I just purchased the updated and revised 4th edition earlier this year at my local Tractor Supply Co. but I never read any of the earlier versions to give a comparison. Edit: Correction, I have the 3rd edition which is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Complete-Traditional-Skills/dp/1602392331
Back to Basics....old but golden. The book you are currently looking at has expensive solutions, not realistic ones. http://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Complete-Traditional-Skills/dp/1602392331/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275437177&sr=1-1
I have the first edition. It's a hard bound yellow book. It covers everything. I would stick with an older model if you can, but it's cheap!
Back to basics is a great guide on how to construct and maintain older technologies and structures
https://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Complete-Traditional-Skills/dp/1602392331
Where there is no doctor is a book that gives stupidly simple advice, including use cases for antibiotics. Much of it is common sense but it helps in a non traumatic injury. I recommend knowing trauma care by heart as seconds matter. It's also important to know what's in your first aid kit and how to use it. I'm in the developing world and it's came in handy all week due to minor injury's
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_There_Is_No_Doctor
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SAS Survival handbook is great, as well as any books published by Les Stroud. This isn't Bear Gryll's shit, he knows what he's doing and does it.
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My family have an entire shelf of a library dedicated to books about building houses and maintaining them as well. The amount of knowledge we contain is insane, There's also a huge book I have in digital format about how to develop the developing world, PM me and I'll find it back when I get home outside of the developing world lol.
I grew up on this.
https://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Complete-Traditional-Skills/dp/1602392331
I agree on hard copies. No equipment needed, and durable enough to be passed on to others. My favorite is “Back to Basics”, by Readers Difest.
Between "Back to Basics" and a trusty copy of Fannie Farmer for cooking, you can cover a LOT of good ground. There are lots of great books, but those are two I can't live without. To be clear, both are about techniques and methods, not so much the theory behind it. They're fantastic reference books though.
Reminds me of the trestle table in <em>Back to Basics</em> which is kind of like this table.