years of dealing with such books."
—J. Baldwin, Technical Editor, CoEvolution Quarterly
Want to know how to make a hacksaw, build a ladder, mix cement? How to lay bricks, raise sagging beams, insulate and waterproof walls? How to recane furniture, cut glass, make an iceless cooler or a fireless cooker? How to split logs with explosives, how to roof a haystack, stretch a frame, aerate stale well water? How to dip a sheep, tie a colt, teach chickens to roost, and stop dogs from chasing cars? How to plant fruit trees, how to mark seed rows, how to make a lawn settee? How to clean shoes, open stubborn jars, fly-proof a house? The how-to's and what-with's of all these projects and hundreds more carefully illustrated farm- and home-tested tips are to be found in the pages of Handy Farm and Home Devices and How to Make Them.
Review
"In its own way, this collection of ideas is as gripping as a novel. One idly turns a page, and then sees something which obviously needs to be done to improve something in the yard, garage, workshop, or kitchen. Was this just luck? one wonders, and looks further. And one gem of an idea after another turns up. It becomes addicting. And it is fascinating.
"Originally published more than thirty years ago in Australia, the book was discovered by Steve Clinehens, an appropriate technologist in the Solar-Applications Branch of the Tennessee Valley Authority. And the book contains appropriate technology at its most useful level. Windmills and water conservation, for instance, have over fifty entries. Re-use and recycling are themes of hundreds and perhaps thousands of the devices. There are, in fact, somewhere around three-thousand ideas for not rushing down to the store and buying the latest gadget.
"This book should be supplied, along with VITA's Village Technology Handbook, to all Peace-Corps Volunteers. It can be given as a present to anyone with a shred of affection for the planet. And it can be used as a sourcebook for the kinds of home-made presents which are so appreciated by one's friends."
—David Gordon Wilson, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and co-author with Frank Rowland Whitt of Bicycling Science, available in paperback from the MIT Press
Synopsis
The how-to's and what-with's of all these projects and hundreds more carefully illustrated farm- and home-tested tips are to be found in the pages of Handy Farm and Home Devices and How to Make Them.
Synopsis
By far the best of its type...that's crossed my desk in ten years of dealing with such books.