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Summary: The Publisher, Tagari Publications
Review: An encyclopedic treatment of permaculture, this book is essential for students, landowners, public-policy makers, and others interested in revolutionizing modern farming and land use. Highly detailed chapters cover everything one might ever need to know about the permaculture philosophy and its application to land-use design, systems analysis, climatic factors (including tailored strategies for drylands, aquaculture, and other special circumstances), and much, much more.
Rating: 
Summary: Getting it all together
Review: Bill Mollison is an ecologist of the first rank. In 1981 he received the Right Livelihood Award--the Alternative Nobel Prize--for his work in environmental design. He and David Holmgren coined the word permaculture; Mollison has devoted his life to teaching the concept. Permaculture is humans working with, not against, nature. It's about causing land, water, plants and animals to synergistically cause multiple benefits and to improve an ecosystem simultaneously. It maximizes functional connections so that the many parts become a whole. To create permaculture design is to make the strongest possible statement of our eco-values, a resounding vote against current agribusiness practices. I have four of Mollison's books--this one has it all plus 129 color photos and a gazillion drawings by Andrew Jeeves. Here is complete knowledge to create your personal permaculture, a place to work and live in harmony with nature, a place that will nuture your body and your soul.
Rating:
Summary: Getting it all together
Review: Bill Mollison is an ecologist of the first rank. In 1981 he received the Right Livelihood Award--the Alternative Nobel Prize--for his work in environmental design. He and David Holmgren coined the word permaculture; Mollison has devoted his life to teaching the concept. Permaculture is humans working with, not against, nature. It's about causing land, water, plants and animals to synergistically cause multiple benefits and to improve an ecosystem simultaneously. It maximizes functional connections so that the many parts become a whole. To create permaculture design is to make the strongest possible statement of our eco-values, a resounding vote against current agribusiness practices. I have four of Mollison's books--this one has it all plus 129 color photos and a gazillion drawings by Andrew Jeeves. Here is complete knowledge to create your personal permaculture, a place to work and live in harmony with nature, a place that will nuture your body and your soul.
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Summary: Bill Mollison...
Review: Bill Mollison is generously known as the father of permaculture. He is certainly the most prevalent author in the field, and the Designer's Manual is his ultimate work. The book gives great ideas for overall farm design, water catchment, aquaculture, agriculture, agroforestry, etc. All parts of the permaculture farm, as in life, are connected. Bill's teaching style is to the point, with humor interspersed. After reading the manual more technical research is needed to begin a permaculture site. He does not go into detail about choosing plant species and his chapters concerning different climate zones are very general and therefore must be localized to the specific site.
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Summary: An inspiring book!
Review: For those of us searching for an ecologically responsible lifestyle amid urban and suburban insanity, Bill Mollison has a real and exciting answer. This book is full of helpful advice presented in a very readable way. (The only problem might be getting stuck in the chapters on climates that don't concern you; just skip them until later!) The groundwork philosophy of permaculture is laid first, and the book moves from there to the practical business of actually designing one. The emphasis is on letting various plant and animal species work together as much as possible, to form a basically self-sustaining system from which people can reap a continual harvest, not only of food, but of interest and self-respect. What a prospect! It is certainly a very different one from what we young people have been taught to expect from life! This volume is much more complete in both the philosophy and the practice than were the original "Permaculture One" and "Permaculture Two." It is also much less focused on the Southern Hemisphere, which is helpful for North Americans trying to visualize their own permaculture. I can only hope that more people happen upon this book as I did and are themselves inspired to create a fulfilling life for themselves and their children.
Rating:
Summary: An inspiring book!
Review: For those of us searching for an ecologically responsible lifestyle amid urban and suburban insanity, Bill Mollison has a real and exciting answer. This book is full of helpful advice presented in a very readable way. (The only problem might be getting stuck in the chapters on climates that don't concern you; just skip them until later!) The groundwork philosophy of permaculture is laid first, and the book moves from there to the practical business of actually designing one. The emphasis is on letting various plant and animal species work together as much as possible, to form a basically self-sustaining system from which people can reap a continual harvest, not only of food, but of interest and self-respect. What a prospect! It is certainly a very different one from what we young people have been taught to expect from life! This volume is much more complete in both the philosophy and the practice than were the original "Permaculture One" and "Permaculture Two." It is also much less focused on the Southern Hemisphere, which is helpful for North Americans trying to visualize their own permaculture. I can only hope that more people happen upon this book as I did and are themselves inspired to create a fulfilling life for themselves and their children.
