Brave Old World: A Practical Guide to Husbandry, or the Fine Art of Looking After Yourself

In this indispensable and delightful addition to Tom Hodgkinsons much-loved series of guides for the free-spirited, the author takes us on a modern tour of the ancient arts of everyday living: philosophy, husbandry and merriment. Drawing on the wisdom of an eclectic range of thinkers and writers, and, as ever, on Toms own honestly recounted and frequently imperfect attempts to travel the road to self-sufficiency, Brave Old World is designed to give us all hope. Why, he asks, shouldnt we return to the ideals of a pre-capitalist, pre-Puritan, pre-consumerist world of feasting, dancing, horse-riding, wood-chopping, fire-laying, poultry-rearing, bartering, bread-baking and bee-keeping? From January to December, Brave Old World charts the progress of a year in pursuit of the pleasures of the past, taking seriously - though not without much incidental comedy, G.K. Chestertons exhortation, We must go back to freedom or forward to slavery.