Seymour goes digging for skills buried by modernity, some curious (making chairs) and others eminently useful (fermenting).

The first book of the grandparents of the American back-to-the-land movement, the Nearings techniques have been refined by younger generations but their overall philosophy is important, and worth the read.

The Foxfire books are a series created by schoolchildren in Appalachia who interviewed people still living like they had decades earlier. They cover everything from springhouses and wild edibles to butchering hogs and making whiskey, and have topics not covered in other books. Acquire the whole series.

See above.

See above.

See above.

See above.

A book filled with low-tech solutions to common problems.

Written by the dean of wilderness survival, this is a standard work on the subject.

Idem, though with a slightly different take.

An excellent compendium of important topics for Peak Oil, though not written specifically for it. Each chapter includes a list of important books.

Written by that wily old survivalist, Ragnar Benson, this is an excellent reference work with irreverent (and often illegal) solutions to problems that may crop up in the near future.