Other Worlds Bookstore: Non-fiction Low Technology
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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.

AUTHOR TITLE ORDER
Andrews, Jack New Edge of the Anvil: A Resource Book for the Blacksmith
Skipjack Press (1997)

A new edition of the favorite guide of many a modern blacksmith. Since metal objects, especially weapons, are so much a part of cultures stretching back through human history, you can add great depth by understanding how metal is worked, how blacksmiths ply their art, and why smiths were so valued in every community.

You can find the older edition as Edge of the Anvil at the library.

 

Bowers, Steve & Marlen Seward Farming With Horses
Voyageur Press, 2006

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.

 

Bridgewater, Alan & Gill Bridgewater The Self-Sufficiency Handbook
Skyhorse Publishing, 2007

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.

Brown, Rachel The Weaving, Spinning, and Dyeing Book
Knopf, 1983

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.

Bubel, Mike; Bubel, Nancy; Art, Pam Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits and Vegetables
Storey Books(1991)

Many writers take food for granted, as just appearing on supermarket shelves. Few wonder how it was preserved to get our ancestors through the winter. People could and did store food before there were freezers or even canning (a Napoleonic invention). This will detail one of the methods. Such background detail adds greatly to understanding of less technological cultures and will lend richness to your world-building

 

Clayton, Bruce D. Life After Doomsday: A Survivalist Guide to Nuclear War and Other Major Disasters
Paladin Press (1980)

One of the classics of survivalist literature, sure to be on the bookshelf in that cabin way back out nowhere. The probable outcomes are based on careful research in government publications. 

 

Diehl, Daniel Constructing Medieval Furniture: Plans and Instructions with Historical Notes
Stackpole Books, 1997

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.

Dickson, Murray Where There Is No Dentist
Hesperian Foundation (1983)

How do your primitive, marooned, or otherwise self-sufficient characters handle the oral part of medical emergencies? Most people take their teeth for granted and never wonder whether their ancestors were toothless by the age of 40.

Here are both problems to keep your characters' lives entertaining, and the solutions.

 

Farnham, Albert C. Home Tanning and Leather Making Guide
Fur Fish Game (1959)

This has remained in print because it is so very good. Nothing but the straight how-to, written with a clarity that escapes most modern writers. 

How to scrape, green salt, and store hides, make rawhide, how to smoke buckskin, and how to make real leathers by a variety of tanning formulas from ground up bark to store-bought chemicals.

 

Ffoulkes, Charles The Armourer and His Craft from the XIth to the XVIth Century
Dover Publications, 1988

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.

Harris, David The Calligrapher's Bible: 100 Complete Alphabets and How to Draw Them
Barron's Educational Series, 2003

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.

Kearny, Cresson H. Nuclear War Survival Skills
Oregon Institute of Science & Medicine, 2nd ed (1988)

A superb handbook of tested, working shelters that can be constructed quickly in basements or in the ground, while providing genuine, long-term (if uncomfortable) protection. Realistic description of dangers. Covers keeping warm with expedient materials (bathrobe, shower cap, and newspapers -- you should see the photos of testers!), lighting, sanitation, and cooking with minimal fuel. 

A long-time favorite.

 

Richards, Matt Deerskins into Buckskins: How to Tan With Natural Materials
Backcountry Publications (1997)

The most recent edition of a classic. Its subtitle is a trifle misleading, because while Richards gives natural means, he also recommends things like using rubber cement to make up the skin into a bag for smoking. Still, what kind of mucilage could you make out of hooves to do the same job? A good book.

 

Stahlberg, Rainer The Complete Book of Survival : How to Protect Yourself Against Revolution, Riots, Hurricanes, Famines, and Other Natural and Man-Made Disasters.
Barricade Books (1998)

The writer notes that this was written for people, not the government, and all systems can be personalized. This is still an excellent guide, given the recent spate of hurricanes, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, oil spills, tornados, and other uncontrollable phenomena. Toss in terrorist attacks, and there may be any number of reasons your characters' lives (or your own) might be unexpectedly disrupted for undetermined periods of time.

Includes chapters like Financial Survival.

 

Streeter, Donald Professional Smithing: Traditional Techniques for Decorative Ironwork, Whitesmithing, Hardware, Toolmaking, and Locksmithing  
Astragal Press (1995)

If you need more than this, you'll have to grill a smith or go to the very high-tech manuals. Massive and thorough.

 

Werner, David with Carol Thuman and Jane Maxwell Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook
Hesperian Foundation (1992)

Recommended by many for medical missionaries, adventure trekkers, and anyone going out of range of the usual levels of American medical care (that can include Manila, by a friend's sad experience). Has a bias to tropical perils often ignored by other survival manuals which assume you will be in North America or northern Europe. Many of these strategies can be adapted into the health care provided by your invented culture, so that they can handle some hairies without going high-tech.

 

Whalley, Joyce Irene The Student's Guide to Western Calligraphy
Shambhala, 1984

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. 

Whitaker, Francis The Blacksmith's Cookbook: Recipes in Iron
Jim Fleming Publications, 1996

The last word a writer needs in blacksmithing, with formulas and other refinements for metalworking. Written by a long-time working blacksmith in plain, straightforward language, it is an excellent reference with down-home experience delivered regarding techniques and problems solved over many years of working iron. This is the sort of book that is priceless because the knowledge behind it belongs to a vanishing breed of really experienced people who worked at such trades for a living, not as a hobby.