Over 80 books about visionary architecture,desperate or wildly imaginative mobility,miniature buildings and nomadic living,self-publishing and design, skill sharing,everyday repair solutions, running a musicvenue, spaces for parenthood, toys anddesign for children, ecologically soundliving, foraging, blueprints for fantasyworlds and alternate realities, pranks andmischief, technologies used in prisons andother restrictive or impoverished settings,survivalism, weapons for self-defense orrecreation, and creative approaches to livingradically.

Self-Reliance

by Temporary Services2nd Edition

Library

is an autonomous reading and creating library.It is a collection of older books and referencematerials that Temporary Services has found in-spiring while doing our own projects and living ourlives, as well as new books we are just starting tospend time with. The Self-Reliance Library con-tains recently published titles that are still availableas well as out of print books that you can find inpublic libraries or on the secondary market. It in-cludes a few of our own publications as well.

The collection is designed to provoke the reader,encourage a deeper relationship with our sharednatural and human environment, solve creativeproblems, or suggest imaginative directions for arange of creative practices. Most of these bookshave strong visuals and an accessibly designedapproach to sharing knowledge.

The descriptions of these titles were written byTemporary Services except where otherwise quotedfrom a book’s authors or editors. Copies of thebooks in this guide are exhibited publicly at exhibi-tions and events that include the Self-RelianceLibrary.

Temporary Services2013

The Self-Reliance Library

924 GilmanEdge, Brian, ed. San Francisco: Maxi-mum Rocknroll, 2004, 428 pp.

924 Gilman is an “All Ages DIY, Volun-teer Run, Not-For-Profit, Music & ArtCommunity Space Since 1986” in Berke-ley, California. Its policies prohibit rac-ism, sexism, homophobia, drugs, alcohol,and violence. This book has contributionsfrom many Gilman volunteers andchronicles the space’s history and thechallenges they’ve encountered along theway. A full list of all of the concerts andevents that happened in the space up tothe date of publication is included. Meet-ing notes and financial records help givea concrete sense of all that goes into start-ing and maintaining a space like Gilman.

Acting in PublicMaier, Julia and Rick, Matthias, eds.Berlin: Raumlaborberlin, 2008, 192 pp.

Raum Labor is a platform run by a num-ber of people based in Berlin interested inmaking cities more open to experimental

temporary uses. Raum Labor has built anumber of exciting urban structures frominflatable shells attached to shipping con-tainers for small exhibitions to woodentowers for viewing and using city spacesin new ways. The group's Spacebuster isa truck from the back of which a large in-flatable structure emerges and accommo-dates up to 80 people. It can easily bemoved around for various events andgatherings. This book is filled with ideasfor transforming "underestimated" urbanspaces in inspiring ways.

Afghan TrucksBlanc, Jean-Charles. New York: Stone-hill Publishing Company, 1976, 116 pp.

This is a photo book on vibrantly paintedtrucks documented in Afghanistan by theauthor. From the introduction. “Tradi-tionally it was the custom of Afghan car-avan-drivers to adorn their camels withbunches of ribbon, fringes and an arrayof good-luck charms, before embarkingon their hazardous desert pilgrimage.They intended by the liberal use of these

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chitecture “based on the desires of peo-ple” and includes inventive homes andmonuments by numerous creators in-cluding David Brown, Everett Knowlton,Art Beal, Romano Gabriel, FatherMatthias Wernerus, and Fred Burns.Photographs of their structures are ac-companied by small, neatly labeled dia-grams that show the overall layout ofthese often dazzlingly complex, ornate, orsprawling buildings and compounds.Many of the builders included are quotedalongside their works talking about ap-proaches that often reflect a strong spiritof self-reliance and self-education. Cre-ative recycling of cast off materials is a

decorative symbols both to pay homageto their camels as custodians of theirjourney and to place them under the pro-tection of God. […] Today this traditionhas survived in the form of paintings andflowers which festoon the sides of theAfghan truck. [T]he Afghan truck is likea traveling art gallery wending its waythrough arid mountains and deserts.”

All Their Own: People andthe Places They BuildWampler, Jan. New York: Oxford Uni-versity Press, 1978, 206 pp.

This richly-illustrated book surveys ar-4

common feature of many of the build-ings. More than a few of the structuresare cumulative and have evolved over aperiod of many years. Maude Meagherand Carolyn Smiley of Los Gatos, Cali-fornia state, “We know nothing whateverabout building. We had never done anyrough work. One of us was a writer, theother a lecturer and educator with bookbinding and amateur movies as her hob-bies. But we both had college degrees,and we assumed that since primitive peo-ple can build their own adobe houses, we

could too, if we put our minds to it, solv-ing each problem as it came up.”

Ant Farm: 1968-1978Lewallen, Constance M. and Seid, Steve.Berkeley, CA: University of CaliforniaPress, 2004, 212 pp.

The Ant Farm crew were amazing vi-sionaries in all the things they undertookand this book gathers together many oftheir projects. They were grounded in thecounterculture of the late 1960s and early

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this book provides hundreds of visionarypossibilities from a global selection of ar-chitects, designers and artists who sub-mitted their plans on paper. Theexecution of the drawings ranges fromelaborate 3-D CAD renderings to directand efficient pencil sketches. TemporaryServices coordinated the participation ofour friend Harold Jeffries whose “Blue-print Drawings for Housing Develop-ments in Heaven” are one of the manyambitious ideas included in this book.Other drawings represent smaller scaleand more down to earth concepts. Fromthe back cover: “Highlighting visions thatexist outside of established channels ofproduction and conventions of design,the book showcases multiplicity in con-cept and vision, fantasy and innovation.”

The Art Trucks of JapanKato, Tomoyuki. Tokyo: DH Publishing,2008, 80 pp.

This slender book consists primarily ofvibrant color photographs of “dekotora”or “decorated trucks”—gleaming, highly

1970s. They were active in guerrilla tele-vision, making inflatable structures on amassive scale, designing bizarre build-ings, creating media spectacles, and net-working Hippies across the land intoalternative communications structures.Ant Farm buried Cadillac cars in thedesert and crashed other cars throughwalls of burning televisions. They madelush drawings of utopian cities and ar-chitecture and produced gorgeous posterslaying out their ideas for others to copy.Their work remains fresh and inspiring.If more artists had the guts and the ideasthese folks had, life would be a lot moreinteresting.

ArchigramCooke, Peter, ed. New York: PrincetonArchitectural Press, 1999, 152 pp.

Archigram started as a broadsheet pub-lished in London in 1961 by a group of ar-chitecture graduates. From the 1960sthrough about 1972 Archigram articu-lated a wild range of futuristic ideasusing graphics, drawings, collages, mod-els, and multi-media presentations.Archigram's members were Peter Cook,Warren Chalk, Dennis Crompton, DavidGreene, Ron Herron and Mike Webb.Their highly inventive ideas included a"Walking City" composed of movingbuildings with telescoping legs, a "Plug-In City" with capsule homes, systems ofliving pods, and so much more. This com-prehensive book contains many examplesof the group's writings and work, oftendrawn from their publications. Theirideas remain ripe for new interpretations.

Architectural Inventions:Visionary DrawingsBua, Matt and Goldfarb, Maximilian,eds. London: Laurence King Publishers,2012, 336 pp.

Some dreams have yet to be built, and6

illuminated and heavily airbrushedchrome monsters that were inspired byextravagant vehicles shown in the Japan-ese film Truck Yaro! (1975). The trucksare commonly hybrids of other truckswith limitless accessorizing that recall thecomplexities of Transformers toys mixedwith the flashing lights and gleamingmetal of a classic pinball machine or adazzling disco. The airbrushed imagery,that ranges from peaceful dolphins todramatic renderings of characters fromNoh theater, recalls the public paintingsseen on the sides of vans in the 1970s.

Backyard BallisticsGurstelle, William. Chicago: ChicagoReview Press, 2001, 192 pp.

A how-to guide for making “potato can-nons, paper match rockets, Cincinnatifire kites, tennis ball mortars, and moredynamite devices.” In addition to mate-rials lists and lessons in physics, historicalcontext is included for many of the itemsdescribed. Don’t shoot your eye out or

burn down your neighbor’s home!