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Summary: Essential reading for all farmers, foresters, and landowners
Review: Having worked in the field of sustainable foresty and agriculture for the past 9 years, I found the concepts presented in this book to be VERY useful. The book is filled with illistrations and ideas for every climate and situation. I like to think of the book as an idea catolouge from which I can pick and choose.I must however warn, Bill Mollison is sometimes overly optimistic in his predictions of yeilds. I have friends who have tried some of the suggestions, only to get limited results. For example, the author claims that a family could produce most of it's food needs, with a little supplimental trading, within 6 meters (20ft) of their home. While this may be true for a developing world standard of living, it would be a real strech for an American to do so. But don't let that discourage you from buying the book, just take the suggestions with a grain of salt. Essential reading for all farmers, foresters, and landowners!
Rating:
Summary: Essential reading for all farmers, foresters, and landowners
Review: Having worked in the field of sustainable foresty and agriculture for the past 9 years, I found the concepts presented in this book to be VERY useful. The book is filled with illistrations and ideas for every climate and situation. I like to think of the book as an idea catolouge from which I can pick and choose. I must however warn, Bill Mollison is sometimes overly optimistic in his predictions of yeilds. I have friends who have tried some of the suggestions, only to get limited results. For example, the author claims that a family could produce most of it's food needs, with a little supplimental trading, within 6 meters (20ft) of their home. While this may be true for a developing world standard of living, it would be a real strech for an American to do so. But don't let that discourage you from buying the book, just take the suggestions with a grain of salt. Essential reading for all farmers, foresters, and landowners!
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Summary: Interesting information but not always practical
Review: I found this to be a thoroughly absorbing reference - it was the follow-up to his earlier simple manuals that hooked me on permaculture 20 years ago...
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Summary: Not just a must have for Farmers and Gardeners
Review: If Buckminster Fuller was still alive this is the book he would have wrote. And like Bucminster Fullers work this book is an important contirbution to science, not just farming and gardening. This book is also a must have for designers and not just gardeners and farmers. While a close "cousin" of this book on designing settlements, "A Pattern Language" by Christopher Alexander is quite often a standard text for students of software design. The chapters in this book that deal with "Concepts and Themes of Design", "Methods of Design" and "Pattern Understanding", give a much better understanding of the basics of good design than any other book that you are likely to ever read. While a "Pattern Language" shows how to create a synergy between man and the archititecture of individual buildings and their collective groupings as villages suburbs and towns.This book shows how to design human settlements that create a synergy between man and nature that is incredible in its scope, and its scalabality from the micro to the macro. If you are designing a house, a farm, or even a city or state this is the most dynamic book on the planet for urban and rural design. This books also contains many metaphors for design and tools for thought (such as decision trees) that are useful for anyone interested in design. This book is a must have if you are a serious farmer or home gardener. If you are interested in infrastructure design whether it be for I.T. infrastructure such as software or hardware design or Economic and Government Infrastructure then this book will give you a competitive advantage over fellow designers of policy. As this book clearly demonstrates noone can beat Mother Nature when it comes to designing systems that maximixe the flow and interaction of energy and information. This book is quite large and is over 570 pages long, if you are not the sort of person who likes to read and absorb a lot of Material then you could find this book a bit daunting. If you are a Farmer or Gardener who just wishes to improve the yield of their crops then you will find "Introduction to Permaculture" by Bill Molllison much more useful. It summarises all the principles of design laid down in "Permaculture A Designers Manual" and its small size and volume (198 pages) is a lot easier to digest. A good companion to these two books is the Video of the Australian Telelvision series "Global Gardener" narrated by the inventor of the concept of Permaculture, Bill Mollison. This video shows examples of the principles of Permaculture Design at work in every climate and situation you are likely to encounter in both the Northern and Southern hemisphere. .....
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