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A Critical Thinker Book Review: Hunt Gather Grow Eat
We all benefit from the wisdom and experience of those around us. For someone with a beginning passion for a subject, a mentor is extremely valuable; and for those that have achieved a reasonable amount of competence, a respected peer can be a great sounding board for exploring issues and alternatives. For those with a general interest in self sufficiency or a specific interest in food independence, the new book from Jason Akers comes very close in replicating those relationships. His book, Hunt Gather Grow Eat: Your Guide to Food Independence
According to the author, the book was written for people who want to get back to the land and to pure living– whether they have never grown anything and don’t know where to start, or for those that have “lost their way along the path”. The book provides solutions to avoid the food safety hazards using sustainable techniques and demonstrates that it is not terribly difficult to begin to implement them into ones everyday life.
The book contains sections on permaculture, food safety, hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, gardening, animal husbandry, harvesting, preservation, and diet. By far, the largest and most informative section is the chapter on gardening. There were a few minor topics absent in the book that I expected e.g. fish farming; and some topics were discussed at an absolute beginners level e.g. hunting. The author does not claim to have firsthand experience with every subject covered; but from the style of writing and the inclusion of anecdotes, I expect that he has had experience with the great majority of them. I would hazard to guess that any omissions are a result of the author’s personal experience and a natural avoidance of talking about things that he was not knowledgeable of – a healthy habit that many could benefit from. The authors writing style is very clear and exceedingly concise. The book addresses many subjects in a direct and informal manner with little emphasis on introductions and transitions. Occasionally this abrupt shift in subject narration is somewhat distracting. There are numerous figures—primarily black and white photographs. Unfortunately, the quality of many of the photographs is inadequate to illustrate the author’s points e.g. edible plant identification is really not feasible and may not even be safe using the photographs included. The utility of the book would increase if there was an index and list of references. Although the writing is generally good, there are occasional editing and minor formatting issues.
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