What is Everybody Reading?

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Annals of the Former World by John McPhee. If you'd really like to learn (and understand) about how the geology of the United States happened, this is a great place to start.

McPhee is not a geologist himself, but he traveled with a bunch of researchers as he went from one end of the states to the other. The book won the Pulitzer Prize, which tells you something about how good it is!
 
Just finished Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
I read it because I learned that Apocalypse Now was a modern re-imagining of Heart of Darkness. Kurtz was about the only thing close to the same. Some scenes were definitely inspired by the book. Dennis Hopper's character was in there.
 
Beginning leather working author K. Laye?
Tandy Leather catalog
Hand tools powered or non powered that is the question.
When I first got into leatherworking in the early seventies, I assumed that the best way to get good was to buy every single ^&%&((*&$#%$ stamp. Nothing wrong with them, but it's not very artistic. Based on what little I remembered from about a half-century ago, I'd get a couple of very good swivel knives, a stone plate to do your work upon, a skiving tool or two and a couple of edgers.

You'd be surprised just how well you can do your art with just those tools along with a coupla thread punches as well as circular ones, some Chicago screw sets, waxed thread, and maybe some rivets; you should be able to make just about anything. The hard plastic "braille" style of raised designs you roll (I used a rolling pin) onto cased leather gives you a good start, but I like free-hand.

But I wouldn't spend on power tools unless maybe if I were to sew some ~4-ounce leather into leggings or maybe a shirt.
 
When I first got into leatherworking in the early seventies, I assumed that the best way to get good was to buy every single ^&%&((*&$#%$ stamp. Nothing wrong with them, but it's not very artistic. Based on what little I remembered from about a half-century ago, I'd get a couple of very good swivel knives, a stone plate to do your work upon, a skiving tool or two and a couple of edgers.

You'd be surprised just how well you can do your art with just those tools along with a coupla thread punches as well as circular ones, some Chicago screw sets, waxed thread, and maybe some rivets; you should be able to make just about anything. The hard plastic "braille" style of raised designs you roll (I used a rolling pin) onto cased leather gives you a good start, but I like free-hand.

But I wouldn't spend on power tools unless maybe if I were to sew some ~4-ounce leather into leggings or maybe a shirt.
Thank you for the information.
I was gifted a leather working kit and kaboodle.
I was just checking out some information I could find at the library.
Which I might add has a very poor selection of reading material on leather tooling, working etc.
But if you were into romance of all flavors they had bookcase after bookcase of that junk.
But not much in practical life skills.
 
Patriots by James Wesley Rawls (sp?)

I'm about 3/4 of the through it
Copyright is 2009 and I saw where he mentions a "National ID that everyone age 10 and older has to have it on them at all times and will have a magnetic strip on the back to use when purchasing things"

I don't remember anyone talking about digital ID's back in 2009

Interesting story. Heavy on the weapons and detailed descriptions of them (which I find boring lol)

Years after the collapse they start a barter faire and most people wanted to trade and barter for ammo (for protection and hunting for food) or junk silver or other products and livestock
 
I picked up a couple of Robert Parker/Robert Knott novels. These are later installments in the Appaloosa series. I think I may have already read them, but it has been a long time so I don't remember the stories.

If you have never seen it I highly recommend the movie Appaloosa. Set in the Old West, Ed Harrs and Vigo Mortensen play the main characters. I loved the book, and they dd a really good job with the movie.
 
Currently reading thru The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Everything by Martin M. Culy.
I like about 2 chapters getting to the end. But have already decided to start over and take notes as I go this time. There are a lot of scriptural references throughout and I want to dig deeper into those.
Its a really good book IMO.
 
Posts in Threads in Here, Grrrrrrrrr8 Reading, Lots of infro...Lots of FUN n Lots of Life Experiences...!!! 💻🖥️
 
It has been a while ago now, but I have listened to a number of James Wesley Rawls (sp) books on audio tapes... He has hit on a significant number of things that have come to pass or are likely to come about soon.. Unfortunately...
 
I read (and listen) to lots of books. Right now, I’m listening the Zombie Rules series by David Achord and I’m on the last book of the Aaron Turner Chronicles by Mark Eller. I have recently went through all of Robert Crais’s books and now I’m working on the Bosch series (audiobooks and tv shows) by Michael Connelly.

Lately, I’m reading The Man of the Forest by Zane Grey and I have recently checked out My Side of the Mountain by Jean George. I have been going back and reading a lot of wilderness survival books of my childhood. Reading those books as an adult makes it easier to understand what is actually happening in the book. For instance, in Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’dell (based on a true story), she mentions trying to catch a “devil fish.” She is referring to an octopus. 12 year old me didn’t know. It seems hard to find wilderness survival books meant for adults.
 
While taking a few days off and relaxing I read SHUT DOWN by W.R. Flynn. I bought it at a garage sale for less than $1. I guess I got my money's worth, but it wasn't all that great. It was an easy and quick read, but One Second After was far superior IMHO. I thought this book spewed a lot of mythical inforamtion such as "we are running out of petrol!", which was one factor causing the collapse. We are not running out of it.....regulations are just chokeing it thanks to our bought and paid for politicians. But, I digress....... It wasn't all that well written with convenient and unbelievable characters along with much unnecessary repetition.

If nothing else it did fire up some motivation for me. Although, I am typically more motivated to 'get ready' for winter at this time of year anyways.
 
Last edited:
Being housebound for all of this time, and coming to the realization that television is really pretty bad I have started to go back into my library, and find things of interest. My library is focused on historical non fiction from the period of 1850 - 1900. I am a huge fan of the Old West.

It was heartbreaking to me when the Library closed, and admittedly that caught me very much by surprise. I used to go to the library every week. My wife and I are both voracious readers.

Has anybody else increased their reading? Any favorite genres or authors?
I'm a voracious reader too. I read across many different subjects. I just read "The Fungus Link" which opened my eyes to the danger of high sugar, high-carb diets and how many diseases are linked to fungus. I've been meaning to read "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.
 
Dyslexia prevents me from being a "reader", or at least it prevents me from enjoying reading. Over the last 2 months I found myself in my car, a lot. So I signed up for an app called "Everand" and did some research looking for a book series I could listen to through the sound system via bluetooth. I found the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke. I listened to the Neon Rain, then Heaven's Prisoners and now I am listening to Black Cherry Blues. Only 20-some books to go!
 
Dyslexia prevents me from being a "reader", or at least it prevents me from enjoying reading. Over the last 2 months I found myself in my car, a lot. So I signed up for an app called "Everand" and did some research looking for a book series I could listen to through the sound system via bluetooth. I found the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke. I listened to the Neon Rain, then Heaven's Prisoners and now I am listening to Black Cherry Blues. Only 20-some books to go!
Have you ever tried using the colored films? They are a game changer for some folks (w/ dyslexia).
 
Been reading this one.

20240914_070223.jpg
 

Latest posts

Back
Top