Slow Tech: The perfect antidote to today's digital world

Forge • Carve • Weave • Mould • Ignite, Highly readable and hugely practical this book is either armchair reading or a valuable guide to getting your hands dirty and creating something useful as you discover the art of slow technology. Featuring topics such as building bread ovens, making clay pots in a bonfire, felling and processing trees, cooking on open fires, blacksmithing, beer making, wattle and daubing, this book is a combination of the dangerous book for boys and a practical manual of experimental archaeology and historical research., Author: Peter Ginn is an archaeologist and historian who graduated from the Institute of Archaeology at University College London and has a particular interest in experimental archaeology. His research interests include Egyptology, field archaeology and primitive technologies, and he specialises in 19th-century farming practice. Peter is best known for his BBC TV appearances in series such as Tales from the Green Valley, Victorian Farm, Secrets of the Castle and A Tudor Feast at Christmas. Peter now lives in Somerset in an amazing Victorian property that he is renovating.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 6 Tools and materials 10 FIRE 12 Light a fire 16 Cooking with fire 20 Spit-roast meat 24 Smoke fish 26 How to make charcoal 28 The art of smithing 30 Make a poker 32 Mould with metal 34 Cast a ring 36 Working with copper 38 How to hammer copper 39 Fire as light 42 Make a wax candle 44 EARTH 46 Working with clay 50 Make a ring pot 52 Build a bonfire kiln 54 The history of the oven 56 Build a bread oven 57 Bake fish in clay 60 Salt of the earth 62 Extract salt over a fire 64 The history of dyes 66 How to extract plant dyes 68 WOOD 70 How to fell a tree 74 Processing a felled tree 76 Construct a wattle and daub house 78 Carve a wooden spoon 82 Make a pestle and mortar 84 Weave a willow basket 86 Make a loom and weave cloth 90 Make music 94 STONE 96 Working with flint 100 Knapp flint 101 Light a fire with flint 106 Sharpen tools 108 Working with stone 112 Dry stone walls 114 Construct a dry stone wall 115 WATER 118 Manage water 123 Purify water 125 Tan leather 126 Make neatsfoot oil 130 Brew beer 132 Make cider 136 Distil perfume 138 Make felt 140 Catch fish 142 Steam-powered toy boat 144 Index 146

About the Author :
Peter Ginn is an archaeologist and historian who graduated from the Institute of Archaeology at University College London and has a particular interest in experimental archaeology. His research interests include Egyptology, field archaeology and primitive technologies, and he specialises in 19th-century farming practice. Peter is best known for his BBC TV appearances in series such as Tales from the Green Valley, Victorian Farm, Secrets of the Castle and A Tudor Feast at Christmas. Peter now lives in Somerset in an amazing Victorian property that he is renovating.