Bikes of BurdenKemp, Hans. Hong Kong: VisionaryWorld Ltd., 2003, 160 pp.

This book of 150 color photos by HansKemp documents extraordinary uses ofmotorbikes on the streets of Vietnam.Metal fencing, dead pigs, dozens of chick-ens, doors, truck tires and entire familiesare shown being transported on singlebikes. These documents of everyday laborand survival evoke a sense of wonder andcomplete awe.

Bookmobiles and Bookmobile ServiceBrown, Eleanor Frances. Metuchen, NJ:The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1967, 474 pp.

Bookmobiles are the original mobilestructures and an obsession of ours. Theytake libraries and put them on wheels inorder to provide better access to ideas, re-sources, and information for wider audi-

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ences. They are particularly importantfor people in remote areas or with dis-abilities. These inspiring structures havebeen with us for a very long time. Thisbook is filled with great images of every-thing from Civil War era mobile librariespulled by horses to libraries in Germanyin the 1930s with walls that expand withthe flip of a switch.

Century of the Child: Grow-ing By Design 1900-2000Kinchin, Juliet and O’Connor, Aidan.New York: MuseumofModern Art, 2012,266 pp.

In 1900 the Swedish design reformer andsocial theorist Ellen Key envisaged the20th Century as “the century of thechild.” This exhibition catalog exploresdesign and childhood through over 400illustrations and 65 essays. From theback cover: “The resulting kaleidoscopicnarrative of innovative ideas, practition-ers, and artifacts examines individualand collective visions for the materialworld of children, from utopian dreamsfor the citizens of the future to the darkrealities of political conflict and exploita-tion.” Themes and objects selected in-clude children’s books, furniture, toys,technology, educational objects andlearning designs, propaganda, play-ground equipment, and other ideas aboutplay. This book is filled with inspiringpeople and groups, including: TadanoriYokoo, El Lissitzky, Aleksander Rod-chenko, John Heartfield, Bruno Munari,Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, James Hennesseyand Victor Papanek, Ant Farm, PalleNielsen, Ken and Carol Isaacs, and Rad-ical Software.

City Repair's PlacemakingGuidebookCity Repair. Portland, OR: City Repair,2006, 174 pp.

We have been big fans of Portland, Ore-gon’s City Repair for many years. Thishighly active group of hundreds of vol-unteers who are architects, builders,artists, planners, urban thinkers, neigh-bors and activists, started in 1996 by cre-ating public spaces where ones had neverbeen intended in the official city plan-ning. An early activity of the group in-cluded a movable tea house, that theycalled T-Horse; it is a truck that has giantwings that fold out to make shelter. CityRepair unpacks the T-Horse, puts out pil-lows, serves tea and thus creates a tem-porary public space. This basic strategyis easy to repeat and develop into morepermanent spaces, which the group didwith such activities as what they call “in-tersection repair.” This book offers bothpractical and more theoretical ways of ar-ticulating their project of repairing cities.They are deeply influenced by the ideasof visionary urban thinker Jane Jacobsand her notions of placemaking; citizens,and not professional planners, make aplace great through their use of the cityand their ability to articulate their needsin the fabric of the way the city workswithout hindrance from overbearingrules and top down control. The bookpresents a very particular interpretationand implementation of placemaking thatis fine tuned to Portland. It also gives stepby step instructions on how to do variousprojects, like intersection repair, in one’scity. There are many useful pages thatshare the group’s deep history and expe-rience with building community and ini-tiating dialog. It takes you through thesteps of getting to know neighbors, or-ganizing bike tours, and leading commu-nity design. A city from below comesfrom its citizens and this book is an aidfor getting there.

Como Hacer 20 Cuerpos Geometricos

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Chavez, Carlos. Mexico City: Gomez-Gomez Hnos. Editores, 44 pp.

A succinct publication that shows how tocut and fold paper or cardboard to make20 different three-dimensional geometricshapes; the book is a tool that can be usedwith young children or adults to buildcomplex structures. One could easily usean opaque projector to transfer the papercutting and folding patterns onto largecardboard sheets to create giant three di-mensional objects.

The Convict CookbookBaker, Torrey, Bland, Marco, and others,Washington State Penitentiary. WallaWalla, WA: J. G. Narum, 2004, 164 pp.

This cookbook was a class project by con-victs at the Washington State Peniten-tiary (WSP) in Walla Walla, Washington.It presents recipes by prisoners at WSPalong with relatives and friends of pris-oners, correctional officers, instructors,and prison volunteers. The recipes byprisoners for “in-cell” dishes often de-pend on the limited range of ingredients

that come from the prison store or snackbar as well as methods for cooking andpreparing those ingredients that can beachieved inside a cell. As a result, someof the recipes feature unusually creativeapplications of highly generic ingredientsand recipes for items like cookies that canbe produced without baking. Other hotfoods, such as an omelet prepared in a Zi-ploc bag, depend on boiling water and animmersion heater – one of the few cook-ing devices that prisoners are often per-mitted to have in their cell. The bookincludes some methods of replacing pop-ular products like Swiss Miss Hot Choco-late mix with ad hoc versions combiningmore commonly found ingredients. Aglossary of convict slang at the WSP isalso included.

Cycling: A Guide to MenstruationSzumowski, Laura. Chicago: Zoo-Mouse-Key Press, 2010, 68 pp.

Cycling is a beautiful, funny, and in-formative guide to the fantastic world ofmenstruation. Laura Szumowski’s pleas-ant drawing style and clear text lay outboth the biology and science of what hap-

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pens in women’s cycles and also themythologies, methodologies, remedies,and products created to deal with all as-pects of them. From a clear and conciseguide to what an ovary actually looks like(and what it’s primary jobs are) to a greatguide to both homemade and mass-pro-duced products like sea sponges and tam-pons, Cycling looks at all aspects ofmenstruation with a sense of humor andpride. No shame to be found here, onlyuseful resources and, at the end, a greatand imaginative call for a series of MoonLodges (aka menstrual huts) that speakto contemporary desires.

Department of the ArmyField Manual: Survival, Evasion, and EscapeWashington D.C.: Department of theArmy, 1969, 432 pp.

This thick little paperback was obviouslydesigned for field use and while some sec-

tions of the book come across like crucialbathroom reading for Rambo, there is awealth of great information here. Theclearly illustrated survival inventions areparticularly fascinating and includemethods of making your own fish hooks,a hobo stove made from a smartly cut tincan, improvised snow shoes and snowshelters, boots made from a piece of can-vas and some cord, and even improvisedsunglasses. This book also contains awealth of color illustrations of wild plantsyou can eat, as well as creatures to lookout for such as poisonous snakes.

Discographisme Récréatif[HomemadeRecordSleeves]Caillet, Patrice. Montreuil, France: Édi-tions Bricolage, 2009, 240 pp.

This book expands upon the earlierRecreational Discographics with a largerpage format and all new material.Discographisme Récréatif focuses on theamateur inventiveness found in hand-made or hand-altered vinyl record cov-ers. Many strategies are shown in fullcolor from a great trove of used recordstore discoveries. In addition to the usual

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overdrawn photos with anatomical em-bellishments (male recording artiststurned into women, and vice versa) aremore than a few beautiful creationswhere the jacket was missing so an en-tirely new cover was created, or a plainwhite sleeve was heavily decorated withpainting, drawing, collage or a combina-tion of the three. While some of these de-signs are casual or irreverent, many moreshow a fanatical excitement for musicand records that results in an entirelynew kind of graphic design and packag-ing art. Imagine the world we would livein if consumers redesigned all kinds ofpackaging with this level of interest and

enthusiasm!

Do It Yourself: A HandbookFor Changing Our WorldTrapese Collective, eds. Ann Arbor, MI:Pluto Press, 2007, 306 pp.

Paulo Freire, the Brazilian educator andtheorist, once said that education itself isthe practice of freedom.

