the book where you decide whether your kitchen will be the focus for large gatherings or only intimate ones. The center for regular canning, freezing, drying as well as cooking sessions, or the room for an occasional quick toast and coffee. Once you've determined your kitchen lifestyle the rest of the book will help you put it together. If you're truly a do-it-yourself novice, this book will encourage you, teach you the language and toqls to use, walk you through the basics, and nudge you into attempting even fairly major work. Even if you're old hat at this stuff, you'll probably learn something here. In fact, the biggest problem with this book may be its "thoroughness." With instructions for everything from cheeseboards to central heating, I think their claim "there's no more complete book on kitchen building available," is justified. Now, moving from the walls and plumbing to the functionings ... Want to make your own yogurt, raise some livestock, or grind your own grain? Perhaps you'd just like to know how to sharpen a knife or evaluate food processors? Or what to do with quail eggs? • From nutrition to antique tools, from herbs to tofu, from adobe ovens to microwaves-this is the "Whole Earth Catalogue" of wholesome living. Even fast food freaks would enjoy a little rambling around in this treasure-trove. It can't h~rt you. - CC Commerical Nuclear Power Plants, 1981, 64pp., single c.opies free from: NUS Corporation 4 Research Place Rockville, MD 20850 NUS has been involved in the development of nuclear power for 20 years. Their experience shows in this excellent summary of the specifiq1tions ·an9 official status of every nuclear plant in the country that is currently operating or .under construction..The pictµre is not as grim as _they make it appear--;,it is unlikely that many of the plants described as under construction will be completed. If you want to find out what's up with nu~es these days, this the best scorecard around.-KB The Killing ofKaren Silkwood, by Richard Rashke, 1981, 407pp., $11.95 from: Houghton Mifflin Company 2 Park Street • BostQn, MA 02107 . As a symbol of the anti--nu'clear and ~omen'~ movements, K<l,r~n:1:Silhyoo~ has become a ·' familiar figure;·and many @f us know at least the bare outlines of her case: how she worked at the Kerr-McGee plutonium plant in Oklahoma, became involved in plant safety issues as a union activist, and was killed in a mysterious auto accident while on her way to talk to a New York Times reporter in 1974. But there's a whole lot more to the story than that. An obviously tenacious researcher, a_uthor Richard Rashke interviewed many of the people who knew Silkwood or were involved in the investigations which followed her death. He also plowed through more than 25,000 pages of FBI documents, legal briefs, transcripts of Congressional hearings and other papers relating to the Silkwood case. What he uncovered was a large cast of shoddy characters and enough tales of government/corporate shenanigans to rival Watergate. Rashke doesn't reveal who killed Karen Silkwood.in this book (although he does giv~ us an important clue). What he does reveal is more than we ever wanted to know about how our system works when its power and its plutonium are threatened. - JF ------ ---- ---------. ------------ AGRICULTURE From Home Food Systems New Roots for Agriculture, by Wes Jac;kson, 1980, 168 pp., $4.95 from: Friends of the Earth 124 Sp.ear St. San Francisco, CA 94105 As the costs of capital and energy intensive agriculture become more apparent, organic farming techniques for traditional food crops;-.. ~re gaining acceptance at every level of • American agriculture. Although that may appear.to indicate t~at we are on ()Ur way towards a fundamental shift in the nature of agriculture, improved techniques for growJuly 1981 RAIN Page 11 ing annual crops could be just the beginning. The development of a bioregionally-oriented permaculture, combining recent advances in plant genetics and farming practices with the techniques of sustainable rural cultures worldwide, promises an explosion of creativity as exciting andrevolutio~ary in its impliC<J~i_o~s a~.~ world that rins on renewabl~i ",.· energy. New Roots for Agriculture is on that permaculture frontier. Focusing primarily on the Midwest and Great Plains, it is both an indictment of the basic nature of tillage agriculture and a vision of what a regional sustainable agriculture could be. Jackson believes that tillage represents a continuous and substantial drain on the earth's resources, drawing heavily on fossil fuels and feedstocks in an ultimately futile attempt to compensate.for the destruction of our soil , and water reserves. That net drain has continued despite the rich insights of a few , prophets such as John Wesley Powell, despite the outstanding efforts of regional movements and organizations dedicated to preservation of the land, and despite the few examples of sustainable tillage that exist today. To suggest that the solution to the agricultural problem simply requires following the example of the ecologically correct around us today is a little like suggesting that if more people were like citizen Doe who displays good conduct, no police or military would be needed. Well, both the police and military do exist and both are signs offailure within and of civilization. Anll so it has always been. But should we not be constantly looking for ways to make them unnecessary? Should we not strive to create an agriculture which makes unnecessary the example of exemplary people within the current agricultural tradition? . The longer.term solutions are both cultural and agricultural, ranging from the development of small farms operating on a regionally appropriate scale to the introduction of new plant varieties and species sU<;h as high yield perennial grain crops. Jackson's analysis tends to be somewhat narrow at times. For e_xample, his assertion that an immediate halt to pesticide use without a replacement by some kind of pest management program would not s~riously impact the-national food supply fails to recognize that the loss-of an additional 10 percent or so of our food crops would have serious short-term repercussions in a world that is heavily reliant on American food exports. Jackson has also inclqded a vehement diatribe against the use of food crops for ethanol production. Although his conclu- , sions are gen~rally valid.within the context of his argument( the c.ase against alcohol fuels is not nearly as open and shut as he would have us believe. The~.e shortcomings do nothing to detract from Jackson's basic these, however. New Roots for A$,:iculture promises to spark some healthy cl.iscussion in agricultural circles. -KB
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz