John Miedema

Do You Have Back-to-the-Land Titles to Recommend?

19 September 2008 4 Comments

I recently posted the list of titles in my Back-to-the-Land collection. It’s just a beginning. Here are some premium titles recommended by others, and a few I added. I am not entirely clear on what counts as a “Back-to-the-Land” title yet, but these look like good ones.

I would love to hear more recommendations.

The Collected Poems Of Wendell Berry, 1957-1982; Wendell Berry

The Mad Farmer Liberation Front is a personal favourite. I haven’t read much else of his but I’m sure it belongs here.

Curve Of Time; M. Wylie Blanchet

One of several excellent suggestions by Deborah. The Canadian setting really piques my interest.

Escape To The Mountain: A Family's Adventures In The Wilderness; Marcia Bonta

This title has just gone back into print by an interesting publisher. Read more at the author’s blog and at Via Negativa.

Growth Of The Soil; Knut Hamsun

Thanks Dan. Note: You can read this one online at Open Library. Click the title.

The Good Life: Helen And Scott Nearing's Sixty Years Of Self-sufficient Living; Helen Nearing

Another good title by the Nearings recommended by Dan.

Happy The Land; Louise Dickinson Rich

One of several titles listed here by this author. Thanks Deborah.

At Home In The Woods: Living The Life Of Thoreau Today; Bradford Angier

Loving And Leaving The Good Life; Helen Nearing

A poignant talk by Helen Nearing in which she talks about Scott’s death at the age of one hundred.

My Neck Of The Woods; Louise Dickinson Rich

The Peninsula; Louise Dickinson Rich

We Took To The Woods; Louise Rich

Your Money Or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money And Achieving Financial MORE; Joe Dominguez

A modern take on knowing what is enough. I’ve been meaning to read this one. Thanks Jason.

4 Comments »

Mita said:

How about The Whole Earth Catalog?
http://www.plentymag.com/magazine/the_whole_earth_effect.php

Or back issues of its companion, The Whole Earth Review?

# 19 September 2008 at 10:53 am

John said:

Of course! Thanks Mita.

# 19 September 2008 at 4:10 pm

Dave said:

One of my favorite books of all time is Masanobu Fukuoka’s The One-Straw Revolution, from Rodale, not least because at the tender age of 16 it was my introduction to Daoist and Zennish philosophy. But it’s also a very entertaining read.

# 28 October 2009 at 1:33 pm

John (author) said:

Thanks Dave. That is a great recommendation.

(Note: this older post appeared in my Identi.ca stream again because I saved a minor update. Would it be a good idea to write a little program to cycle posts through Identi.ca every so often? Might catch someone’s interest for the first time. More likely, it would be regarded as an irritant. More noise.)

# 28 October 2009 at 1:51 pm