This was a fantastically fun book to read that is packed with all the basic information to make and live a self-sufficient life. I love how practical this book was and how the author's aren't trying to sell you products but inspire the reader to use what they have. I especially love the use of old metal filing cabinets to make smokers! This was genius and doesn't waste old products.

I found this book fascinating and it satisfied the wannabe homesteader in me with an approachable format and attitude - you are encouraged to delve as deeply into the sustainable lifestyle as you would like and there is no shame in getting your feet wet before going all-out. I found the tone friendly and engaging and the breakdown of the different chapters lends itself to either skipping around between topics or getting a big picture of approaches to sustainable living. I also enjoyed the mix of concepts with hands-on practical tips and recipes. This is an excellent, readable reference book for anyone interested in living more sustainably.

A useful book, even if I do not use it for every area of self sufficiency, I will definitely use it as a reference book for some things. I could not take everything in, and skimmed the contents a lot, simply because I did not, for example, see myself making my own bacon, but I was interested in the book, nonetheless, for the rosemary shampoo for example. As I mentioned, I did miss out some of the content as not relevant to me, but the rest I found interesting enough.