These range, as you see, from how to survive when dumped out in the middle of nowhere to how to homestead, from how to trap small game to how to spin and weave.  Some of the finer arts that softened the often grim struggle for survival are included as well, from calligraphy to furniture-making. Whether your characters are staking out a new planet or living in the same pre-industrial one their ancestors have time out of mind, you want to convince readers you know what you're writing about and not just making this up based on corny old movies. The more authentic you can make your backgrounds, the better, and if you can give your characters real-world, if offbeat skills, it will set them apart from the usual run of stock fantasy types.

Man has farmed with horses and mules for thousands of years. Likely your lo-tech farmers will, too. At the least, your characters will need to know how to hook up their teams and some of the problems inherent in farming with large animals of any sort. This is a hands-on, practical book written by a horse trainer with years of experience farming with horses. Excellent for beginners.

For anyone wanting to get back to nature, including farming, husbandry, soap-making, and everything in between. It is a practical compendium of basic know-how that every farmer used to know, once upon a time, and modern farmers still do. For back-to-nature or simply practical instruction on going green and living in ways our ancestors once took for granted.

This book discusses everything from historical looms to modern suppliers for wool and weaving equipment. Stuffed with useful illustrations for spinners, weavers, and dyers, it is truly an all-in-one guide to a very ancient craft practiced by nearly every culture around the world in some form or other. Even if you have no intention of every practicing these arts, the information is invaluable to anyone looking for practical know-how and background knowledge.

People tend to forget that everything our ancestors used was made by hand from materials easily worked or locally obtained. This includes the things we take for granted, like beds and chairs, none of which, by the way, accompanied the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. Their techniques for creating what they used may have been very similar to those described in this book. Certainly you can lend authentic detail to some workshop of your imagining.

The book covers everything from wood and metal-working for specific furniture pieces to how to create a painted wall hanging.

Written by the curator of London's Royal Armouries, this is one of the best and most in-depth examinations of the role of the armorer and his product through the Middle Ages. It talks about tools, materials used, technique, decoration of armor and use of leather and fabric in the trade, as well as cleaning and wearing the finished product. In short, a thorough look at the entire trade and how it was practiced, invaluable to students of the period as well as to anyone seeking to really lend authenticity to their medieval fantasy worlds.

This excellent how-to teaches you how to hold the pen to create 100 distinct alphabets of all types and styles. It also gives historical examples of calligraphy and shows you how to ornament those gorgeous capitals. Best of all, it's spiral-bound so you don't have to weight the pages down while you're trying to work. For students of calligraphy and people wanting to understand how long it really takes to produce a hand-lettered document of decent quality.

Prior to the printing press, all written communication was done by hand with pen and ink or laboriously inscribed in wet clay or stone. Modern writers should be aware that their characters' ability to communicate depends entirely on the available know-how and technology. 

This book is intended for students looking to stretch their skills. It is not a how-to and does not include the beauties and intricacies of Oriental calligraphy; rather, it is a compilation of many examples of calligraphy drawn from several centuries of hand lettering, from handwriting to the elaborate books created by medieval monks laboring in scriptoriums. It illustrates well the patience and thirst for beauty demonstrated by scribes of times past, who took the time to make even mundane documents things of pride.