When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance and Planetary Survival - Softcover

Stein, Matthew R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1574160478 ISBN 13: 9781574160475

Publisher: Clear Light Publishers, 2001

Synopsis

Offers advice for coping with disruptions in everyday life during emergency situations, covering emergency preparedness, first aid, renewable energy, alternative healing, and low-tech methods for securing basic provisions.

About this title

Review

-This book is an indispensable basic manual for the real-life issues that await us in the decades to come. Those who read it, and pay attention to its treasure trove of practical wisdom, will enjoy a huge advantage as the cheap oil fiesta winds down and circumstances compel us to live differently.---James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency

-You don't need to be a survivalist to appreciate this book. If you are thoughtful. If you seek a simpler, more sustainable life or if you feel as though technology has already failed us in the ways that matter, this is a book you want in your personal library.---Kathy Harrison, author of Just In Case: How to Be Self-Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens

-We imagine that we live in the age of information, but this engrossing book reminds us of how comparatively little we know. Most human communities used to know how to provide water and food and energy for themselves, but most of the tips in this comprehensive account will come as news to most Americans. You may never need to put them into practice (or you may need them this winter when home heating prices soar) but at the very least they illuminate the state of our comparative ignorance.---Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy

-If you've been wondering about how to respond to the twin dangers of peak oil and global warming, one of your best choices would be to read this book.---Greg Pahl, author of The Citizen-Powered Energy Handbook: Community Solutions to a Global Crisis

-A fascinating collection of concepts and skills that will satisfy everyone from the casual do-it-yourself enthusiast to someone who wants to attempt self-reliance and the ultimate emergency preparedness.---Howard Backer, MD, author of Wilderness First Aid: Emergency Care for Wilderness Locations and past president of the Wilderness Medical Society

-I have no children because I read M. King Hubbert's analyses on the future of oil and other fossil fuels in 1969, and Limits to Growth shortly thereafter. It was clear to me then and in every year since that our whole economy, and all of our economic principles, were based on cheap oil that would not last. The reason that economists could get away with criticizing Hubbert and LTG as well promoting their basically absurd theories that often disregarded and even belittled natural resources was that, in fact, more oil could be pulled out of the ground to make ANY economic theory or policy work, no matter how stupid. Now that the oil spigot is sputtering the economists' theories and policies are increasingly shown to be failures. We need a whole new way to think about how we do our economies. In the spirit of the old Whole Earth Catalogues Matt Stein does a marvelous and diverse job of helping us to think about how we might go about generating an approach to our economies that can make sense. This is a great book to have on your bookshelf as we enter the post-peak second half of the age of oil.---Professor Charles A.S. Hall, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

-When Technology Fails is the roadmap that you want and need to navigate whatever may lie ahead.---John L. Chunta, PeakOilResources.com

-We may all need a survival reference when technology fails. Matthew provides one--fact-filled, with useful tips on all aspects of survival, clothing, food, shelter, water, etc., including such vital subjects as grazing and the green pharmacy.---James A. Duke, economic botanist, USDA (ret.), and author of The Green Pharmacy

-A marvelous guidebook for helping us through the worst of times, and even improving on the best of times.---Thom Hartmann, syndicated radio host and author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight

-When the grid goes down, having this book with you could be the difference between life and death.---Matt Savinar, author of Life After the Oil Crash

About the Author

Matthew Stein holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. He is an engineer, author and building contractor. He has also worked as a schoolteacher, carpenter, and rock climbing and ski instructor. As the owner of Aloha Aina Builders, Stein built hurricane resistant, energy efficient, and environmentally friendly homes. As a mechanical engineer and president of Stein Design, he has designed consumer water filtration devices, commercial water filtration systems, photovoltaic roofing panels, medical bacteriological filters, drinking fountains, emergency chemical drench systems, computer disk drives, portable fiberglass buildings, and automated assembly machinery for Open Energy, Applied Science, Hewlett Packard, Seagate, Plantronics, Duraflame, Haws, and IGT, among other companies. He currently resides with his wife Josie (see www.inner-journeys.com) in the High Sierra Mountains near Lake Tahoe, CA. Additionally, Stein holds a number of U.S. patents and was a National Merit Scholar. For many years, Stein has pursued avid interests in renewable energy, alternative healing, sustainable growth, and preventative medicine. He is available for lectures and workshops. Check out his green building and mechanical engineering web site at www.stein-design.com and his book's web site at www.whentechfails.com.

Edition details

• Publisher: Clear Light Publishers
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1574160478
• ISBN 13: 9781574160475
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256