The members of the Trapese Collective,three longtime self-identified radical ed-ucators, have practiced the freedom tocreate change amongst others. Theyshare their hits, misses, advice, and read-

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ing lists in 2007's Do It Yourself. This is aguide to many facets of sustainable liv-ing, including energy consumption, self-organizing, cultural activism, andorganizing around health-care. It's filledwith inspiring stories of change and re-sistance alongside practical step-by-stepdirections for building everything from acomposting toilet to a consensus-basedcommunity group. The goal is the activ-ity that one feels spurred toward afterreading the basics in Do It Yourself.Change does seem possible after seeingconcrete examples of the work that ama-teurs, citizens, and experts alike have ac-complished.

Dwelling Portably: 1980 - 89Davis, Bert and Holly. Bloomington, IN:Microcosm Publishing, 2008, 164 pp.

Dwelling Portably: 1990 - 99Davis, Bert and Holly. Bloomington, IN:Microcosm Publishing, 2009, 168 pp.

Dwelling Portably:2000 - 2008Davis, Bert and Holly. Bloomington, IN:Microcosm Publishing, 2009, 168 pp.

"The advice in this book is taken frompersonal experience. It is not intended tobe a stand-alone survival guide. It 's upto you to decide what is right in your sit-uation."

Dwelling Portably was originally pub-lished by Bert and Holly Davis as a seriesof small zines over 28 years. They used atypewriter for text and hand drawn im-ages for their tidy, packed publications.They made the zines as they lived a no-madic life in the woods of the PacificNorthwest of the United States. The zineshows tips and strategies for living a fru-gal, low-impact, nomadic life. There areplans for building tension bridges,

makeshift shelters, packing your bike ef-ficiently and a lot more. As a zine, withrather limited distribution, DwellingPortably built up a large cult followingand was next to impossible to find eitherthrough zine distributors or in stores sell-ing them. Fortunately, Microcosm Pub-lishing did what they do best: gatheredtogether all the copies of the zines andpublished them in three volumes. Wehave found these publications in bothforms—as zines and now books—deeplycompelling and bursting with humanspirit and creativity that you wish youwould encounter much more often.

The Dymaxion World ofBuckminster FullerFuller, Buckminster R. and Marks,Robert. Garden City, NY: DoubledayAnchor, 1973, 246 pp.

Buckminster Fuller's legacy as an inven-tor, engineer, and futurist is explored in

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this collection of drawings, photographs,and text that Fuller himself preparedwith the help of journalist Robert Marks.Widely known for his innovations in cre-ating structures with the geodesic domeas a model, Fuller's influence on lan-guage, global viewpoints, and efficiencycan be re-discovered here. This out-of-print book was an important addition tothe Self-Reliance Library as it includesmuch information about the larger engi-neering context that is necessary to un-derstand in order to see the depth ofFuller's (often derided) vision. An in-credible amount of exciting illustrationsare included: sketches, photographs ofprototypes that the public may have notbeen aware of at the time of their cre-ation, and personal notes from Fuller.Gaining an understanding of Fuller'ssometimes heady concepts can help usunderstand the limitations of the ways inwhich our public and private spaces arecurrently structured.

The Empowerment Manual:

A Guide for CollaborativeGroupsStarhawk. Gabriola Island, British Co-lumbia, Canada: New Society Publish-ers, 2011, 304 pp.

Try not to be discouraged from readingthis book by its cover design—chairsarranged around a circular table with ahuge burst of light in the center whichsuggests that a meeting is about to takeplace in Heaven. What follows is a bookthat draws on the author’s 40 years ofworking in groups, and her interest inglobal justice and the environment as afounder, director and core teacher forEarth Activist Training. This book pro-vides a ton of guidance for groups on howto better communicate with one anotherand work together “with shared powerand bottom-up leadership to foster vi-sion, trust, accountability, and responsi-bility.” The book includes keys to:“understanding group dynamics, facili-tating communication and collective de-cision-making, and dealing effectivelywith difficult people.” A number of groupconflict scenarios are recreated and thisbook will help you learn respectful waysto disagree and use positive language toresolve difficult situations.

Everyday Bicycling: How toRide a Bike for Transporta-tion (WhateverYour Life-style)Blue, Elly. Portland, OR: CantankerousTitles, 2012, 128 pp.

Author Elly Blue has been riding a bikefor the past fifteen years and this inform-ative book reflects not only her own ex-perience, but lots of knowledge passeddown by other cyclists. Seemingly every-thing is covered, from crotch health tokickstands! General topics addressed in-clude: how to ride a bike (in different en-vironments or situations), incorporating

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bike riding into your everyday life, bicy-cle care and what to look for in a new orused bike, the many different kinds ofbikes and what they are each best suitedfor, carrying things by bike, biking as afamily, and finally a section of bicycle ad-vocacy and community organizing.

Fantastic Architecture:Personal and Eccentric VisionsPhotographs by Schuyt, Michael and Elf-fers, Joost, eds. Text by Collins, GeorgeR. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.,1980, 254 pp.

This oversize book on unusual architec-tural structures features cursory text de-scriptions and large format photographicoverviews and details by two photogra-phers that traveled to document many ofthese firsthand. In addition to obviouschoices like Buckminster Fuller, AntonioGaudí, and Simon Rodia's Watts Towers,the book also digs into Pieter Wiersma'ssand castles, Grandma Prisbrey's BottleVillage, novelty vernacular architecturelike a hot dog stand in the shape of a hotdog, and the art of topiary. Most of thesebuildings and sites are complex enoughto each warrant a book. While we cravemany more photos of some of the placesdocumented by Schuyt and Elferrs, thisbook remains a rich introduction.

Field WorkKawamata, Tadashi. Hannover, Ger-many: Reihe Cantz, 1997, 68 pp.

Since 1984, artist Tadashi Kawamata,who is best known for his large scale ar-chitectural creations, has also under-taken a more personal, fast and guerrillastyle method of building called FieldWork. He works with cast off boards, bitsof wood, and sheets of cardboard and af-fixes these materials in a temporary andprovisional way with nails or tape. These

small structures, resembling single-per-son homeless shelters, are put up quicklyin overlooked city spaces along the mar-gins of urban centers. This book includesblack and white photos of Kawamata'sField Work in multiple cities, with a cou-ple photos of his process of driving with avan filled with scrap materials in searchof work sites. The book opens up our per-ception of the many places where smallshelters could be sited and the ways inwhich temporary micro-architecturecould integrate itself alongside preexist-ing structures.

The Foxfire BookWiggington, Eliot, ed. Garden City, NY,Anchor Books, 1972, 388 pp.

Foxfire 2Wiggington, Eliot, ed. Garden City, NY,Anchor Books, 1973, 428 pp.

Foxfire 3Wiggington, Eliot, ed. Garden City, NY,Anchor Books, 1975, 522 pp.

Foxfire is a series of twelve numberedbooks, originally derived from a maga-zine of the same name, that focus onsouthern Appalachian living. We have in-cluded the first three books in this series.Each is a combination of how-to mate-rial, folklore and oral histories and is richin information, photos and illustrations.Foxfire was initiated by Eliot Wigginton,a high school teacher, whose students col-lected oral histories from local people.Some of the many topics included inthese first three volumes on "the affairs ofplain living" are log cabin building,moonshining, wild plant foods, spinningand weaving, animal care, banjos anddulcimers, butter churns, and ginseng.Far more than a mere description of liv-ing practices, these books provide somuch information in their large pagecounts that they often become thorough

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instructional guides.

Fragile DwellingMorton, Margaret. New York: ApertureFoundation, 2000, 128 pp.

Fragile Dwelling is a collection of overten years of Margaret Morton’s work doc-umenting the lives and inventive homesand communities created by New YorkCity’s varied and multicultural homelessindividuals. The houses and buildingstructures that Morton photographs areself-directed and created with both prac-tical and aesthetic concerns in mind. Wein Temporary Services firmly believe inmaking no distinction between art prac-tice and other creative human endeavors,and these photographs are a clue into ourinstinct about this subject. The peoplethat Morton has documented createdhomes that suited their style, need for se-curity, and need for a supportive com-munity despite having minmal resources

and harsh daily circumstances.

A Guidebook of AlternativeNowsHickey, Amber, ed. Los Angeles: TheJournal of Aesthetics and Protest, 2012,266 pp.

