The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming (New York Review Books Classics),   ISBN:9781590173138

Customer Rating: 

Far from just being a book about natural farming, The One Straw Revolution is really a "way" of looking at and living one's life. I will certainly read this book a number of times over the ensuing years. Whether you're a farmer, a teacher, a healer - any kind of vocation - this book has something valuable to offer.

Customer Rating: 

I was a little hesitant to get this book at first since I already try hard to live a "natural" life, eat healthy, minimize impact on the environment, etc. etc. From other reviews, I thought this book might be a bit stereotypically "zen" or just lecturing to me about things I already know. Thankfully, this was not the case and I am truly blown away by this book. It is simple and to the point. The author makes very keen observations about the errors we make when we assume that our rational minds hold the answers. He believes that it is impossible for us to improve on nature, that we can only become aware of nature's ways and align ourselves with it. And his life is proof of the truth of this.

I wish for everyone to read this book and understand why as a society we need to change our relationship to nature, and changing our relationship to our food is a perfect place to start.

Customer Rating: 

I've been meaning to read this book for a long time. Maybe if I'd read when I was first starting out in organic gardening or became interested in sustainable food production, I would have been as taken with it as the huge number of "absolutely fabulous" reviewers apparently are. The thing is that I came to this book after 25+ years of organic gardening and years of trying various methods of growing various plants sustainably, so pragmatism is coloring my review.

The methods outlined in this book will not be helpful to most people trying to grow food sustainably in North America. I am not talking about the rejection of chemical ferts and pesticides. I am there with him on that totally. I'm not talking about his focus on growing small, either--he discusses growing food sufficient for a family on 1/4 acre, but he is limiting it to grains (he grows veggies in a large citrus orchard). I am talking about the use of nothing but hand tools, the use of straw as a mulch, the focus on growing three grain crops which depend on a frost-free winter, and the use of flooding for irrigation. I think anyone who has made even a stab at growing food in North America on a small scale can see the problems with this. So there's that.

There's also the problem of Mr. Fukuoka's unpaid help. I think it is great for people to go and learn from someone like him, but they work for no pay and live in unheated huts without electricity or running water. In terms of practicality, how many of us are going to have help like that? People seem to not notice this.

Finally, I found Mr. Fukuoka's philosophy of nothing means anything and nothing human beings do makes any difference in the grand scheme of things to be despressing in the extreme.

The central idea--that you can grow sufficient food sustainably in a small plot--makes sense to me, although in my opinion we have not yet arrived at models that are truly flexible and workable. But outside of that idea, this book's value is mostly in the depiction of one guy's struggle to make people think differently about agriculture in Japan.

Customer Rating: 

This is definitely the best book that I've read in a while. It has alot of solid information in it about a totally different way of thinking about and doing agriculture. Our society could be turned upside down and brought into a way of life that makes sense and is good for the earth and for us if we followed the principles laid out in this book. He has some profound philosophical ideas about life interspersed with excellent farming practices. This is a much read.

Customer Rating: 

This book drove me crazy. But then, I have a really low threshold for Zen- and an even lower threshold for that peculiar style of reverent, whispery, needlessly flowery Japanese-to-English translation. Here's an example from the text- "Humanity is like a blind man who does not know where he is heading. He gropes around with the cane of scientific knowledge, depending on yin and yang to set his course." Now, the sentiment may very well be true-- but lighten up, Francis. That's the tone of the entire book, and it never lets up.

If you're already an adherent of real food, permaculture, and no-till, you won't learn anything new here. If you want a snapshot of how the real food movement got started in Japan, you might get something out of the book.