Fuel from Farms, A Guide to SmallScale Ethanol Production, preparfd by SERI and consultants, 1980, 150 pp., ~e in limited quantities from: Technical Information Center • U.S. Department of Energy P.O. Box62 Oakridge; TN 37830 • The publiq.tion could best be described as a textbook on alcohol fuels. The first section - states a premise for alcohol production; ·a. workbook (Chambers' is betterJ is also included. Section 2 deals with production and design considerations and indudes pictures and ljsts of equipment, which is the most , useful section in the entire manual. The last part-of the book includes financial, legal and political information including a who's who in alcohol, from consultants, engineers and educators to organizations and publicat~ons. This is a fine textbook for the beginner, a community college of training organization. • Brown's Alcohol Motor Fuel, by • Michael H. Brown, 1979, 140 pp., $6.95 from: Desert Publications ~omville, AZ 86325 Probably the most well photographed, easy-to-understand book on car conversion yet printed. I wish I had this book when I • converted my '63 Rambler. The author includes full-page pictures along with technical illustrati9ns and step-by-step instructions. The book covers carburetor modification, increasing the compression, ignition and ~old starting. In the coldstart chapter, the author skimps on the newest Volkswagen approach ~sing propane injection, but on the whole, this auto conversion book covers wh~t any average person needs to • know. • The second half of Brown's book covers alrnhol production in the most easy and • understandable way, beginning with moonshine production (5 gallons), batch production,(50 gallons) and then covering column design, stripper plates and sblar stills. This is followed by 11 pages of photographs and is intersp~rsed with technical . drawings. All in all, this is·a great publication and should be read by everyone interested in this field. • Forget the Gas Pumps-Mak'! Your Own Fuel, by Jim Wortham and Barbara Whitener, 1979, 84 pp., $3.95 from: Love Street Books • P.o: Box 58163 Louisville, KY 40258. This .book is geared toward the beginner with easy instructions and full-page illustrations. The authors cover using'your pressure cooker to heat the mash, making of a solar.still, automobile modification an~ applying for your ATF permit. The book is a_ccurate, fair in that it tells y9u the pros and cons of certain decisions, and easy to follow. Making Alcohol Fuel-Recipe and Procedure, "y Lance Crombie, 1979 rev., 40 pp., $4.50 from: .Rutan Publishing P.O. Box3585 Minneapolis, MN 55403 Crombie's book was the first on·the market with usable data for the modern alcohol producer. His revised version is better, particularly in the plant design section. The book has few pictures but some illustrations and is a useful handbook. The book underlines the cautions you should(heed1 useful lists of t~bles,and·resource people. . Crombie has built both a still and has modifi~d an auto to run on 100% pure ethanol. RAIN Page 9 Making Fuel in Your Backyard, by Jack Brc}dley, 1979, 63'pp., $10.95 from: Biomass Resources P.O. Box 2912 Wenatchee, WA 98801 A fine down-to-earth book ~ya man who built a still t}:tat he's writing about. It's in •narrative form with easy instructions and useful' drawings and pictures. Although it's not the highest class publication I've seen in terms of glossy-print, it sure would be one of the most useful small on-farm manuals 'to come along in awhile. I enjoyed the · book and suggest it for people who want to build a small still. I even plan to experiment with his model _design. Individual and Gr9up Gasohol-Alcohol Fuel Production and Usages (70 pp.), and Cut Your Gas Expense "In Half' (7 pp.), edited by B.W. Kirby, 197.9, $6.00 tog~ther, from: AFTEC6ooks 323 S. Ravenel Street Columbia, SC 29205' _Since botft books are sold together and edited by the same person, they will get a joint - review. In the "Cut Your Gas" primer, alcohol drawings, equipment lists and instructions are packed in most succinctly. A fine small-package for a sinall farm still. • The larg.er book, Production and Usages, is a conglomeration of information which includes a history., pr:oduction and political review section..The production section is the best of the three; and includes some interesting still drawings and interviews. The large manual has limited use for the builder but provides an interesting insight into the people and the movement. Implications ciencies of our current institutions and practices for change. The Corbett Compact'is an effort to break with the contemporary mode of intervention and return to an earlier ideal. That ideal is simply'that the will of the people should be directly expre~sed by the people. As such, there ate iinplications here for planning, dti- -zen action, ethical codes of "professionals·," political science and governance, and revitalization of our towns, urban neighborhoods, institutions, and organizations. Were the conventional tools we now use for renewal more adequate,.perhaps the Compact would riot be so important. But they are not. We define " citizen participation," for ·example, in the'superficial terms of a small and non-representative group coming to a few public meetings. And we define "profes!i_ional expertise" of intervenors.in such terms that local.residents and citizens are , stripped of their birthright for indepeIJ.dent action. Not only are traditional development pro_cesses hollow and distant from things that matter most ot us as human beings, they fail to harness the tremendous capacity for self.,help, self-esteem, and self-reliance which commitment and involvement can bring. We feel that the Compact has value for the questions it rai'ses, as well as those it attempts to answer. We hope that our discussion of the Compact, its development, effects, and ramifications.has value for the many people who feel as we do about some of the insuffiA last comment from Corbett resident Marcus Felter: The Compact, beginning cis a joint effort of a fer.o P,eople leading to1 ' a combined effort of all the people, is unique by itself. In the near . future, it will still be used as a guideline to settle discussions about the project. _In the far distan t future, our children's children will probably think it quaint. Since it was part of their past, hopefully • • they will be proud of it for at least these two fact.s : we wrote it, and it was the start of something they will. then have. Harold Williams is President of the Institute of Man and Science, an active member of the Board of the Small Towns Institute, and author of "Smallness and the Small Tow~" (Small To'wn, October, 1977). Natalie Hawley works on a variety of programs as a Project Associate at the IMS; she is currently Director of a project on Neighborhood Revitalization in New York State. ~ ' A list of publications is available from the Center for Community Renewal at the Institute on Man and Science, Rensselaerville, NY 12147. Other publications available on Corbett include The Corbett Project Approach (1978, 40 pages, $2.50), The Corbett Project: Village !fistory (1978, 8'1 pages, $5.00), and The Corbett Compact (1979, 87 , pages, $5.00)..The authors welcome comments and news o_f similar efforts in the area of small town renewal. '
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