If we are to leave this “now” behind, wemust develop concrete and fantasticalideas about how to do this. We have tounderstand how alternatives to the mis-ery of the globe—under the deep impov-erishment of neoliberal capitalism and itsclimate chaos, resource wars, multiplemilitarized borders, billions in poverty—can begin to be articulated and activate amuch needed collective imaginary. Weneed to feel and understand the micro-textures of change and grasp potentialroutes forward. We must hold the ideason the tips of our fingers and tongues asmuch as in our heads. What can peopleworking at the intersections of art and ac-tivism give to this shared impulse? Thisbook offers a plethora of ideas on how to:address economic inequality, ecologicalproblems, local struggles around immi-gration and labor, develop methodologiesfor thinking differently about the world,and much more. A number of the pro-posals are too casual to offer real solu-tions or generate needed inspiration;others offer in depth articulation for de-veloping complicated social relations,they are what make this book interesting.We contributed a short text to this collec-tion. We are happy to be in the book withother contributors such as Jeanne vanHeeswijk, Precarious Workers Brigade,Llano Del Rio Collective, Spurse, Criti-cal Art Ensemble, Trade School, andmany others.

Handmade Electronic MusicCollins, Nicolas. New York. Routledge,2009, 364 pp.

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This book and DVD set's subtitle is "TheArt of Hardware Hacking," and the artpart as well as the hacker part are ex-plored with expertise in the second edi-tion updated in 2009. Nicolas Collins is acomposer and performer of electronicmusic himself, as well as an academicand editor. He writes with experience, of-fering both tips and tricks for makingelectronic circuits and hacked instru-ments, as well as offering photos and de-scriptions of contemporary circuitbreakers and makers, performers, inven-tors, and their handmade and homemadeinstruments and creations. Pretty mucheverything one might need to know aboutthis genre of electronic music is included,and for those who have prior extensiveknowledge, Collins has included more in-formation (and some corrections!) on hispersonal website. This kind of work is notjust for gearheads or tech nerds. The per-formative aspect of these inventions, aswell as the sometimes totally dysfunc-tional ways in which they work, will be of

interest to anyone.

Home-Made: ContemporaryRussian Folk ArtifactsArkhipov, Vladimir. London, Fuel Pub-lishing, 2006, 304 pp.

Vladimir Arkhipov is a Russian artistwho has been researching, collecting, andexploring the world of hand-made, usu-ally utilitarian objects since 1990. Home-Made is a compendium of photographs ofand stories about these items and theircreators. In the book's introduction,Arkhipov explains that his personal col-lection of these "thingamyjigs" (the au-thor's word choice) started when hehappened to see an unusual clothes hookon the wall of an acquaintance's house. Itwas made from an old toothbrush.Arkhipov was immediately drawn to thissort of self-made design and contactedfriends and family to seek out similar ob-jects and solutions in their own houses.The book consists of a myriad of photo-graphs of these objects, along with shortdescriptions and interviews by many ofthe creators. Many of the inventions andcreations remind us of the same impetusand ingenuity that the inventors repre-sented in our book Prisoners' Inventions.Books like Home-Made help to reinforceour notion that creativity and inspiringinvention can be found under any cir-cumstances.

Home-Made Europe: Con-temporary Folk ArtifactsArkhipov, Vladimir. London: Fuel De-sign & Publishing, 2012, 256 pp.

Arkhipov follows up his earlier Home-Made: Contemporary Russian Folk Arti-facts with this second volume ofinventions and objects created by peopleinterested in solving their own design so-lutions and making things at home forthemselves. As the title suggests, the ob-

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jects and people documented are from avariety of European countries; Albania,Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, and theUkraine are but a few. The format is thesame as the Russian folk artifacts book: aphoto of the object or invention accom-panied by a small head shot of its maker,and often a few words about the object’sinspiration or the process of creation. Weappreciate the variety of ages that arerepresented when you look at the inven-tors themselves. This reflects positivelyon Arkhipov’s process for finding thesehome inventors. One can read about ahomemade lens cap for a camera madeby a middle-aged man from Prague, abird house made by an older Irish man, a“draft excluder” made by an Albanianwoman that resembles the door stop de-tailed in Prisoners’ Inventions (andworks to keep the cold out of a room), oran Austrian boy’s go-kart, amongst othercreative solutions.

Home Work – HandbuiltShelterKahn, Lloyd. Bolinas, CA: Shelter Pub-lications, 2004, 260 pp.

Lloyd Kahn is responsible for numerousinspiring books on handbuilt housing. Hewas the "Shelter" section editor for theWhole Earth Catalog and this book is the23rd for his imprint Shelter Publications.This sumptuous book is a jam-packedgreatest hits compendium of Kahn'sdecades of research. It includes hundredsof mostly color photos—often eight perpage—of handbuilt construction fromaround the world. Subjects include mul-tiple profiles of individual builders, yurts,desert houses, homes off the grid, homeson the beach, new settlers in New Mex-ico, "zomes," houses built on rock, mudand straw constructions, bamboo joinery,tree houses, a bottle house, and an exten-sive selection of mobile homes. There are

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exciting photos of buildings made by chil-dren ages 7-10. The core list of toolsneeded is a mere seven items (not count-ing the box of bandages and carpenter'sapron). Though the structures are in-tended for play (such as tree houses andstructures made from scavenged junk),many of the houses look quite durableand could be fun to assemble for a varietyof creative projects for adults. Note thatLester Walker is also the author of Tiny Tiny Houses.

In Time of Emergency: A

also contributions from writers that aresimilarly obsessed with handbuilding likeLester Walker and Kevin Kelly, alongwith a section of recommended books onbuilding.

Housebuilding ForChildren: Step-By-StepPlans For Houses ChildrenCan Build ThemselvesWalker, Lester. Woodstock, NY: TheOverlook Press, 1977, 176 pp.

This book offers clear instructions and18

Citizen’s Handbook onNuclear Attack & NaturalDisastersDepartment of Defense, Office of CivilDefense. U.S. Government, 1968, 100 pp..

This illustrated handbook issued by theU.S. Government helped citizens preparefor catastrophes long before TV shows onthe subject made survival look cool.Much of the information remains funda-mental and relevant. From the introduc-tion: “A major emergency affecting alarge number of people may occur any-time and anywhere. […] It may be apeacetime disaster such as a flood, tor-nado, fire, hurricane, blizzard, or earth-quake. It could be an enemy nuclearattack on the United States.” Informa-tion is included on where and how to takeshelter during such events, suggestionson how to build a basement fallout shel-ter, as well as tips on basic first aid, safety,and preparation.

Invisible Spaces of Parent-hoodFrancke, Andrea, ed. London: TheShowroom, 2012, 138 pp.

Andrea Francke, a London based artistand mother, opened a functioning day-care center for her graduate show. Whenthe Chelsea College of Art and Designdecided to close the nursery whereFrancke kept her son while she attendedclasses, the artist realized that daily lifewith a child would not be going along asplanned. Francke joined with other par-ents to protest the nursery closing but theschool's administration was not moved.The artist set up a functioning daycare inthe gallery of her thesis exhibition whichcreated a platform for public discussionsof how budget cuts to public services inBritain were affecting small children andfamilies. Many things came out of

Francke's functioning daycare installa-tion. She connected with local nurseriesand other parents. She broke boundariesbetween public (gallery/university space)and private (daycare, childhood, etc).Francke put together Invisible Spaces ofParenthood: A collection of pragmaticpropositions for a better future, an exhi-bition that expanded on her thesis showwith events, workshops, interviews withchildminders and other care workers, ac-tivist connections, and a publication. Thismanual contains eight specially commis-sioned essays as well as interviews, eventexcerpts, discussions and documentationfrom the exhibition. A supplement ac-companies the book and is filled withprojects that can be done with and forchildren.

Kid Size: The MaterialWorld of ChildhoodVegesack, Alexander Von. London:

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Thames & Hudson, 1997, 320 pp.

This catalog, produced for an exhibitionof the same name by the Vitra DesignMuseum, aims—in the words of LucyBullivant—“to explore and critically illu-minate the changing relationships be-tween adults and children as expressedby their immediate, everyday materialenvironments in societies in and beyondthe Western world.” The themes of theexhibit, and the many objects in this gen-erously illustrated book, are: patterns ofsleeping, basic functions, play, mobility,formal learning, and chairs. In additionto showing manufactured objects de-signed by Bruno Munari, Marcel Breur,Alvar Alto, Charles and Ray Eames, andothers, this book includes many photos ofhand-made objects from places likeMalawi, Peru, Paraguy, China, andNorth American Indian culture. Also fea-tured are images of the ways that chil-dren invent their own ways of playingwith the world and each other. A highlysuggestive book for anyone interested inmaking things for children.

