John Seymour's "The new complete book of self-sufficiency"

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philaw

Settler
Nov 27, 2004
571
47
42
Hull, East Yorkshire, UK.
This guy's work has had a brief mention on the forum before, but I thought I'd do a kind of mini review for those that aren't familiar with him. I borrowed it from the library, and it makes a really good read. As you can see from the chapter headings below, it's very comperehensive, but perhaps too much for it's own good. I got it to have a look at any tips it might have on metal working, and there are only two pages on that in chapter 10. In that one chapter there are nineteen different subsections on everything from spinning flax to curing and tanning (I've listed them below to show you what I mean). You could deride it as a coffee table book fort this reason, but I think this would be a mistake. There are wonderful illustrations, but these add to the explanations and are not the normal pretty pictures in decorative books. It's perhaps best viewed as a source of inspiration and ideas rather than a manual, but at four hundred pages it's really as close to the latter as you can get in one volume. £25 is more than I'd spend on a book, but that's what libraries are for.

1) The meaning of self-sufficiency.
2) Food from the garden.
3) Food from animals.
4) Food from the fields.
5) Food from the wild.
6) In the dairy.
7) In the kitchen.
8) Brewing and wine making.
9) Energy and waste.
10) Crafts and skills:
The workshop
Building
Springs and plumbing
Knots and ropework
Basketry
Pottery
Spinning wool and cotton
Dyeing and weaving
Spinning flax
Curing and tanning
Making bricks and tiles
Working in stone
Working in metal
Building and thatching
Scything
Working in wood
Household items
Making a pond and fish farming
The all-purpose furnace
Becoming a self-supporter
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
A superb book - I would go as far as to say seminal. There are some...question marks...over Seymours actual lifestyle etc. but for me thats a matter for the biographers and in no way detratcts from the quality of the book. I also love his self sufficient gardener volume ( as well as his forgotten crafts book).

Well worth a read in my view
 

locum76

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Oct 9, 2005
2,772
9
47
Kirkliston
Even the drawings in Seymour's books are fantastic. What do you know of his lifestyle BR? I never heard...
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
In fairness I "know" nothing. I have heard that he and his wife divorced quite early on and the idyllic lifestyle of the family often portrayed was a maintained image by them. Equally people "suggest" that he maintained his lifestyle more through writing than true "self sufficiency".

I don't know if either of these things are true. I do know that JS writing has had a significant influence on my ambitions and the things I see as important and perhaps the way I would like to live and am working towards. For that, I salute his memory, for me, its enough.

Red
 
I got the concise guide as a birthday present from my girlfriend. It is, probably without exception, my most referred to book.
While it does leave rather a lot out (by necessity I think) the detail it gives on each subject is usually enough to get started and if not a good jumping off point to look for other information.

There are certainly more detailed works on each of the subject areas he covers, but I've never seen a book that contained more useful information on such a huge range of subjects.

When I get around to it I will be buying a copy of the "new complete" guide too. I had a look at it in a book shop about a week or so ago and thought it looked well worth buying.
 

some like it cold

Tenderfoot
Aug 20, 2009
97
0
42
forest of dean
i have the book and it is amazing, i have it by the bed to pick up and read bits and pieces as i like.

its my ultimate dream to have a few acres of land my own built house and a few acres of woodland alas the reality is i work 9-5 monday to friday in a boring building in the centre of town................... must go buy that lottery ticket
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,109
2,845
66
Pembrokeshire
In fairness I "know" nothing. I have heard that he and his wife divorced quite early on and the idyllic lifestyle of the family often portrayed was a maintained image by them. Equally people "suggest" that he maintained his lifestyle more through writing than true "self sufficiency".

I don't know if either of these things are true. I do know that JS writing has had a significant influence on my ambitions and the things I see as important and perhaps the way I would like to live and am working towards. For that, I salute his memory, for me, its enough.

Red

I live near where JS had his place and ran courses in self sufficiency.
From what I have heard from folk who lived there and worked there the courses were more like paying to do hard labour (one "course" it would seem involved hand digging drainage across a feild and little else). Self sufficiency by writing and getting other folk to do your work....?
Having said that - I have the original book and found it inspirational.
I often refer to the book for help in starting projects, though for detail I find I need more "step-by-step" guides.
I would recommend the book to anyone interested in not only self sufficiency but also craft work.
 

Kerne

Maker
Dec 16, 2007
1,766
21
Gloucestershire
I borrowed his first self-sufficiency guide from the library years ago and thought it was fantastic and recently bought" the self sufficient gardening guide", which is much better for those of us who cannot aspire to more than a garden but still want to apply his principles. Great stuff!
 

TallMikeM

Need to contact Admin...
Dec 30, 2005
574
0
54
Hatherleigh, Devon
I have a fair number of his books and I regard him as a bit of a hero of mine. There are better books out there on many of the various subjects he has written about (stock keeping, veg growing, country crafts etc etc) but he had the ability to bring it all together into a coherant philosphy. He spent a lot of his latter years working with wossisname Schumacker (author of Small is Good) formulating a way of thinking within what he called the peasant economy.

EDIT: meant to say that his books are what keep me going whenever the harsh realities of life start to wear me down. Without him I doubt we (me and mrs M) would be close to buying our own smallholding.
 

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