things worth paying attention to
Read free. Folkscanomy Encyclopedias and Compendiums of Knowledge is a collection of around 4,000 books you can read online or download in various formats, for free. Access the collection at archive.org/details/folkscanomy_encyclopedia. Here are direct links to a few examples.
Read free. “Where There Is No Doctor was first written in Spanish for farm people in the mountains of Mexico where, 27 years ago, the author helped form a health care network now run by the villagers themselves. Where There Is No Doctor has been translated into more than 50 languages and is used by village health workers in over 100 countries.”
Read free. This Folkscanomy collection offers more than 20,000 unsorted books to read online or download in various formats, for free. Access the collection at archive.org/details/folkscanomy_miscellaneous. Here are direct links to some examples.
Read free. “This volume has been written primarily as a text for secondary schools of agriculture, and for colleges where only a general course can be offered. Claim is not made for much new material concerning the subjects discussed; but rather an attempt has been made to place under one cover a general discussion of agricultural engineering subjects, which hitherto could not be secured except in several volumes and hence impractical for text-book purposes.”
Read free. “First and last, public speaking is a practical art, a means, not an end. It is a purposive activity, not a mere vehicle for the exhibition of skill. The only excuse for studying the art is that we may fashion a tool that will help us turn a vision into a reality. But if we are to make it a useful tool, we must always speak with a definite purpose in mind. No speaker ever attained his goal without subordinating his art to his subject.”
Read free. “It is almost universally conceded that each one carries a certain atmosphere that may be felt by all who come in contact with him; but how that atmosphere is formed and held by each individual is an open question…. That the proposition may be clearly understood, it will be best to state it boldly. It is this: Man controls absolutely his own atmosphere.“
Read free. “If one compares any two plants of the same kind ever so closely, it will be found that they differ from each other. The difference is apparent in size, form, color, mode of branching, number of leaves, number of flowers, vigor, season of maturity, and the like; or, in other words, all plants and animals vary from an assumed or standard type. If one compares any two branches or twigs on a tree, it will be found that they differ in size, age, form, vigor, and in other ways.”
Read free. “There seem to the writer to be four great inferences from modern psychology, and each with suggestions for life and character—that is, with direct suggestion of the conditions of growth, of character, of happiness, and of influence. These four inferences are: Life is complex; man is a unity; will and action are of central importance; and the real is concrete.”
Read free. “The idea that the writer has tried to present, simply and practically, is that man’s responses and reactions to life are virtually within his own control; that the quality and number of his responses and reactions determine, to a large degree, his oldness or youngness.”
Read free. “The object of the present volume is: to indicate the character and, approximately, the extent of the changes produced by human action in the physical conditions of the globe we inhabit; to point out the dangers of imprudence and the necessity of caution in all operations which, on a large scale, interfere with the spontaneous arrangements of the organic or the inorganic world; to suggest the possibility and the importance of the restoration of disturbed harmonies and the material improvement of waste and exhausted regions; and, incidentally, to illustrate the doctrine, that man is, in both kind and degree, a power of a higher order than any of the other forms of animated life, which, like him, are nourished at the table of bounteous nature.”
Read free. The Internet Archive’s collection of 1.7 million unsorted manuals, to read online or download in various formats, for free. Access the collection at archive.org/details/manuals_contributions. Here are direct links to a few examples.
Read free. Around 500 books about survival-related topics, from dumpster-diving to nuclear war. Read online or download for free. Access the collection at archive.org/details/folkscanomy_prepper. Here are direct links to a few examples.
Read free. “My hope is that this book encourages deeper understanding of the nature of local community, and helps to revitalize and legitimize the principles of neighbourhood planning as a means of achieving sustainable development.”
Read free. A history of the EcoVillage at Ithaca, by one of its founders. “Rather than pull apart in destructive conflict, the human community could choose to pull together in cooperation and work collaboratively to create a sustainable future. I am heartened by research that indicates public attitudes and behaviors seem to be shifting in favor of more sustainable ways of living.”
Read free. “A residential or land-based intentional community is a group of people who have chosen to live with or near enough to each other to carry out their shared lifestyle or common purpose together. Families living in a cohousing communities in the city, students living in student housing cooperatives near universities, and sustainability advocates living in rural back-to-the-land homesteads are all members of intentional communities. Community is not just about living together, but about the reasons for doing so. ‘A group of people who have chosen to live together with a common purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values,’ is one way the non-profit Fellowship for Intentional Community describes it.”
Read free. “In the first chapter the myths and facts about the consequences of a massive nuclear attack are discussed. As devastating as such an attack would be, with adequate civil defense preparations and timely warning much of the population could survive. The information and instructions given in subsequent chapters tell the average citizen how to improve his and his family’s chances of surviving a nuclear attack by working together to build expedient shelters and homemade life-support equipment. The reader is urged to make at least some of these low-cost preparations before a crisis arises. The main emphasis, however, is on survival preparations that could be made in the last few days of a worsening crisis.”
Draft. Collection of DIY and Survival PDFs to download.
Draft. Collection of Civilian and Military Medical Manuals to download.
Read free. “The purpose of this paper is to outline a strategy for the use of a future weather modification system to achieve military objectives rather than to provide a detailed technical road map.”
Read free. “If our ancestors didn’t succeed at the task of surviving in the wilderness, we wouldn’t be here talking about it—but it’s never been easy. It takes knowledge, skill, and talent to live off the land. This is a book about that kind of survival, but it’s also a blend of history and philosophy. Here you’ll learn about primitive survival techniques for their historical value and as a set of last-ditch plans for survival when your gear is gone. And we’ll explore the philosophy of the bushcraft movement. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, don’t worry. It’s not witchcraft or “arts and crafts.” Bushcraft is all about thriving in your native environment: the great outdoors.”