Leftover Rightunder: Find-ing Architectural PotentialIn Found MaterialsJanz, Wes. Chicago: Half Letter Press,2013, 96 pp.

Our planet’s poorest people are also itslargest construction force. Whether re-cent immigrants to growing cities or thelast residents in shrinking cities, these oc-cupiers have a great need and, often, nochoice but to self-build. They use what-ever can be found to create places to live,to work, and perhaps hide. LeftoverRightunder highlights selected projectsfrom ten years of architect Wes Janz’s ef-forts to showcase these people’s work inthe design and education communities ofwhich he is a member. In this book, Janzdocuments boarded up houses in Flint,

Michigan; the piles of couches, mat-tresses, and other furniture left by stu-dents at the end of every year at theuniversity where he teaches; settlementsof self-built housing; enormous amountsof constructions waste; all in order to vi-sualize the incredible waste American so-ciety generates as well as how all of thiscould be put to different ends. Janz ar-gues for a completely different way ofdoing things and builds what is probablythe country’s first permitted, legal build-ing made of cast off wooden pallets.

Little ToysGupta, Arvind. India: National BookTrust, 1997, 60 pp.

We first learned of Arvind Guptathrough the thousands of videos of sim-ple children’s toys on his Youtube chan-nel. Gupta builds these toys fromcommon garbage found in India andmany are used to illustrate various sci-ence concepts. This book, with illustra-

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tions by Avinash Deshpande, features in-structions for how to make thirty-three ofthese toys. One of the things we loveabout Gupta’s work is his sensitivity tothe enormous amount of waste in our en-vironment and he deliberately presentsdesigns that employ commonly discardedmaterials. Gupta writes: “It is an irony ofmodern consumerism that junk productsare packed in tough cartons. While thefrail human body consumes and digeststhe junk, it is the environment which hasto grapple and reckon with the tough,non-biodegradable waste.” While thisbook is no substitute for the many de-lightful videos that Gupta has filmed, it’sa great little introduction to his work.

Make Your Place:

Affordable,SustainableNesting SkillsBriggs, Raleigh. Bloomington, IN: Mi-crocosm Publishing, 2009, 128 pp.

Another inexpensive and handy bookpublished by Microcosm. Designed withcharming, clear drawings and completelyhandwritten text, Make Your Place fo-cuses on DIY approaches to health andfirst aid, non-toxic cleaning and bodycare, and gardening. In the health andfirst aid section you'll learn how to makenatural salves, tinctures, and tonics andtreat burns, rashes, stomach problems,bruises, headaches and more. The clean-ing portion addresses eco-friendly recipesfor taking care of floors, toilets, windowsand pet stains, as well as your hair, face,teeth, cats and dogs. For your garden,this book shares helpful knowledge oncomposting, fertilizing, planting and pestcontrol.

Making Stuff & DoingThings: A Collection of DIY

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Guides to Doing Just AboutEverythingBravo, Kyle, ed. Bloomington, IN: Mi-crocosm Publishing, 2005, 288 pp.

A compendium of folk knowledge from avariety of sources and authors with ayouthful Punk spirit. The presentation ofthis information ranges from a roughphotocopy and collage aesthetic to hand-drawn, hand-written, or computer-de-signed layouts. Some of these ideas areparticularly smart and cost effective(making a homemade Neti pot for nasalrinsing using a dishwashing soap bottleand some salt), while other ideas (such assculpting, making a mold, and castingyour own dildos and buttplugs) reallyforce the question of whether or not somethings are better left to the experts. Otherideas look like lots of creative fun, suchas tips for making your own loopingaudio tapes, quill pens and rubberstamps.

Messing Around WithDrinking Straw ConstructionZubrowski, Bernie, Boston: Linda,Brown and Company, 1981, 68 pp.

This activity book by The Children's Mu-seum, with illustrations by StephanieFleischer, provides information on basicarchitectural engineering principals forstrong design. Photos of children at workon structures scaled to their bodies sug-gest a range of creative applications.

Mingering Mike: The Amaz-ing Career of an ImaginarySoul SuperstarHadar, Dori. New York: Princeton Ar-chitectural Press, 2007, 192 pp.

Ready to create your own world fromscratch? How about your own albums,

singles, kung fu movie soundtracks, andbenefit record for sickle cell anemia re-search? Take a lesson from "Mingering"Mike Stevens, whose childhood and ado-lescent isolation drew him to create animaginary world and an alternate life forhimself. Author Dori Hader happened tofind a crate of Mingering Mike's creationswhile looking for albums at a flea marketin Washington, D.C. These are not onlydrawings of fantasy record covers, but insome cases homemade records them-selves (complete with grooves in the fakevinyl, liner notes, and sometimesshrinkwrap). In another great moment ofkismet, Hader is a criminal investigatorand DJ, and was able to actually findMike Stevens and get his permission tohelp show the world these amazing cre-ations. This is self-reliance of the finestcaliber—a true artist who creates his ownworld and multiple record labels to fulfillhis lifelong dreams when SpaceshipEarth just ain't cuttin' it.

Mobile PhenomenaTemporary Services. Chicago: Half Let-ter Press, 2012, 68 pp.

In this book you will find bookmobiles,mobile forms of commerce, inventive mo-bile art projects, mobile structures cre-ated for use during protest, and some

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strange applications of mobility that defyeasy description, categorization, or whosefunction could not be readily discerned.Mobile Phenomena can unhinge the ex-pected roles we take in shared city spaces.They can become a new norm when theywork. It is our hope that this book can bean inspiration to other citizens, artists,activists, nomads, and anyone who isinterested in escaping the constraints oftheir location, culture, or other factorsthat make realizing one’s desires diffi-cult.

A Modern Herbal: How toGrow, Cook, and Use HerbsStevenson, Violet, ed. Hong Kong: LynxPress Ltd, 1974, 144 pp.

This is a fantastically illustrated andfairly complete guide to herbs, includingtheir history, and identification and cul-tivation tips. It's also a collection of prac-tical things to do with herbs including

cooking and making potpourri. Herbs incontainers, as house plants, and their an-cient properties are discussed.

New Treehouses of theWorldNelson, Pete. New York: Abrams, 2009,224 pp.

Any notion that treehouses are merelyplay structures for children is thoroughlydemolished by this sumptuously illus-trated book for adults (and kids too ifthey have amazing parents). Treehousesaround the world are photographed fromboth the outside and their interiors.Homes range from small single-roomunits to complex multi-level structures.The range of ladders and scaffolds usedto gain entry to the shelters is nearly asvaried as the homes themselves. Just asLester Walker's book Tiny Tiny Housesawakens the desire to own a single roomstructure on land, this title makes livingin a forest, high in the branches, look ab-solutely glorious. The author Pete Nelsonalso runs a Treehouse building company,TreeHouse Workshop Inc. in Seattle, andNew Treehouses of the World is en-hanced by examples of his own designsand the experience he brings to buildingthem.

Nightwatch: A PracticalGuide to Viewing theUniverseDickinson, Terence. Richmond Hill, On-tario, Canada: Firefly Books, 2006, 192pp.

Nightwatch is often touted as the defini-tive guide for amateur sky watchers. It’sa practical book about stargazing fromyour backyard as well as a reliable sourceof star charts, guides to the seasonal skyas seen from different parts of the Earth,tables, and graphs. Beginners to back-

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yard astronomy will enjoy a guide tousing your viewing equipment—oftenoverlooked in other books and guidesthat focus on the skies themselves. Dick-inson includes a basic array of tips andtechniques for both choosing and gettingthe most out of your telescope. Full colorphotos, some from the Hubble space tel-escope, round out the great illustrations.

Nomadic Furniture 1Hennessey, James and Papanek, Victor.New York: Pantheon, 1973, 164 pp.

