Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2
Jane Poynter
The controversial creation of Biosphere 2 still lives on today. This radical experiment to have eight people live in a sealed environment for two years was the brainchild of ecologist John Allen, and funded by billionaire Ed Bass. Based on …
Alexander Langlands
For those of us who like working with our hands, there is nothing as satisfying as making a useful and beautiful object we can use for years. Cræft, being skilled at creating unique, hand-made items sourced from nature locally, has nearly disappeared. Once, being a craftsperson who could …
Michael Finkel
Ever had one of those days where you simply want to walk into the woods and just…disappear? Chris Knight, the most notorious hermit in modern times, did just this. One day he simply walked into the woods, and remained there for 27 years. His sole conversation with another …
Everyone from professional fine artists to the occasional weekend crafter knows how incredibly expensive supplies can be. It’s not just the materials you need to create the piece itself, but also all the supporting supplies, be it it rulers, mats, easels, scissors etc. If you are just starting a new …
Thomas Thwaites
Could you build a toaster? “Sure,” you say. “I’d just get a kit on amazon.” No, from scratch? “Well yes, I could get all the parts online, probably Ebay, and cobble one together.” No, from real scratch. Mining the ore and refining it. Forming each delicate piece. Creating …
Kevin Kelly
Do you need to know where to get transparent concrete, Amish tools, color-changing LEDS, Japanese woodworking tools and so much more? Neither do I! But that didn’t stop me from putting so many bookmarks in this fascinating book that it ended up looking like a hedgehog. Modeled on …
Eric Brende
There is something so alluring about the idea of just chucking it all, turning it all off, throwing it all away. Eric and Mary Brende decide to do just that. With only a few thousand dollars, they rent a house in a rural Amish-ish community. They make do …
Mark Boyle
With our current economy a mess, the growing realization that we as a society buy and waste a ton of stuff and the desire for a simpler lifestyle, Boyle’s book and site have garnered immense amounts of attention. By slowly paring down his life, Boyle becomes focused on …
Wade Davis
Davis’s first chapter “Coonskin Cap” ties with http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/11/dogs-dont-understand-basic-concepts.html for funniest thing I’ve read in the last year. A flamingly fabulously gay man who escaped his home in the Ozarks to recreate himself as an anonymous city-dweller, Davis decides at 40 that he is doing it all wrong. After …
Logan Ward
We saw Ward speak at the WI Book Festival and he as was equally as amusing as AJ Jacobs, though a bit more low-key. Having thoroughly burnt out on the hectic lifestyle of New York, Ward and his wife decide to drop out for a year and …
Lloyd Kahn
I love this book. I love it so much I actually bought it. With real money and everything. Kahn’s book is a massive collection of hand built shelters of every sort of building material possible. And they are truly inspiring. There are fantastic homes built of light concrete …
