whats the best general reference book for offgrid skills?

We have a copy of (I think ) back to basics, by Abigail Ghering. Its been pretty good.

Theres been a lot of advertising about "rebuilding civilization" as a book lately.

I'd like a book that goes into addition detail on complex projects and skills that might be beyond the ordinary: like basic diy welding, saltpeter production, leather tanning, biodiesel and ethanol, electrical circuit reading and repair, and small scale machining.

Is there a go-to reference you choose for complex topics or do you find a separate book or 5 for each topic is necessary?

I bought a copy of Moving Heavy Things for my reference library already. Been looking at "
   An Elementary Treatise on the Mechanics of Machinery: With Special Reference to the Mechanics of the Steam-Engine " just because its valuable knowledge but I lack the machining knowledge even if I understood steam engine principles!

In person book recommendations are more necessary than ever in today's world of AI books.

I have been meaning to read the Foxfire books for some time now, but haven’t gotten ahold of them. I should check the library system. But those are considered quite classic. They record traditional skills from the Southern Appalachian mountains.

Looks like Internet Archive has vol. 1: https://archive.org/details/FoxfireVol1/page/n143/mode/1up

Reading a lot of ethnographic material helps, especially auto-ethnographies (people writing about their own traditions). (Foxfire is an ethnography as well.) For instance Buffalo Bird Woman, or Lucy Thompson’s To the American Indian. Look also at the Native American Ethnobotany Database. http://naeb.brit.org/ (A lot of my research has been related to Native American sources.)

Townsends youtube channel—not a book but has a lot of useful information about numerous old fashioned skills. Many many cooking videos but also others. https://www.youtube.com/@townsends

Howdy,

I go "way back", to the 70's.

Remember, "The Whole Earth Catalog" up to "The Last Whole Earth Catalog".

The collection of Books I have from just the WEC.

I also subscribed to "The Mother Earth News" 8 years from issue #1.

the titles in my overstocked, overstacked, dusty book shelf....A-???

I DO have a copy of "Moving Heavy Things", by Jan Adkins.  Simple concise with some of the Best Illustrations!

I suspect if you want a true 'how to' rather than an overview on the subjects you mention Daniel, then you'll need a good book on each subject. Probably it's like gardening and cooking/preserving though - better learning the skills before you need them, rather than hope to get it out of a book when e.g. the internet goes away. The books would be there as a reminder. I'm interested though to see what books are suggested....

This is a good question, Daniel, although I would say "books" rather than "book." One thing I've learned in my years of homesteading is that there are no "one size fits all" solutions for anything. What works for one person in one part of the world, may not give the same success to another person in another part of the world. Authors share what works for them, but there are so many variables.

That said, I agree with the others that the "classics" are invaluable. They may not be specifically for off-grid living, but most of them use tried and true traditional technologies that are applicable to off-grid lifestyles.

Some of our go-tos include:

- The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery
- The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency by John Seymour
- Back to Basics by Readers Digest

Many of these are likely available at a public library.

My other suggestion would be to purchase physical copies of the books you like. Digital is great for determining if something is a good fit, but digital stuff can disappear or become inaccessible if devices have problems. A physical home library will always be there. We started with general reference books like I listed, and then gradually expanded our library to include paper books on specific subjects as needed.

The Foxfire Book Series as mention above.

From Amazon US: For over 40 years, high school students in Foxfire programs have helped to gather and publish information about their Southern Appalachian heritage. Best known for the best-selling Foxfire Book series, the series and the other topical titles were all grown from interviews gathered for The Foxfire Magazine. The success of the student-driven program led to professional research that generated the Foxfire Approach to Teaching and Learning and its support materials for use by other educators hoping to achieve similar levels of student involvement and create life-long learners.

https://permies.com/wiki/44989/FoxFire-Book-Series