Nomadic Furniture 2Hennessey, James and Papanek, Victor.New York: Pantheon, 1974, 158 pp.

Though these books were authored in1973 and 1974, passages like this aboutnomadic living and frequent relocationcould have been written yesterday or nextweek, "For those of us in the ‘f loating ac-ademic crap-game’ (professors), ‘forever’is a 9-month appointment." The focus, asstated in the first book, is on, "How tobuild and where to buy lightweight furni-ture that folds, collapses, stacks, knocksdown, inflates or can be thrown away andrecycled. Being both a book of instructionand a catalog of access for easy moving."Not everything must be built or pur-chased, however. A section of the firstbook shows how common recycled or-ange crates and grape boxes were used tooutfit a store.

In addition to seating, desks and storage,the second book includes plans for creat-ing playground equipment, lighting fix-tures, lamp shades, and a treehouse. Theauthors are also obvious music lovers soadvice on stereo equipment and recordstorage is here too. Both books are de-signed with a wonderful style of hand-written text and excellent clear photosand drawings. Were it not for the ap-pearance of reel-to-reel players in some

of the photos, many of the designs wouldfeel completely contemporary—in partbecause of a resurgence of interest in thisperiod of design, but also because theyare still relevant to people's needs. Thesecond book contains a dedication tothose who, "are still choosing instead ofthinking you know, traveling instead offeeling you have arrived, finding yourselfinstead of settling down."

Notes for a People's Atlas:People Making Maps ofTheir CitiesAREA Chicago, Chicago: AREAChicago, 2011, 104 pp.

Notes for a People’s Atlas is a multi-citycommunity-driven mapping project.Workshops were held in several placesand the participants were asked to maketheir own maps of what was important toknow or understand about their respec-tive cities or areas. Participants weregiven map outlines prepared by the lead-ers of the workshops. They were asked tofill them in with their own information.The completed maps frequently tell po-litical stories, while others are colored inand become animals. The project startedin Chicago in 2005 and has since ex-panded to a number of cities rangingfrom Zagreb (Croatia) to Greencastle, In-diana. The project was initiated byAREA Chicago, a newspaper about art,research, education and activism inChicago. The book and a website—www.peoplesatlas.com—document thisproject by presenting the maps collectedin each city along with commentary deal-ing with art, urban space, cartographyand definitions of place. The book fea-tures mapping projects from: Chicago,IL; Syracuse, NY; Portland, OR;Granada, Spain; Chisinau, Moldova; De-troit, MI; Boston, MA; Santiago and Val-paraiso, Chile; London, ON, Canada;

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several cities in the Ukraine; and others.

The Open Public LibraryClegg & Guttman. Osfildern, Germany:Cantz, 1994, 128 pp.

Clegg & Guttman’s pioneering public art

initiative gathered donated books frompeople in three diverse neighborhoods inHamburg, Germany. The artist duo re-furbished disused electrical boxes by put-ting glass doors on the outside andshelving inside. The collected books wereplaced in the rehabbed electrical boxes

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free to anyone who wanted to use them.Clegg & Guttman were primarily mak-ing large photo portraits before this ef-fort. Some of the claims behind creatingthe libraries were that these new public li-braries were portraits of the neighbor-hood. This claim does not resonate verywell with what they actually realized andis the least interesting part of The OpenPublic Library. Other aspects, like thegenerosity of gathering and redistribut-ing the books, and making an unexpectedpublic resource and experience, had agreater impact on a burgeoning discoursearound socially engaged art, making thisan important precedent for artists whosework deals with complicated social con-figurations as the substance of their art,rather than older inherited object-basedforms, like portraiture.

The Owner-Built HomeKern, Ken. Auberry, CA: HomesteadPress, 1972, 290 pp.

Ken Kern's guide to building your ownhome from the ground up is consideredsomething of a bible amongst self-made,

country homemaker, and weekendbuilder types. It's divided into sectionssuch as "Site and Climate," and teachesbasic building techniques while remind-ing the amateur builder to keep both en-vironmental and aesthetic issues in mindwhile designing and building their dreamhome. The techniques and suggestionsfeatured are low-cost and simple, but areall a testament to building something cor-rectly the first time to last a lifetime.

Paul Klee: Hand PuppetsHopfengart, Christine, Okuda, Osamuand Klee, Paul. Germany: Hatje CantzPublishers, 2006, 128 pp.

A series of approximately fifty hand pup-pets made between 1916-1925, of whichthirty survive, is one of the less wellknown bodies of work by the Swiss artistPaul Klee (1879-1940). These fantasticcreations, made from materials that in-clude beef bones, electrical sockets, andnut shells, were created for Klee’s sonFelix to play with. The puppets were notexhibited publicly until 1979, after whichthey came to be recognized as a signifi-cant part of Klee’s art. This book containscrisp, detailed photos of each of the sur-viving puppets as well as texts by FelixKlee, and Aljoscha Klee who writes thathis father Felix also used the puppets toplay with him as a child.

Pioneering in the UrbanWildernessStratton, Jim. New York: Urizen BooksInc., 1977, 208 pp.

A fascinating look at the phenomena ofrenovating dilapidated urban lofts into tolivable homes and alternative art spacesthroughout many U.S. cities but with afocus on New York City. Jim Stratton'swriting is loaded with colorful stories de-rived from direct experience transform-ing these sometimes extremely rough

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and spaces in SoHo and the real estate in-volvements of film-maker Jonas Mekas,and George Maciunas, the father of theFluxus movement, and his company thatused the same name, as well as Flux-house.

Prisoners’ InventionsAngelo and Temporary Services.

buildings. In addition to accounting forconstruction and utilities challenges, hedescribes the threat of building inspec-tors, and concerns about other tenantsthat call attention to illegal renovationsby being careless about moving construc-tion materials in and out during daylight.Of particular interest is Stratton's ac-count of the development of art galleries

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Chicago: WhiteWalls, 2003, 132 pp.

Prison is a place where one's basic needsof shelter and food are taken care of justenough for a crude existence. Survivalthere is about maintaining one's sense ofself-worth, purpose, and carving out as

much autonomy as is humanly possibleunder such difficult restraints. This bookexplores the amazing capacity of humansto use their creativity to endure the hu-miliating and dehumanizing confines ofprison. It is a celebration of ingenuity andpresents the reader with an array of in-

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dents, parents, and teachers, create class-room experiences that go beyond the con-straints of homework and lecturing?Radical and practical approaches tochanging the classroom experience on apersonal and local level are offered alongwith case studies from the Project Stu-dent Autonomy group's research.

Public PhenomenaTemporary Services. Chicago: Half Let-ter Press, 2008, 152 pp.

This book is the result of over ten yearsof photographic documentation and re-search on the variety of modificationsand inventions people make in public.From roadside memorials to makeshiftbarriers, people consistently alter sharedcommon spaces to suit their needs, or letboth man-made and natural aberrationsrun wild. The result is a new kind of pub-lic space—with creative and inspiringmoments that push past the originalplanned design of cities.

ventions. One can learn how to cook foodusing burning toilet paper and the builtin steel furniture. Leisure activities likeplaying chess, dominoes, or entertainingoneself with pet insects can be achievedwith simple materials and solutions.There are instructions for homemade sexdolls and privacy curtains for the smallspace of a single cell.

Angelo, our friend and collaborator onthis book, wrote about and illustratedmany of the inventions from firsthandknowledge. Some of the inventions comefrom things that Angelo has seen inprison; others are objects that Angelo andhis cellmates have made themselves. Allof these items are contraband.

This book fundamentally altered how weunderstand the material make up of ourworld. It gave us a profound appreciationfor creativity that is applied with rigorand unrelenting drive. We wish more ofthe people on the outside who considerthemselves artists or creative had half thecapacity that prisoners do when theycome up with these solutions for briefmoments of sanity and control in a placethat does everything to keep you off bal-ance.

Project Student Autonomy:A Student’s Guide to Taking Back Power in theClassroom Self-published by Project Student Au-tonomy. Santa Cruz, CA: Quiver Distro,2006, 24 pp.

