this is my favorite genre of book, oversized handwritten hippie how-to books. most of them i like, this one i love. nearly every page has a drawing of a naked flautist or a winking cat, drawn in a vibey way. and it's useful! and heart warming. "bay laurel is not my family name but it is my favorite tree." "if you are visited by animals, hang your refrigerator from a tree." ( )

I got this book the year it was published. The fact that, 43 years later, shows that I either still value it or I'm the worst hoarder in the world. No, strike that last bit even if there is a small bit of truth in it.

I love and value this book highly. It is truly an excellent reference book in case one has been (a) stranded on a desert island with only the flotsam that has washed ashore, (b) a person who wants to get back to living a small life, or (c) the lights have gone out because there's been a terrible storm and you need to keep things going for a couple of days.

It has a little bit of everything in it from how to backpack into the wilderness to some stellar-class recipes for eggplant toothpaste to roasted soy beans. Laurel gives instructions on how to sun-dry fruits and veggies, tie-dyeing, making a pair of pants and a shirt without a pattern (I've made both from her instructions), to simple first aid.

If you can find a copy of Living on the Earth, buy it. You'll never know when the lights will go out for a few days. ( )

its a more colorful version of country wisdom and know how. the information is a bit different. i like both, though this one i could read, where the other i would mainly just want to reference.
this doesnt cover a lot of things however, it also covers things a lot of self suffiency guides dont. ( )

I'm not sure that there are many books that serve as both badge of counter-culture criterion and a modest how-to for general self-sufficiency. It reads like a children's book for hippies, with cute line-figure scribbles that enliven more than they illustrate. Owning this book will save you hours of perusing back issues of Mother Earth News for similar, less well-arranged information of the common theme (I know this because I actually have done this same thing). You can read it to make fun of it, for the neat flower-child tricks, or because you crave the backwoods life but Bradford Angier scares you. For any and all, this book is plainly terrific. ( )