Building a Better World in your Backyard by Paul Wheaton and Shawn Klassen-Koop

I gave the book a 9 out of 10.
Why not 10? There are two reasons. 1. It is Paul's way of speaking; I know it from his podcasts, but someone who did never listen to him may find some expressions a little strange. 2. It is probably written for people in Northern America. In many European countries the situation (rules and regulations) is different.

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:

Janie Brackett wrote:While selling my adult children’s books, I have been slowly sowing seeds! Infecting minds!

I have a small shop on eBay and I mostly sell books. Many a person has ordered manga from me and also received a free copy of Build a Better World. It is rare that I cannot make the book fit, but mailing an LP vinyl record was one occasion.

I have the Build a Better World book also listed for sale in my shop. There haven’t been any takers, but I hope it dispels the “what the heck?” a little bit.

While I volunteer at our Friends of the Library bookstore, I try to hand out copies to interested folk. “It’s a free book from me. You don’t have to pay for it,” usually results the book going to a happy new home.

Glad I finally had a moment to share this with you. Have a great day!

Janie, it's a pity my book is in Dutch. I wrote it for 'adult children', who want to learn about permaculture, here in the Netherlands. It will be published soon.

I only write this here because you wrote 'adult children's books'. I like that! But probably this is the opposite of the books you mean. My book has plenty of illustrations to make things clear, but most of it is 'words'. It is not 'manga' at all.

But let's go on 'infecting brains with permaculture'. Also in the Netherlands (my free copies are all spread over the country now)

Hey Inge,

I was looking for something entirely different, but came across your post that you wrote a book in Dutch. I've translated a book from Dutch to English before and if you'd like we could look into that with your book too? I've the experience in English as I have lived in the UK long enough and also Dutch as I grew up in the Netherlands. It could also be a great way for me to learn more about permaculture

Do let me know!

Niels van Wensen wrote:

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:

Janie Brackett wrote:While selling my adult children’s books, I...!

Janie, it's a pity my book is in Dutch. I wrote it for 'adult children', who want to learn about permaculture, here in the Netherlands. It will be published soon.
...

Hey Inge,

I was looking for something entirely different, but came across your post that you wrote a book in Dutch. I've translated a book from Dutch to English before and if you'd like we could look into that with your book too? I've the experience in English as I have lived in the UK long enough and also Dutch as I grew up in the Netherlands. It could also be a great way for me to learn more about permaculture

Do let me know!

Hi Niels. I only see this now. I was on a bicycle-camping-tour for two weeks. Meaning I wasn't active online.
Thank you for offering to help translate my book to English. But to say the truth: I did not write this 'educational story' for an international public. The story and the educational part of it are aimed at the situation here in the Netherlands.

It would take much more than only translating from Dutch into English to make it fit for 'adult children' living in other countries. And because it has taken me some years to write, re-write, correct and re-write again to make it ready for publication (and to draw the illustrations), re-writing it again to make it fit for the international market is not something I want to do now

I found BABW in a funky antique and craft store while I was on vacation in Isle Minnesota a few weeks ago. I'm already more than halfway through it. I noticed that throughout the book there are urls to various threads here at Permies which expound upon the ideas espoused in the book. Has anybody indexed all of the links anywhere at Permies?

This looks like an amazing book! I’m going to buy the SKIP book first… This year myself and my partner went plastic free as much as possible (using compostable bin, poo and shopping bags). I’m also using natural beauty, bathroom and kitchen products (my plants love the lavender washing-up liquid with grey water). One can make a lot of positive impact to the environment by changing one small thing at a time. I’m looking forward to trying out your suggestions too. Thank you! Gemma

I give this book 9.9 out of 10 acorns.

This book would be good for someone who:

- is new to permaculture and would like a overview of many topics (this is the major reason to read this book)
- wants to have a homestead but doesn't know where to start (further reading required)
- wants book reccomendations on permaculture topics
- has never heard of permaculture but is interested in gardening/raising animals/homesteading

I thought this book was well done and I quite enjoyed it. Towards the end I hit my head while roughousing and it sorta stopped making sense but that might be my end.

