Permaculture
by Bill Mollison · first published 1998
50% recommend50% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Dense reference manual of permaculture design principles and techniques, praised as the standard text for hands-on projects and as a clear, informed guide to design thinking for readers interested in sustainable systems.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Yes! For those interested in a DIY project, I would add that "Permaculture: A Designer's Manual" [0] is arguably the reference for these techniques. [0] http://www.amazon.com/Permaculture-Designers-Manual-Bill-Mol...
on “How to Grow a Forest Really Really Fast” ↗I read this after entering my first reply above. Get you a copy of "Permaculture: A Designer's Manual" by Bill Mollison.[1] Never mind that it's technically about farming. It's the finest manual of abstract design I've ever encountered. I promise you, it's what you're looking for.[2]…
on “The Best Textbooks on Every Subject” ↗…conflicts. "Nausiccaä of the Valley of the Wind" is "Post apocalyptic" solarpunk manga (and an old one at that). https://best-sci-fi-books.com/16-best-solarpunk-books/ seems reasonable. Reading a book on permaculture seems the most solarpunk "Permaculture: A Designers' Manual"by Bill Mollison stands out there.
on “From Cyberpunk to Solarpunk: Technics and the Cities of the Future” ↗…light. Talk to people and ask questions from your perspective! For anyone who is interested in combating climate change I highly suggest these three books, they have been perspective changing for me: 1. Permaculture By Bill Mollison (or this free online course https://open.oregonstate.edu/courses/permaculture/) 2. The Hard Rain By Timothy Egan (Think SFO is relatively green? Think again the 'clean' power projects…
on “Ask HN: I'm just a programmer worried about climate change, how can I help?” ↗I love that permaculture is getting so much interest here. (I shared a link to Bill Mollison’s book early during shelter-and-place and it seemed to really resonate.) Cool to see people wanting to apply its principles to areas…
on “Permacomputing” ↗…treated in an astonishingly informed and clear manner. It's hard to describe the refreshing feeling of being exposed to such a mind. It's like reading a book written by Spock. - - - - Bill Mollison, "Permaculture Designer's Manual" Pretty much the best book on design (of all kinds, not just farms) that I've ever run across. It's also a manual for creating ecologically harmonious, profitable farms that improve…
on “Ask HN: What Books Do You Recommend Reading for 2022?” ↗I first learned about Permaculture from reading my parent's copy of "The Next Whole Earth Catalog", which reviewed Mollison's "Permaculture: A Designers' Manual" (which, BTW is one of the greatest books on design that I've ever read, not…
on “What Is Permaculture?” ↗Permaculture: A Designers' Manual by Bill Mollison
on “Ask HN: Books you plan to read in 2020?” ↗…Contrast with our current predicament of on-demand everything.] It’s really interesting to go back to “first principles” in this context, and get a new appreciation for what Mollison was trying to do with Permaculture. Fun fact: the phrase “permanent agriculture” goes back to a book from the 1930s called “Tree Crops”. It contains a great quote by FDR: “The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”
on “Introduction to Permaculture (1994)” ↗I would love to hear what the authors of this paper think about permaculture; not the woo-woo hippie stereotype of permaculture that is so prevalent ("herb spirals", cob ovens, etc), but rather the specific principles and methods outlined in Permaculture: A Designers' Manual (Mollison,…
on “Modernity is incompatible with planetary limits: a PLAN for the future” ↗You make a good point, and I often substitute "applied ecology" to try to emphasize the scientific grounding that Permaculture originally had (Bill Mollison was an ecologist) and still has for a lot of people, myself included. But I have to admit, I was once laissez-faire about non-native invasive species. I can thank E. O.…
on “Plants communicate, nurture their seedlings, and get stressed” ↗…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debug_(command) ) It was brutal and I loved it. I encountered "The Next Whole Earth Catalog" and learned about Christopher Alexander (Pattern Language), Bill Mollison (Permaculture), and Bucky Fuller (Design Science Revolution), among others, and I developed a vision of a different, better world, where drudgery was eliminated by science and technology. To me software is really…
on “Ask HN: Do you contribute to open source projects?” ↗Hey Briantakita, I spent quite a bit of time embedded in the Permaculture movement and have heard all these arguments before. I have read all the key Permaculture texts (both volumes of Edible Forest Gardens, Mollison's original Permaculture: A Designer's Manual, and many…
on “Greening the desert: the architect regenerating Jordan’s native forests” ↗…wonders to rehabilitate flogged country so it becomes more productive whilst ensuing a diverse landscape.) However for fighting desertification, I do recall 90s or so a very good example of the benefits of Permaculture as per Bill Mollison [2] rehabilitating a small knob / small hill of ground somewhere iirc in Africa back into a scene of lush greenery which might have even included some banana trees, whilst the…
on “Ask HN: Who's been picking up trade deals due to US tariff threats?” ↗…to redistribute income and to obviate the welfare trap attributed to other forms of relief, thereby reducing unemployment. It is most naturally implemented as a modification to the income tax system. Permaculture and Bill Mollison: perpetual spinach and Swiss Chard do well here. TIL there are videos about perennials and about companion planting. Potatoes in the soil below tomatoes, in food safe HDPE 5 gallon buckets…
on “Ask HN: Who's been picking up trade deals due to US tariff threats?” ↗