I stumbled upon The Householder’s Guide to the Universe through a mention in Organic Gardening. (What can I say? I read a lot.) This book, by Harriet Fasenfest, is a dense combination of memoir and manifesto, dotted here and there with observations about the kitchen and garden month-by-month, recipes, and a few useful organizational tips.

To be honest, I picked it up because I thought it would be a useful manual. Instead, it was far more personal and political than I expected. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but it does mean that the title is somewhat misleading, and it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting to read when I ordered it.

My takeaway from it is that if you’re already involved in the householding / homesteading movement, I doubt you’re going to find a lot of new information here, though you may enjoy reading the memoir parts. If you’re new to the movement, you may or may not be turned off by the divergence into political arguments. It really depends on your reasons for being involved.

Overall, I found it to be a decent diversion, but not a book I needed to own. I was looking for more material in the how-to, planning, and practicality areas, as the “guide” part of the title implied. Your mileage may vary.