The "Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle" is an overwhelming reference work consisting of 9 books (some 5,000 pages in total) on medieval and renaissance architecture in France. It is written in French, as you already suspected, but the detailed illustrations make it worthwhile for all architecture and history devotees. There is really all you need to know to build, for instance, a gothic cathedral, including the gargoyles. The work appeared in 1856 and was written by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, an architect known for his restorations of medieval buildings. The separate volumes can also be found on the Internet Archive.
19 posts categorized "Books & Reference"
Community-Based Health Care
"Hesperian is a non-profit publisher of books and newsletters for community-based health care. Our first book, Where There Is No Doctor, is considered to be one of the most accessible and widely used community health books in the world. Simply written and heavily illustrated, Hesperian books are designed so that people with little formal education can understand, apply and share health information. Developed collaboratively with health workers and community members from around the world, our books and newsletters address the underlying social, political, and economic causes of poor health and suggest ways groups can organize to improve health conditions in their communities. Hesperian publishes all of our books in English and Spanish and our open copyright policy facilitates adaptations and translations into many other languages. Our books are available for purchase or free download." Via The Survivalist Blog.
Censors of Knowledge
"This archive contains 18,592 scientific publications totaling 33GiB, all from Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and which should be available to everyone at no cost, but most have previously only been made available at high prices through paywall gatekeepers like JSTOR. Limited access to the documents here is typically sold for $19 USD per article, though some of the older ones are available as cheaply as $8. Purchasing access to this collection one article at a time would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Whether or not you are interested in the publications, the accompanying manifest written by Greg Maxwell deserves to be read. Find a summary below. Original manifest + download here. Via Edwin Mijnsbergen.
Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of Applied Mechanics: a Dictionary of Mechanical Engineering and the Mechanical Arts (1880)
"Appletons’ cyclopaedia of applied mechanics: a dictionary of mechanical engineering and the mechanical arts (1880): Volume I – Volume II" is another great resource on 19th century technology. Via Tecob. Previously:
- "Modern mechanism; exhibiting the latest progress in machines, motors, and the transmission of power", Benjamin Park (1892)
- "Les merveilles de l'industrie, ou description des principales industries modernes", Louis Figuier (1873-1877)
- "Dictionary of arts, manufactures, and mines containing a clear exposition of their principles and practice", Andrew Ure (1875)
Appropriate Technology Sourcebook
"Welcome to the online edition of the Appropriate Technology Sourcebook which reviews over 1,150 of the best books on appropriate technology.
This is the online version of the latest edition guide to practical books on village and small community technology. Over 50,000 print copies of the previous editions have been used in more than 130 countries to find a wide range of published technical information that can be used by individuals and small groups. In the new edition, 1150 publications are reviewed, covering small water supply systems, renewable energy devices such as water mills and improved cook stoves, agricultural tools and implements, intensive gardening, nonformal education, small business management, transportation, small industries and other topics."
All previous entries in 'Books & Reference'.
Innovation & Tradition: The Complete Works of Hassan Fathy Online
"Since antiquity, man has reacted to his environment, using his faculties to develop techniques and technologies, whether to bake bread or make brick, in such internal psychological balance with nature that humanity historically lived attuned to the environment. Man's creations were natural when built of the materials offered by the landscape. Learning to manipulate clay, stone, marble, and wood, man penetrated their properties, and his techniques gave expression to his aspirations toward the divine. In architecture, environmental harmony was known to the Chinese, the Indians, the Greeks, and others. It produced the temples of Karnak, the great mosques of Islam, and the cathedral of Chartres in France."
"With the advent of the industrial revolution, the inherited techniques and perfected knowledge of creating, using handmade tools, were lost and are now forgotten. Energy-intensive mechanized tools have diminished man's personal, cellular contribution to the fabrication of objects, the building of structures, and the growing of food. The lesser the challenge for man to imprint his genius, the less artistic is the product. The resulting economic and political disturbances are visible today. Production of beauty, once the prerogative of millions, is replaced by industrialization, even of bread, under the control of a minority of owners. The negative consequences of the industrial revolution have disturbed the natural organization of the divine concept for humanity."
"Sixty years of experience have shown me that industrialization and mechanization of the building trade have caused vast changes in building methods with varying applications in different parts of the world. Constant upheaval results when industrially developed societies weaken the craft-developed cultures through increased communications. As they interact, mutations create societal and ecological imbalance and economic inequities which are documented to be increasing in type and number. Profoundly affected is the mass of the population, which is pressured to consume industrially produced goods. The result is cultural, psychological, moral, and material havoc."
