Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Being exceptionally interested in self sustainability, homesteading, and the diy ethic, I had wanted this book quite badly for a considerable amount of time. It sat on my wishlist for a year or so before I bought it, and now I wish I hadn't. The pros: -The cover is aesthetically pleasing (honestly this is probably the nicest thing I can say about the book). -If you do buy it you won't be spending an incredible amount of money. -It's printed in the USA. The cons: -The inside of the book is printed entirely in shades of orange, turquoise, and brown, making it wholly unappealing to look at, much less read. - The book reads like an essay written by a pair of 12-year-olds trying to up their word/sentence count, it is rife with incomplete fragments and needs a thorough editing. - This might just be personal preference, but when a book contains projects on solar cookers, bees, essential oils, carpentry, there really should be one page AT THE FRONT OF THE BOOK devoted entirely to safety precautions (from eye protection to allergic reactions, which is one thing I did not see a single line mentioning the possibility of), not little orange boxes of text stuck to the side of the main instructions. The least they could do is put the safety warnings at the top of the page instead of...(see my next complaint) - Every "project" is preceded by an anecdote which adds literally nothing to the book. I look at these paragraphs informing me of something mentioned by a friend of a friend of the authors and think, do I really care? No. - A lot of these things are downright stupid and inconsiderate. Their solution for "keeping the bugs away"? Soak some yarrow in a jar of vodka for several weeks, then put the solution in a spray bottle and douse yourself with it "every hour or so". Really? Maybe if I was incredibly desperate, however "the insect repellant qualities of yarrow are short-lived"; that is a legitimate line from the book, so they basically just discredited that entire page. Why would I waste several weeks stewing herbs in a jar for them to not work in the long term? - This brings me to another problem several of the projects present - many of their homemade shampoo alternatives, soaps, and scrubs, need to be kept sealed in airtight containers in the fridge, and still many of them say they will only keep for a week with the refrigeration. For serious homesteaders, possibly living in houses with no electricity or refrigeration alternatives, this presents a serious problem. I understand these alternatives could be made as needed, but constantly having to stir up a single use shampoo somewhat goes against the "sustainability" part of things. - The projects are, I don't know if this makes sense but, stretched thinly. They don't seem to know much about substituting one thing for another, or that you really only need four or five common items to clean your house. Their health section is abysmal. When they say "a compost bin made of shipping pallets" they mean exactly that and suggest going to the back of a store and taking some, but if you're interested in "making it" you can probably figure out how to make a compost bin with scrap lumber, unlike these poor people who seem to have lots of good intentions but no notion of how people outside of LA (I read that on the back cover of my book and it all clicked) live. - ALL of this information (and more), is available on the internet for free. How to compost? Internet. How to make homemade mints? Internet. How to make vegetable stock? Internet. Making soap? Internet. The bottom line: This is not a book for people who are already well acquainted with diy, sustainability, or self-reliance. If you want better, more thorough, information I would suggest Make Your Place and Make it Last, both by Raleigh Briggs (along with many affordable pamphlets and zines), and How and Why: A Do-it-Yourself Guide. I would suggest the internet. I would suggest PioneersPress. I would suggest instructables. The books I mentioned are for people who are concerned with "making it" better, for themselves, their friends, their children (a group blatantly absent from this book), and their environment. This is a book for people who have lots of money, lots of time, and are looking for a hobby disguised as ethics.