Product Description

6X9 In, 160 Pp, 25 Black & White Photos, < 300 Black & White Illustrations < Chuck It All and Live In A Cave? No < Way! Adopt Some Stone Age Skills? < Absolutely! This Information-Packed < Book Doesn't Just Talk, It Shows You < Ways To Bring The Best of Our < Environment Into Your Life. The < Relevant Skills and Ideas In Earth Knack < Will Not Only Have You Creating Objects, < But Will Also Give You A New Sense of < Self-Fulfillment and Self-Worth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #361935 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-13
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

From the Inside Flap
Contents Introduction Fire Rope String Thread Tools Color Baskets Buckets Bowls Pottery Food and Cooking Soap Animals Glue Music Getting Dressed

From the Back Cover
Earth Knack is a comprehensive how-to book for using Stone Age skills to fulfill your daily needs from materials readily at hand. Anyone who tries these ideas will find them environmentally appropriate and uniquely fulfilling.

(QUOTES)

Here are just a few skills to enrich you experience and give you a feeling of self reliance.

-Twist and weave strong cord and rope from plant and animal fibers.

-Learn the basics of flintknapping.

-Boil a batch of natural hide glue, one of the strongest adhesives known.

-Extract natural dyes and pigments from earth and plants.

-Create a flute, drum or tambourine for hours of musical fun.

-Cut and stitch an elegant buckskin skirt or shirt.

-Mold a clay pot for cooking.

-Brew pine needle tea or mix a batch of acorn muffins

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introduction

Earth Knack

A daily living skills guide using Stone Age techniques for finding and making what you need in your local environments.

Few of us are really going to "chuck it all" and live as hunter-gatherers in the wilds, like our Stone Age ancestors did. Yet, becoming a modern hunter-gatherer, developing a knack for living with the Earth in any environment, is well withing our grasp. Using age-old skills, which are still perfectly applicable to our modern lifestyles, can enrich our daily lives and bring high levels of satisfaction and fullfillment.

Customer Reviews

One of the best sources for this type of information
If you are looking for a book on basic primitive living skills you will find a goldmine of information in Earth Knack. The broad range of areas covered include making fire, making cordage (from vegetable and animal sources), making tools, tanning, flintknapping, making dyes and colors, baskets, bowls, pottery, food and cooking, soap, music, and clothing.

Each chapter provides everything you need to know to complete a couple of projects of that genre but is hardly a thorough treatment of the subject. For example the food and cooking, animals, and getting dressed sections each could easily consume two or three books and there are many on the market that do. What this book provides is a thorough introduction to the skills and the ability to develop confidence by going through several projects.

Although most areas are not covered in detail, some areas are covered better than any other book of this nature I have seen. For example, fire, cordage, baskets, buckets, and bowls are all treated in detail. It contains an unusually good section on flintknapping and an excellent section on making fire. While the techniques are mentioned in other books this is the first one I have read that provided sufficient information to figure out what you are doing wrong if it doesn't work. For example the first several times I tried to create a fire with friction I only created a glazed effect on the wood. This is the only book that mentioned what caused it and what to do about it.

For anyone wanting a broad introduction of all the basic skills of primitive living, Earth Knack is a highly recommended book.

Eath Knack Stone Age Living Skills
This book is well written and encourages the reader to be an active participant in the process of discovery (or re-discovery, as the writers may contend). The book is cleverly illustrated and fun to read, offering a wealth of information I have not found in any other sourcebook on primitive skills. I found myself jumping off the couch to venture outside to collect plants for dyeing fabric. Later, I used the description of how to make cordage from native plants found right in my own backyard. I would stongly recommend this book to anyone interested in practical, hands-on, primitive skills.

Earth Knack gives you the know-how
I know Robin and Bart and enjoyed both their book as well as the excellant Earth Knack School that Robin runs . Both their school and this excellant book focus on hands-on. If you fully intend to learn the skills your ancestors used to keep alive this is THE BOOK. Filled with outstanding drawings that guide you through each skill in a step by step fashion Earth Knack points the way and leaves it up to you to take the path.