"Yet it is this population that has an intimate knowledge of how to live in harmony with the local environment. Thousands of years of accumulated expertise has led to the development of economic building methods using locally available materials, climatization using energy derived from the local natural environment, and an arrangement of living and working spaces in consonance with their social requirements. This has been accomplished within the context of an architecture that has reached a very high degree of artistic expression."
Quoted from: "Architecture and environment" by Hassan Fathy, a noted Egyptian architect who pioneered appropriate technology for building in Egypt, especially by working to re-establish the use of mud brick (or adobe) and traditional as opposed to western building designs and lay-outs.
Fathy demonstrated how elements from vernacular Arab urban architecture, such as the malkaf (wind catch), shukshaykha (lantern dome) and mashrabiya (wooden lattice screen), could be combined with the mud-brick construction traditionally practiced in Nubia in Upper Egypt to form a distinctive, environmentally and socially conscious building style that linked the use of appropriate technologies with co-operative construction techniques and the guiding thread of tradition (source).
All his wonderfully illustrated books can be found online, free to download (in English, French & Arabic). Via TECTONICAblog (Thank you, Zeltia).
Handy Farm Devices and How to Make Them
"Handy farm devices and how to make them", Rolfe Cobleigh, 1912.
Practical Conservation Handbooks: More Excellent DIY Resources
The British charity BTCV has an interesting collection of practical handbooks online. They all concern traditional practices and give a wealth of how-to details, including many drawings. Update December 2: BTCV has taken the books offline.
Related resources:
Exhibiting the Latest Progress in Machines, Motors, and the Transmission of Power (1892)
"Modern mechanism; exhibiting the latest progress in machines, motors, and the transmission of power", Benjamin Park (1892).
Compendium of Useful Information
"Access to 2 gigabytes of information about sustainable and resilient
living that meets the challenges of peak energy, climate instability, economic irrationality, toxic politics, war and violence."
Compendium of useful information - version 1.0, september 3, 2010. The page reminds a lot of the 13 gigabyte database set up by Alex Weir (previously: How to make everything yourself - online low-tech resources), and from a quick overview I learn that many of the same sources are listed. However, the list is better organised and also seems to contain quite a few DIY-resources which I did not see before. Related: the recent launches of the Green Wizard Forums and the UNESCO Traditional Knowledge Base. Picture: totally solar heated house.
Chronological and Thematic Database on the History of Information and Media
From Cave Paintings to the Internet is "designed to help you follow the development of information and media, and attitudes about them, from the beginning of records to the present. Containing annotated references to discoveries, developments of a social, scientific, theoretical or technological nature, as well as references to physical books, documents, artifacts, art works, and to websites and other digital media, it arranges, both chronologically and thematically, selected historical examples and recent developments of the methods used to record, distribute, exchange, organize, store, and search information. The database is designed to allow you to approach the topics in a wide variety of ways."
Illustration: coptic bookbinding.
Can Traditional Knowledge be Categorized?
"This bears all the hallmarks of a well-intentioned project that will grind slowly to a halt. Like flowers that wilt when cut and put in a vase, indigenous knowledge
tends to degrade quickly when removed from its context."
Doubts on the recently launched International Traditional Knowledge Database.
The Wonders of Industry (1873-1877)
"Les merveilles de l'industrie, ou description des principales industries modernes", Louis Figuier (1873-1877). The 4-volume book is in French, but the engravings are indeed wonderful: Part 1 (750 pages), Part 2 (736 pages), Part 3 (687 pages) & Part 4 (744 pages). A sample of the illustrations of part one and four can be found here and here. Below: salt mines in Wieliska, Poland (extra
large illustration). Related: Three thousand pages of 19th century technology.
Primitive Technology Handbook
Primitive Ways makes use of the internet to teach us the lost knowledge of our Stone Age ancestors: making fire, tools, weapons, cooking utensils, musical instruments, shelters, and much more. Not everything is that useful in the 21st century, but the site contains a wealth of information and many of the diy-projects sure look like fun. Moreover, they also combine traditional skills with modern materials, like in this four-hour kayak. Some articles are extremely short, but very useful - see the Inuit Thimble, for example.
Primitive Ways is also available as a book or a dvd, but all information is freely accessible on the website. Articles also appeared in the "Bulletin of Primitive Technology", a print magazine from the Society of Primitive Technology.
Another good resource is "Primitive Technology: A Book of Earth Skills
