Earth Knack: Stone Age Skills for the 21st Century

By Bart Blankenship, Mary Louise Kelly, Robin Blankenship

Earth Knack is a comprehensive how-to book for using Stone Age skills to fulfill your daily needs from materials readily at hand. Anyone who tries these ideas will find them environmentally appropriate and uniquely fulfilling.

Here are just a few skills to enrich you experience and give you a feeling of self reliance.

-Twist and weave strong cord and rope from plant and animal fibers.

-Learn the basics of flintknapping.

-Boil a batch of natural hide glue, one of the strongest adhesives known.

-Extract natural dyes and pigments from earth and plants.

-Create a flute, drum or tambourine for hours of musical fun.

-Cut and stitch an elegant buckskin skirt or shirt.

-Mold a clay pot for cooking.

-Brew pine needle tea or mix a batch of acorn muffins

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879057335
• ISBN13: 9780879057336
• Release Date: November 2007
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 19 years and up

Customer Reviews

An invaluable Resource

I don't even know how many color-by-number wilderness survival manuals I had to buy before I stumbled over this gem. It tops my list of recommended reference materials when researching survival skills. For all of those aspiring authors or hardcore campers who would like to know how to survive in the woods (or anywhere else for that matter) where your list of resources does NOT assume a camping stove, cell phone, emergency kit, or water purifier, this is the book you need.

One of the best sources for this type of information

If you are looking for a book on basic primitive living skills you will find a goldmine of information in Earth Knack. The broad range of areas covered include making fire, making cordage (from vegetable and animal sources), making tools, tanning, flintknapping, making dyes and colors, baskets, bowls, pottery, food and cooking, soap, music, and clothing. Each chapter provides everything you need to know to complete a couple of projects of that genre but is hardly a thorough treatment of the subject. For example the food and cooking, animals, and getting dressed sections each could easily consume two or three books and there are many on the market that do. What this book provides is a thorough introduction to the skills and the ability to develop confidence by going through several projects. Although most areas are not covered in detail, some areas are covered better than any other book of this nature I have seen. For example, fire, cordage, baskets, buckets, and bowls are all treated in detail. It contains an unusually good section on flintknapping and an excellent section on making fire. While the techniques are mentioned in other books this is the first one I have read that provided sufficient information to figure out what you are doing wrong if it doesn't work. For example the first several times I tried to create a fire with friction I only created a glazed effect on the wood. This is the only book that mentioned what caused it and what to do about it. For anyone wanting a broad introduction of all the basic skills of primitive living, Earth Knack is a highly recommended book.

Informative Book

I took an Outward Bound Course, and Bart was the Instructor. He was a very intersting man, so i bought his booy, which was just as intersting

Earth Knack gives you the know-how

I know Robin and Bart and enjoyed both their book as well as the excellant Earth Knack School that Robin runs . Both their school and this excellant book focus on hands-on. If you fully intend to learn the skills your ancestors used to keep alive this is THE BOOK. Filled with outstanding drawings that guide you through each skill in a step by step fashion Earth Knack points the way and leaves it up to you to take the path.

Eath Knack Stone Age Living Skills

This book is well written and encourages the reader to be an active participant in the process of discovery (or re-discovery, as the writers may contend). The book is cleverly illustrated and fun to read, offering a wealth of information I have not found in any other sourcebook on primitive skills. I found myself jumping off the couch to venture outside to collect plants for dyeing fabric. Later, I used the description of how to make cordage from native plants found right in my own backyard. I would stongly recommend this book to anyone interested in practical, hands-on, primitive skills.