This is the place for online discussion about the book When Technology Fails by Matthew Stein. We'll do a separate forum topic for each chapter to keep the size more manageable. Please feel free to participate even if you have not done the reading - it’s all still a good learning experience! We understand that Laughing Horse will be unable to get copies of the book until sometime in November (this was news to us until after the circle began!), but don’t worry - there is not TOO much catching up to do yet!

Chapter 1 talks about some recent weather-related breakdowns in our power and transportation systems to illustrate situations in which we could be without familiar resources for extended periods of time. It also lists scenarios in which you would find this book (and its recommended resources) helpful your personal preparation plans for short, medium, and/or long-term survival, or even to discover ways to live a more sustainable lifestyle. It has an interesting section on Preindustrial Self-Sufficiency,” and another on “Old-Fashioned Self-Reliance and Modern Sustainable Technology.” Both cite examples of how people used to provide for their needs differently than we do today.

References (at the end of the chapter):
The Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old-fashioned Recipe Book by Carla Emery, “the premier reference for making the move from city to the country” or for making less sweeping changes.

Back to Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills from The Reader’s Digest, “If you ever need to reconstruct the technologies of our ancestors, this book will give you a good start.”

The Foxfire Books edited by Elliot Wigginton “These books record traditional self-sufficient living skills...I recommend that you pick up at least the first book plus Foxfire 2.”

The Millenium Whole Earth Catalog edited by Howard Rheingold “still a great guilde to an enormous variety of resources.”

Magazines: Back Home, Backwoods Home, Countryside, The Mother Earth News.

Discussion points:

1) If you have experienced any loss of normal services for any reason, what was your experience? What worked for you, and what preparations did you WISH you had made that you didn’t?

2) Do you think it is most appropriate in our situation to focus on short, medium, or long-term planning (or a combination) and why?

3) Do you think that the belief in a “Mother” Earth would be a positive factor in our survival plans? (i.e. would thinking of the earth as a “being” as many indigenous societies do encourage us to become more sustainable, or at least more conscious of the effects of our actions?)

4) What are your thoughts on older technologies that we could revive, versus newer sustainable technologies that we could employ? What are our most critical technologies to curtail for “damage control?”

5) Please comment on anything else the topics in this chapter bring up for you!