ADOBE, STRAW BALE, AND
RAMMED EARTH |
ALTERNATIVE CONSTRUCTION
(PRESENTS SEVERAL BUILDING TECHNIQUES) |
1.
Adobe : Build It Yourself Design & Construction
2.
Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings: Design & Construction
3.
Build It With Bales: A Step-By-Step Guide to Straw-Bale Construction,
Version Two
4.
Buildings of Earth and Straw: Structural Designs for Rammed Earth And Straw
Bale Architecture
5.
The Rammed Earth House (Real Goods Independent Living Book)
6.
The Straw Bale House (A Real Goods Independent Living Book)
|
1.
Alternative Construction: Contemporary Natural Building Methods
2.
Alternative Housebuilding
3.
Build Smarter With Alternative Materials
4.
Earthship
: How to Build Your Own
5.
Handbook of Alternative Materials in Residential Construction By Richard T.
Bynum, Daniel L. Rubino
6.
The Alternative Building Sourcebook: Traditional, Natural, and Sustainable
Building Products and Services 7.
«The Homestead Builder: Practical Hints for Handy-Man
A reprint of original 1872 Guide! (about $10)
|
ARCHITECTURE |
CABIN BUILDING |
1. «American
Shelter: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American
Homes
(if you own just one book on American Architecture, this should be that
book) "a must own"
2. Building Construction Illustrated, 3rd Edition
3. Patterns of Home: The Ten Essentials of Enduring Design
4.
Architecture in the United States, 1800-1850
|
1. «Building
Thoreau's Cabin by Stephen Taylor
"a must own" (out of print, excellent book for novice builder who uses
conventional platform framing)
2. «The
Foxfire Book: Hog Dressing, Log Cabin Building, etc.
(The original Foxfire. Old-timers show log cabin
building techniques. "a must own")
3.
Rustic Retreats : A Build-It-Yourself Guide
4.
Cabin Fever : Rustic Style Comes Home |
COUNTRY LIVING |
CORDWOOD CONTRUCTION
(ALSO CALLED "STACKWOOD" AND "FIREWOOD"
CONSTUCTION) |
1. «Handy
Farm Devices and How to Make Them
A reprint of the original 1909 book! (about $10)
2.
Homesteading Adventures: A Guide for Doers & Dreamers
3.
The
American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbook
4.
The Encyclopedia of Country Living
5.
The Woodburner's Companion: Practical Ways of
Heating with Wood Eliot Wiggington (Editor)
|
1.
Building the Cordwood Home
(out of print, a how-to book by one of The first cordwood builders)
2.
Complete Book of Cordwood Masonry Housebuilding:
The Earthwood Method
3.
Cordwood Masonry Houses, A practical Guide to the Owner-Builder
(out of print but well worth owning)
|
GARDENING |
LOG CABINS |
1. The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure
2. Gardening For Dummies®
3. The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Gardening

|
1. How to Build and Furnish a Log Cabin
2.
Log Cabin Living
3. Building a Log Cabin Retreat: A Do-It-Yourself Guide
4. Real Log Cabin
5. A Dreamer's Log Cabin
6. How to Build Your Own Log Home and Cabin from Scratch
7. The Log Home Book: Design, Past and Present

|
BARNS AND OTHER OUT BUILDINGS |
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY |
1. Vanishing American
Outhouse : A History of Country Plumbing
2. The Dock Manual: Designing, Building, Maintaining

|
1. Foxfire 3: Animal Care, Banjos and Dulcimers, Hide Tanning, Summer and
Fall Wild Plant Foods, Butter Churns, Ginseng, and Still More Affairs of Plain Living
2. Getting Your First Horse (Horse-Wise Guides Series)
 |
STONE |
EARTH-SHELTERED AND UNDERGROUND |
1.
Building Stone Walls
2.
Building With Stone
3.
Build Your Own Stone House : Using the Easy
Slipform Method
4. The Stonebuilder's Primer: A Step-By-Step Guide for
Owner-Builders
|
1.
Complete Book of Underground Houses: How to Build a Low-Cost House
2.
Earth Shelter Technology
3.
The Earth-Sheltered House : An Architect's
Sketchbook |
HOME SECURITY |
UTILITIES AND SOLAR ENERGY |
1.
Smart Homes For Dummies
2.
The Secure Home 3. All Thumbs Guide to Home Security

|
1.
Cottage Water Systems : An Out-Of-The City Guide To Pumps, Plumbing, Water
Purification & Privies
2.
Independent Energy Guide: Electric
3.
Managing 12 Volts : How to Upgrade, Operate, & Troubleshoot 12 Volt
Electrical Systems
4.
The Easy Guide to Solar Electricty: For Home
Power Systems
5.
The Home Water Supply : How to Find, Store & Conserve It
6. Create an Oasis With Greywater: Your Complete Guide to Choosing, Building
and Using Greywater Systems
|
FOXFIRE SERIES |
MORE FOXFIRE SERIES |
- The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery
- The Foxfire Book: Hog Dressing, Log Cabin
Building, Mountain Crafts and Foods, Planting by the Signs, Snake Lore,
Hunting Tales, Faith Healing, Moon...
- Foxfire 2: Ghost Stories, Spring Wild
Plant Foods, Spinning and Weaving, Midwifing, Burial Customs, Corn
Shuckin'S, Wagon Making and More Affairs of Plain Living
- Foxfire 3: Animal Care, Banjos and Dulcimers, Hide Tanning, Summer and
Fall Wild Plant Foods, Butter Churns, Ginseng, and Still More Affairs of Plain Living
-
Foxfire 4: Fiddle Making, Springhouses, Horse Trading, Sassafras Tea,
Berry Buckets, Gardening, and Further Affairs of Plain Living
|
- Foxfire 5: Ironmaking, Blacksmithing,
Flintlock Rifles, Bear Hunting, and Other Affairs of Plain Living
- Foxfire 6
- Foxfire 7
- Foxfire 8
-
Foxfire 9: General Stores, the Jud Newson Wagon, a Praying Rock, a
Catawba Indian Potter--And Hant Tales, Quilting, Home Cures, and Log
Cabins Revisited
- Foxfire 10: Railroad Lore, Boardinghouses, Depression-Era Appalachia,
Chair Making, Whirligigs, Snake Canes, and Gourd Art
- Foxfire 11: The Old Homeplace, Wild Plant Uses, Preserving and Cooking
Food, Hunting Stories, Fishing, and More Affairs of Plain Living
|