Project Student Autonomy is a decentanti-copyright publication that asks ques-tions about power and autonomy in thestudent learning experience. Why do wehave the rules and expectations we havein our current educational systems. Areall students actually benefiting from theway that things are? How can we, as stu-

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Recreational DiscographicsCaillet, Patrice. Montreuil, France: Édi-tions Bricolage, 2004, 132 pp.

Patrice Caillet's first compilation of beau-tiful, found, recreated and modifiedrecord album covers. (See page 11 entryfor Discographisime Récréatif, 2009)

RE/Search #11: Pranks!Juno, Andrea and Vale, V., eds. San Fran-cisco: RE/Search, 1987, 244 pp.

A longtime favorite book of TemporaryServices! This compendium of inter-views, stories, quotes, and ideas details“devious deeds and mischievous mirth”from a vast well of counter-culturalthinkers including: Abbie Hoffman,Mark Pauline, Karen Finley, HenryRollins, Joey Skaggs, John Waters, EarthFirst!, Jello Biafra, Harry Kipper, BrunoRichard, and many more. A great intro-duction to a whole host of subversivethinkers, a book that expands the defini-tion of everyday creativity, and above all,gives the reader a sense of the possibili-ties of what one can do without waiting

for permission. While some ideas haveaged poorly or are wildly unethical, thebook remains a rich resource and a greatway to awaken one’s imagination.

ScarecrowsNeal, Avon and Parker, Ann. Barre, MA:Barre Publishing, 1978, 96 pp.

Scarecrows are structures—usuallyhuman in form—that are set up in fieldsto ward off crop-eating crows and otherbirds. Neal and Parker observe: “[T]hescarecrow remains the universal symbolof man’s striving to wrest his living fromthe soil.” Scarecrows are a widespreadexample of a creative object that has ex-isted for many years, that is commonlybuilt by people who probably don’t thinkof themselves as artists. Nonetheless,these functional but ephemeral structuresoften feature clever, humorous, and in-ventive details and designs. Some of thematerials used to make the scarecrowsdocumented in this book include: oldclothes, hats, helmets, a Halloween mask,a mannequin head, a crutch, sunglasses,tin cans, and pie tins. If there is one obvi-ous shortcoming in Scarecrows, it’s thatwe wish the authors would have indi-cated the locations where their photoswere taken.

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Shop Drawings of ShakerFurniture and Woodenware, Vol. IHandberg, Ejner. Stockbridge, MA: TheBerkshire Traveller Press, 1973, 96 pp.

Shop Drawings of ShakerFurniture and Woodenware, Vol. IIHandberg, Ejner. Stockbridge, MA: TheBerkshire Traveller Press, 1975, 82 pp.

Shop Drawings of ShakerFurniture and Woodenware, Vol. IIIHandberg, Ejner. Stockbridge, MA: TheBerkshire Traveller Press, 1977, 96 pp.

These three identically-designed volumesprovide clearly measured and propor-tioned line drawings designed to helpreaders construct their own copies ofShaker furniture designs, which areknown for their simplicity, austerity andspare use of materials. While amateursmight have a hard time comprehendingsome of the joining methods from thesedrawings, those with a moderate degreeof wood-working skill should be able tofollow the illustrations with success. Se-lected photos and original Shaker catalogrenderings are included in each volumeto help readers get a more specific senseof the finished products.

SidewalkDunier, Mitchell. New York: Farrar,Straus and Giroux, 1999, 384 pp.

Dunier, a sociologist, profiles streetvenders in New York City’s GreenwichVillage who get by selling scavengedbooks, magazines, secondhand goods,and panhandling. The striking andevocative black and white photos by OvieCarter help convey the specific sense ofplace and dynamics where these people

Self-Sufficiency: ForagingSquire, David. New York: Skyhorse Pub-lishing, 2011, 128 pp.

Free food is everywhere if you know whatit looks like. Foraging for wild foods alsogives you the advantage of eating thingsthat are local and free. This book, part ofa series on self-sufficiency, is richly illus-trated with color drawings and dividedinto wild plants, herbs, fruits, nuts, sea-weeds, and shellfish. For each entryyou’ll learn where to find it, when and/orhow to harvest it, and how to prepare andeat it. Recipes—including jams, bever-ages, and sauces—are included for someitems, as are tips for preserving the thingsyou pick for later use. This book doeshave some limitations, however—pri-marily in the case of certain lookalikemushrooms which can be dangerous ordeadly if consumed. You may want toread other books with more precise andnumerous illustrations or photos, or con-sult an expert, before ingesting certainfungi.

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strive to make “an honest living” in aparticularly uncompromising city. Majordaily struggles, that passersby might takefor granted, such as where to use a bath-room and how to secure and defend aspace for one’s vending table, are de-scribed with great detail and sensitivity.

Simple Methods of MiningGoldFaulk, Terry R. Palmer Lake, CO: FilterPress, 1969, 32 pp.

Simple Methods of Mining Gold offersexactly what the title suggests - a primeron finding, mining, and staking a claimon "placer gold" nuggets that may still beavailable in the American West andAlaska. We like the format (it's in theTemporary Services-approved half letter,machine-stapled booklet size) and themeticulous yet optimistic advice thatFaulk provides to prospective miners.This small booklet is part of a series ofover thirty that Filter Press published

from the 1950s through the 1970s. Eachvolume in the series promises informa-tion and instruction in the ways of the"Wild and Woolly West," from Navajoweaving to game cookery.

Summerhill USABull, Richard E. Baltimore, MD: Pen-guin Books, 1970, 95 pp.

This is a collection of thoughts and com-ments on the work of creating and fos-tering free-school communities in theU.S. in the late 1960s. The teachers, prin-cipals, and students quoted in Summer-hill USA were all connected with schoolsthat were founded on the Summerhillconcept conceived by A.S. Neill in theearly twentieth century: democratic, freelearning without rigid testing, classroomtime schedules, and child-led courses ofstudy. While skeptics of similar experien-tial learning techniques scoffed at suchschools as hippie-led or “not real”, sev-eral of the contributors in this book arequick to point out the distinctions be-

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tween their methodology and other freeschools. Thoughtful analysis of the dy-namics within these learning communi-ties from both adult staff members andyoung students in their own words is ac-companied by a span of great black andwhite photos of children, teachers, and

parents.

The Survivor, Volume 1Saxon, Kurt. Alpena, AR: Atlan Formu-laries, 1988, 476 pp.

While Kurt Saxon states that, "Survivalis about looking out for number 1,” he

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also notes that, "The inexperienceddreamer simply cannot survive alone."This book may have been inspired by theauthor's desire to be prepared against aforeign invasion, but it also containsmany ideas (and reprints from old arti-cles in Popular Mechanics) for expandingone's approach to living in any situation.

Tiny Tiny Houses or How toGet Away From It AllWalker, Lester. Woodstock, NY: TheOverlook Press, 1987, 224 pp.

For this book, long a favorite of Tempo-rary Services, Lester Walker compiledover 40 examples of buildings under 325square feet, providing photos, drawings,floor plans, and in some cases instruc-tions for the reader to follow. Examplesinclude a rolling home on wheels, a tenthouse, an ice fishing shanty, a portableshelter cart for the homeless designed byChristopher Egan, Henry DavidThoreau's cabin, and George BernardShaw's writing hut which can be manu-ally rotated to take advantage of the arcof the sun. The appendix includes ideasfor kitchens and bathrooms

Tom Brown’s Field Guide toNature Observation andTrackingBrown, Jr., Tom, and Morgan, Brandt.New York: Berkley Books, 1983, 282 pp.

Tom Brown, Jr. is the author of a verypopular series of field guides to trackingpeople and animals through nature, sur-viving in the wilderness both with andwithout resources, living with nature,plant identification and medicinal/edibleuses, and surviving in urban/suburbansettings with limited resources. Brownwas trained in these skills as a child andyoung person by an Apache elder namedStalking Wolf. This is an incredibly de-

tailed book that takes all of the sensesinto account. The training includes thebasic skills for sight, smell, and taste, andhow these senses are used in more ex-panded ways when humans interact withnature. Many illustrations throughouthelp to clarify everything from distinc-tive animal tracks to dirt patterns thatindicate where other humans might havebeen. A great introduction to finding andtracking in the wilderness.

