Troubadour's book list for self reliance
1. 
Pest Control for Organic Gardening: Natural Methods for Pest and Disease Control for a Healthy Garden
by:
Amber Richards
3.72 avg rating — 90 ratings 2. 
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by:
Michael Pollan
4.19 avg rating — 208,900 ratings 3. 
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats 4.19 avg rating — 13,990 ratings
4. 
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
by:
Jared Diamond
3.93 avg rating — 73,875 ratings 
6. 
The Complete Tightwad Gazette: Promoting Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle
by:
Amy Dacyczyn
4.17 avg rating — 2,894 ratings 
9. 
The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener
by:
Eliot Coleman
4.42 avg rating — 1,274 ratings 10. 
Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Green Resource for Every Gardener 4.23 avg rating — 553 ratings
11. 
Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change
by:
Victor Papanek
4.24 avg rating — 1,723 ratings 
23. 
The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City
by:
Kelly Coyne
3.99 avg rating — 2,534 ratings 
23. 
Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects
by:
Dmitry Orlov
3.98 avg rating — 597 ratings 23. 
The 'One Planet' Life: A Blueprint for Low Impact Development
by:
David Thorpe
4.43 avg rating — 7 ratings 23. 
The Soul of Soil: A Soil-Building Guide for Master Gardeners and Farmers, 4th Edition
by:
Joe Smillie
4.06 avg rating — 144 ratings 29. 
The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture
by:
Wendell Berry
4.33 avg rating — 6,466 ratings 
35. 
Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long
by:
Eliot Coleman
4.30 avg rating — 2,292 ratings 35. 
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
by:
David Graeber
4.19 avg rating — 24,328 ratings 35. 
The Yankee Way to Simplify Your Life: Old-Fashioned Wisdom For A New-fangled World
by:
Yankee Magazine
3.53 avg rating — 43 ratings 38. 
The Cob Builders Handbook: You Can Hand-Sculpt Your Own Home
by:
Becky Bee
4.21 avg rating — 142 ratings 38. 
Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front
by:
Joel Salatin
4.19 avg rating — 2,009 ratings 38. 
41. 
Permaculture: Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability
by:
David Holmgren
4.17 avg rating — 787 ratings 41. 
The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times
by:
Carol Deppe
4.19 avg rating — 692 ratings 
44. 
Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: The Gardener's and Farmer's Guide to Plant Breeding and Seed Saving
by:
Carol Deppe
4.47 avg rating — 172 ratings 44. 
47. 
Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance
by:
M. John Storey
4.23 avg rating — 1,008 ratings 49. 
Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects
by:
Bertrand Russell
4.01 avg rating — 21,974 ratings 
49. 
Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World
by:
Paul Stamets
4.41 avg rating — 3,298 ratings 49. 
53. 
Stolen Sharpie Revolution 2: A Diy Resource for Zines and Zine Culture
by:
Alex Wrekk
4.16 avg rating — 771 ratings 
55. 
All We Knew Was to Farm: Rural Women in the Upcountry South, 1919-1941
by:
Melissa Walker
3.53 avg rating — 17 ratings 57. 
An Inquiry into the Human Prospect: Updated & Reconsidered for the 1990s 3.70 avg rating — 54 ratings
57. 
Canning & Preserving Your Own Harvest: An Encyclopedia of Country Living Guide
by:
Carla Emery
3.77 avg rating — 66 ratings 
59. 
63. 
Joey Green's Incredible Country Store: Potions, Notions and Elixirs of the Past--and How to Make Them Today
by:
Joey Green
3.78 avg rating — 41 ratings 
65. 
The Wildlife Gardener's Almanac: A seasonal guide to increasing the biodiversity in your garden
by:
Jackie Bennett
3.75 avg rating — 4 ratings 
67. 
Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners
by:
Suzanne Ashworth
4.21 avg rating — 1,773 ratings 69. 
69. 
71. 
71. 
73. 
Slug Bread & Beheaded Thistles: Amusing and Useful Techniques for Nontoxic Housekeeping and Gardening
by:
Ellen Sandbeck
3.86 avg rating — 72 ratings 75. 
A Green History of the World: The Environment & the Collapse of Great Civilizations
by:
Clive Ponting
3.94 avg rating — 778 ratings 75. 
The Natural Navigator: The Rediscovered Art of Letting Nature Be Your Guide
by:
Tristan Gooley
3.78 avg rating — 1,227 ratings 
79. 
The Nature Instinct: Relearning Our Lost Intuition for the Inner Workings of the Natural World
by:
Tristan Gooley
3.76 avg rating — 556 ratings 
81. 
Essential Oils for Healing: Over 400 All-Natural Recipes for Everyday Ailments 4.24 avg rating — 110 ratings
83. 
A Concise Economic History of the World: From Paleolithic Times to the Present, 4th Edition
by:
Rondo Cameron
3.79 avg rating — 301 ratings 83. 
87. 
Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered
by:
Woody Tasch
3.56 avg rating — 195 ratings 87. 
89. 
91. 
Earth Almanac: Nature's Calendar for Year-Round Discovery
by:
Ken Keffer
4.31 avg rating — 45 ratings 93. 
Becoming Good Ancestors: How We Balance Nature, Community, and Technology 4.32 avg rating — 19 ratings
93. 
The Eight Master Lessons of Nature: What Nature Teaches Us About Living Well in the World
by:
Gary Ferguson
4.13 avg rating — 1,111 ratings 
95. 
The Weather Detective: Rediscovering Nature's Secret Signs
by:
Peter Wohlleben
3.44 avg rating — 1,445 ratings 
97. 
99. 
Pre-Industrial Societies: Anatomy of the Pre-Modern World
by:
Patricia Crone
3.87 avg rating — 180 ratings 99. 
The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative 3.97 avg rating — 14,019 ratings