Page 20 RAIN August/September 1981 ~~l et~ t.t..obw.o ,G,a4J.4~ • l<G.l,.t,.l,IMC,\ IM.~ o. ICU.r~, a"""6 I W~t\o\~ao.,op~~ t=.::l • ... ~~ 9f,f,4LI-T av1&.0,M(1~ 11. ... ,.If ... ~'t')t.M> "'"'11'-- ~~IT· owe tv,,-11! w.c... G.OIC.• ~ ~-~ ... l"-e.it.J,Jqa~.':"'4- ;:~ ~~~ t'..:,c. . . . 1 ~-• C(:)01<.ab • i'«>k 966,~ W\1.1.. p.o'l1P9t: t..o..,. ►, i..•"''"' /•uL,1>; ~"-A• ~lot'M>L I.I.Ml!o -~rulll..-(' . • to ~~ '°-'I"" .u."-~ r f-llC.~T ~ IM'o..U. f°1a t'1+ a:. VA.LUft.t-. flr'O.M.&•, lbt• cc\..!.~T it-v.-.u.,e ~c..•AonO Wltl" ~ p~CIM l&M,e_ l...,AJlA.f10"1, , - --- - ------------ CONSERVATION ------- -- - --------- - -- Home Remedies: A Guidebook for Residential Retrofit, edited by Tom Wilson, 1981, 253 pp., $10.00 from: Mid-Atlantic Solar Energy Association 2233 Gray's Ferry Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19146 These are the proceedings from a three-day conference on conservation and solar energy .held in Princeton, New Jersey in June 1980. Like any such collection, this is a mixture of wheat and chaff. Some of the highlights are articles on insulating your attic, ventilation for nature cooling, trombe wall retrofitting, and changing the classic American attitude about conspicious consumption. Tickling counterpoints to the technical content are drawings from a "solar heated lunchbox" contest which are strewn throughout·the book. And, there are good book reviews too! -Gail Katz From the Walls In, by Charles Wing, 1979, 226pp., $9.95 from: Little Brown and Co. 34 Beacon St. Boston, MA 02114 From Home Remedies This book has been in print for two years and is considered to be one of the classics in the retrofit field. Charles Wing, who also wrote From the Ground Up, based both of these books on the premise that architecture need not rely on architects. Judicious planning combined with good ho~-to information and careful work can produce similar or better results in most situations than the costly turning to "experts." At least one of these three is provided by his books-good how-to information. Retrofitting a house to make it energy efficient and respons1ve to solar or wood heat .can mean major reconstruction. Walls may need to be.rerouv~d, wh1.dows widened, etc. Other that;1 being a little heavy on the math, Wing'~ boo_k is ~-good -introduction to guide you through these big jobs as well as get you tackling the smaller ones. _ -Gail Katz Greenhouse Energy\Conseroation, by John A. White and Robert A. Aldrich, 1980, 34pp., $2.50 from: Pennsylvania State Univ. Office of Industrial Research and Innovation 225 Pond Laboratory University Park, PA 16802 Greenhouse Energy Conservation is a .state of the art overview of energy efficient greenhouse technology, prepared by one of the leading groups in the field. John White believes that energy consumption can be ~educed up to 90 percent in commercial scale greenhouses thrbugh a combination of double film or glazing, heated beds and insulat- , ing covers. This is welcome news for commercial growers that are facing energy bills that rival labor costs as their major expense. It also makes it possible to seriously consider growing winter produce locally under glass, insread of importing it from thousands of miles away. There is a wealth of information here on glazing and curtain materials and installation details, conservation tips, and solar·heating designs. Although it is aimed primarily at commercial scale greenhouses, designers and buildings of smaller greenhouses should find plenty of food for thought as well. -KB WORK In Our Blood: Four Coal Mining Families, by Matt Witt, photographs by Earl Dotter, 1979, 90 pp., $6.95 from: Highlander Research and Education Center Box 370, R.F.D. 3 New Market, TN 37820 Why would anybody want to write a book about me and my family? Books aren't supposed to be about people like us. We're not that important. -John Socoski, coal miner, Osceola Mills, Pennsylvania. ... I like this one [comment] . .. from a black woman who happens to be the mayor of a small Mississippi town: "The big shots are not the only ones who are important. Remember you can't sell anything on WallStreet unless someone digs it up somewhere else first." -Jimmy Carter in his energy report to the nation, July 15, 1979. In Our Blood is a book about some important people who risk their lives every day digging wal out of the ground. They ate de- • scendants of black field hands, Navaho shepherds, and European immigrants. They live in the hills of Appalachia and in the deserts of the American Southwest. What they do professionally h_as long been an indispensable function of an industrial society, yet that society has forced the!Il to fight long and courageously for some of their most basic rights as workers and as citizens. With a combination of superb photographs and a very readable text, the book focuses on the lives of four representative miners, their families, and friends. We learn about life in the mines and in coal field communities. We hear what motivates these people, why they stay in jobs which most of us would never choose, how,they feel about their employers, and what they are doing to improve their own lives. John Socoski is involved in a worker ~anagement experiment in his
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