Toolbox For SustainableCity LivingKellogg, Scott, and Pettigrew, Stacy.Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2008,248 pp.

The Austin-based Rhizome collectivepublished this inspiring book on how topractice sustainable living and design inurban centers. The book shows how tokeep and raise chickens, establish aqua-culture, build composting toilets, and in-tegrate water conservation and greywater into a healthy garden. Members ofTemporary Services visited the ware-house in 2009. We got to see many of thesystems documented in the book. Wealso met an enormous turkey that hadfree run of the place. The Rhizome col-lective responsible for this book seemedto be on hiatus and maybe an addendumto the book should be written tellingfolks that if you choose to follow the in-structions in the book, expect to do a lotof maintenance and upkeep if you wantthings to keep going.

Transitory Gardens, Uprooted LivesBalmori, Diana, and Morton, Margaret.New Haven, CT: Yale University Press,1993, 147 pp.

Balmori and Morton’s preface to this ele-giac book of photographs and text starts:

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“Most of the gardens documented in thisbook have been destroyed. For others de-struction is imminent. It is the authors’hope that this more permanent recordwill bring attention and understanding tothe homeless individuals who madethem.” Margaret Morton started takingphotographs of homeless people and taperecording their oral histories in 1989 aspart of an earlier project. After showingher photographs to Diana Balmori, alongtime friend and landscape scholarand designer, Balmori suggested thatMorton create a separate project concen-trating on the exterior designed spacesthat Morton’s subjects were creating.Thus, Transitory Gardens, UprootedLives was born. The book weaves to-gether histories of space from the per-spective of these nomadic residents ofNew York City, and has evocative photo-graphs by Morton that show a variety ofinventive and resourceful approaches forcreating both traditional gardens andoutdoor living spaces with little to no re-sources or outside help. The cover photodocuments an especially ambitious fishpond created in an empty lot by a man

named Jimmy, who unfortunately disap-peared from the area not long after hispond was bulldozed (which itself hap-pened only eight days after the photo wastaken).

V/Search #1: Zines! Vol. 1Vale, V., ed. San Francisco: V/Search,1996, 184 pp.V/Search #2: Zines! Vol. 2Vale, V., ed. San Francisco: V/Search,1997, 148 pp.

In the introduction to Volume I of Zines!,one late great publication, Factsheet 5,defines a ‘zine as: “A small handmadeamateur publication done purely out ofpassion, rarely making a profit or break-ing even.” For anyone that just startedlearning about fanzines in 1996 and ‘97,these two books would have been a trulyeye-opening window into a world of sub-cultural and underground, self-publishedfascination—exposed right before the in-ternet came along and forever changed orscrewed up how we learn about non-mainstream, un-corporate culture. Forcontemporary readers, there’s still tons ofinspiration to be found here and if thesebooks aren’t enough to encourage you toput together some kind of cheap publica-tion and get it printed, nothing is gonnahelp you take that leap.

Following a format similar to earlierRE/Search books like Pranks! or AngryWomen, V. Vale conducts engaging anddetailed interviews with a diverse selec-tion of ‘zine makers and self-publishingthinkers. A strength of these books is thatthe themes of these publications are allover the map. Subjects include thriftshopping (Thrift Score), queer punk rockmusic (Outpunk), weird products andservices (Beer Frame), anarchist and po-litical printed matter (AK Press), wash-ing dishes (Dishwasher), 8-track tapes(8-Track Mind), Tiki culture (Tiki News),

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mayhem and death (Murder Can BeFun), the thoughts of a teenage feministcollective (Revolutionary Knitting Circle)and a zine “for fat dykes and the womenthat want them” (Fat Girl). Thoughmany of these publications no longerexist, others that share their spirit pop upall the time and can be found in storeslike Quimby’s in Chicago, or Needles andPens in San Francisco. Zine fests are heldin numerous cities and these events usu-ally feature the authors/publishers them-selves sitting at tables with their work, sobe on the lookout for those opportunitiestoo.

Whole Earth: Access toTools & Ideas for theTwenty-First CenturyRheingold, Howard, ed. San Francisco:Harper San Francisco and Point Foun-dation, 1994, 384 pp.

Long before the internet and quicksearches you had to do the hard work tofind the tools and information needed forbuilding geodesic domes, making solarpower, raising your own food, and drop-ping out of industrialized America. TheWhole Earth Catalog (WEC), publishedmainly between 1968 and 1972, was aone-stop source for many to get the toolsfor rebuilding a more just, ecological, andpeaceful world. The biggest promise ofthis counter-cultural catalog was its sim-ple yet empowering motto, "access totools." You could get books or tools forbuilding houses by hand, creating radiostations, wiring a building, fishing and somuch more. The book was more than acatalog. It also had reviews of importantcounter-cultural gatherings or the use ofpsychedelic drugs. More than any otherpublication that came out of this time, theWEC gives a strong sense of the produc-tive side of the counter-cultural move-ment and its grand aspirations. We

continue to find reasons to learn from thepeople who made the WEC.

Wilder Mann: The Image ofthe SavageFréger, Charles. Stockport, England:Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2012, 272 pp.

Wilder Mann is a collection culled fromFrench photographer Charles Fréger’sdocumentation of wildly inventive natureand animal costumes from eighteen Eu-ropean countries. Fréger’s photographsdepict a “transformation of man intobeast,” as Dewi Lewis Publishing de-scribes them. Pagan rituals and traditionsinspire the celebrations and holidays thatkeep these costumes and their wearers re-turning to a masked natural state on ayearly basis. The costumes are madefrom animal skins, bones, plants, bells,horns, furs, and more materials comingfrom the flora and fauna that they honor.One example of an inspired costume inthis book comes from Scotland. The Bur-ryman consists of moss, leaves, and flow-ers covering the entire body and face ofthe celebrant (with tiny openings for theeyes and mouth) resulting in the costumewearer appearing to be a human shapedmoss creature.

The Wizard's Eye: Visions ofAmerican ResourcefulnessHiggs, Jim and Milligan, Charles. SanFrancisco:ChronicleBooks, 1978, 108 pp.

From the back cover: "A sourcebook ofimaginative money-making, energy-pro-ducing, house-building and fixing ideasthat all use recycled materials, and theability to see the gold in the scrapheap."The Wizard's Eye, which includes an in-troduction by Buckminster Fuller, is aslick, mainstream book that presentsshort profiles on some pretty radical andimaginative ideas, as well as others that

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reflect 1960s and 70s aesthetics thatcould use some updating. Some of themore exciting inclusions are a mobilehome made from the cockpit of a DC-7and Bonnie Sherk's inner-city farm on anisland of land surrounded by freewayexits and on ramps.

Working Big: A Teachers’Guide to EnvironmentalSculptureBunch, Clarence, and Lidstone, John.New York: Litton Educational Publish-ing, Inc., 1975, 96 pp.

This exciting guide applies some of theideas of artists and writers like Ant Farm,Otto Piene and Willoughby Sharp tolarge scale art projects that can be exe-cuted with children. A pull quote fromthe back cover, "Children who have theopportunity to work together with large-scale materials are more likely to havemeaningful, in-depth experiences thanthose whose background has been re-stricted to participation in small-scaleclassroom activities. [...] A school shouldrecognize that (such projects are) not

only a logical extension of the classroomcurriculum but also a way that studentscan become involved with art forms thatare relevant to the world they live in."

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Self-Reliance is independent community building.It is creating shared culture and solutions from thebottomupwhen corporations,mass media, govern-ment institutions, and other large concentrationsof power are abusive, not stimulating and/or imag-inative, or do not create situations that take care ofthe maximum number of people. It is continuallylearning new skills, developing new tools, beingavailable to share resources, and to teach as well aslearn from others.

To suggest books to add to this library, please feelfree to contact us: servers@temporaryservices.org

Self-Reliance

Temporary Services is Brett Bloom, SalemCollo-Julin and Marc Fischer. We haveexisted as a group since 1998. We produceexhibitions, events, projects, publications, andlong-term initiatives. The distinction betweenart practice and other creative humanendeavors is irrelevant to us. This is our 100thpublication.

Temporary ServicesP.O. Box 121012Chicago, IL 60612USA

www.temporaryservices.org

Printed in November, 2013

About Temporary Services