After reading this book, I plan to do a PDC. I had never heard of permaculture before reading this book. This, or further reading would probably be a logical next step if you are new and read this book.

Edit: I forgot to mention this book convinced me to go pooless and and I have been pooless for over 2 month. My hair is so much softer than with shampoo!

Figure I'll drop this info here. I ordered 24 books on a "freaky cheap" discount back in April and sold them at my farm stand - spent $54 on the books and charged $2/per. Every one of them sold, even the two we tried to hold on to for our own use (that much demand for these!). Total end cost to me was $6 and I believe we've infected at least 60 minds over the course of this growing season.

If I charged more, this would not have been possible, but a cheap book at the farm stand will sell like hotcakes.

If you see my stamp on the inside cover, thank Paul, Shawn and the rich benefactor for the help! Was a very cool experience  

Tristan Vitali wrote: charged $2/per. Every one of them sold

Neat!  Apples and PIE for you!

Throwback to before "Building a Better World" book was out there:  Paul Wheaton's 72 Brick Presentation

Thought I'd share this happy little tidbit.  Back when the book came out I did inspire my local library book discussion group to get enough copies to make what the district library system calls a "book club in a bag".  This is essentially a dozen or so copies with a sign up/sign out sheet and sample discussion questions all gathered together in a bag that the various library discussion groups around the county can check out.  

I always thought each library had it's own book discussion group and this book club in a bag service was just something the librarians could check out.  Tonight while I was searching for other things on the library website I discovered it's actually open to anyone in the region doing book discussions.  Being curious I looked up the availability of "Building a Better World in you Backyard".  It is reserved by various groups for the next 3 months.  It is Dec. 13, 2022 as I'm typing this and the earliest it could be checked out is March 27, 2023!  My guess is that when the various groups start planning for what they'll read in the spring it will get fully reserved again.  

I think it's not only a great book for discussions, being a fun quick read, but also ripe with subjects to talk about, but I suspect the title is also something that just calls out to those selecting books for their groups.  If anyone here wants to try getting a similar thing set up with your library or book group I offer up this set of discussion questions I put together for my group.  (It was something I promised them I'd do if they got the book.)  Feel free to copy, share, and use them, or of course make up  your own.

Hi,
is there a version in Spanish? If there isn't, would you be interested in a translation?
Nowadays it is very easy to just use a translator, but I find that I have to make up a sentence or two every now and then.
Beware that the title in Spanish is quite long:
"Construyendo un mundo mejor en tu patio trasero: en vez de enfadarte con los tipos malos."

Just finished reading the eBook version of this. 10/10 acorns - As an introduction to permaculture, it is wonderful. I plan on getting a package of books to sell at the farmgate stand this year - great idea on that one! It was generally concise and free-flowing, easy to read, and contained enough humor and earnest discussion to be well balanced. Great job all around.

I had previously read the Thorns draft, and there was a lot of repetition and crossover. Now that I've read this, Thorns feels more like it could be narrowed into a much more focused and detailed book on community and have most of the practical side of permactulture taken out. Billed as a follow-up to Better World, you could then go into deeper dives on the other chapters as well making each their own small free-flowing easy read book. Probably a biased opinion since I already subscribe to the thinking, but I would enjoy reading more of these!

Abraham Palma wrote:Hi,
is there a version in Spanish? If there isn't, would you be interested in a translation?
Nowadays it is very easy to just use a translator, but I find that I have to make up a sentence or two every now and then.
Beware that the title in Spanish is quite long:
"Construyendo un mundo mejor en tu patio trasero: en vez de enfadarte con los tipos malos."

Good, now I know how to be angry at bad guys in Spanish and English!  

I second this idea, and afterwards the other most populous languages in cold climate, high footprint regions (Mandarin and maybe Russian, French, German).