Fiction or other narratives that describe using primitive skills?

September 10, 2014 11:38 PM

When I read the Earth's Children series (Clan of the Cave Bear and its sequels), the aspect I enjoyed the most was the detailed descriptions of how the people did things back then (hunting, foraging, skinning, toolmaking, shelter building, etc.). While how-to books abound, I enjoy the fiction or narrative nonfiction format more. Any recommendations? Thanks!
posted by Jacqueline to Media & Arts (24 answers total)

I really liked Reindeer Moon by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. It's a much better novel than you'd be led to believe by the cheesy cover of some editions. The author is an anthropologist, IIRC, so I believe her description of the prehistoric way of life is pretty accurate, or at least well informed.
posted by sively at 11:54 PM on September 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

Heinlein's Farnham's Freehold has a lot of explanations of "how to do it"
posted by alchemist at 11:55 PM on September 10, 2014

aaah, I see the focus is on "primitive skills"... maybe not so relevant with my suggestion, sorry.
posted by alchemist at 11:58 PM on September 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

Stan Sakai's comic Usagi Yojimbo includes a fair amount of that, describing Japanese technology from the 17th century. One I remember had a section about how swords were made by masters. Another one had an extended description of paper making.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:43 AM on September 11, 2014

You may like Island in the Sea of Time. An island of modern people is transported back to the Bronze Age. And so they have to figure out how to rebuild everything. Lots of detail.
posted by vacapinta at 1:51 AM on September 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

I'm listening to Wolf Brother, the first in a series set in the neolithic era, and it's a cracking good YA read with lots of details about hunting, survival and social structures. The author did lots of research and it shows.
posted by viggorlijah at 2:01 AM on September 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

I recently finished Hild by Nicola Griffith, which included a pretty rich account of the economy of 7th century Britain. More broad strokes than rich detail, though there certainly are plenty of short excursions into the nitty gritty of the sheep to cloak business.
posted by themel at 4:26 AM on September 11, 2014

Hans Staden's account of his captivity among the Tupinamba in the 1500s has detailed descriptions of their life and customs.

1874 translation with notes br Sir Richard Burton, public domain
(link goes to Part II, a more encyclopedic description of the native culture, Part I is the action narrative of his captivity)

2008 translation
posted by Tom-B at 5:37 AM on September 11, 2014

I've only read parts of it myself, but my understanding is that Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson is very much doing this sort of thing. It's set in the Ice Age, and involves long descriptions regarding tasks like starting small fires without the proper tools on hand.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 6:18 AM on September 11, 2014

I just re-read Jane Smiley's novella Good Will because of all the descriptions of how the back-to-the-land main characters do everything. It's very absorbing.
posted by chaiminda at 7:01 AM on September 11, 2014

Also, pretty much all of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder go into painstaking detail about how they survived. Not as primitive as some, but there's plenty of hunting and woodcarving and such.
posted by chaiminda at 7:05 AM on September 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

You may find Leo Frankowski's Conrad Stargard series obliquely relevant.
posted by fairmettle at 7:06 AM on September 11, 2014

Wilderness survival novels love this stuff.

The Swiss Family Robinson delights in detailed technical explanation of the things they do (bee smoking, hunting, cassava preparation, rock cave drilling).

My Side of the Mountain includes acorn flour cooking, falconry, and tons of other stuff like that.

The better Heinlein in this vein is Tunnel In the Sky, rather than Franham's Freehold. They start with advanced technology, but quickly have to improvise as they're stuck for much longer than they expect on a school wilderness survival expedition.

(I was also thinking of suggesting Laura Ingalls Wilder. I particularly remember the creation of an ox bow in Farmer Boy.)
posted by Jahaza at 7:09 AM on September 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

Came in to say My Side of the Mountain, by Jean George. Snare traps, shelter building, edible plants, etc.
posted by bondcliff at 7:13 AM on September 11, 2014

I was really into this type of thing as a teenager. I remember the "People of" series being big favorites. I seem to also recall Linda Lay Shuler's "Kwani" series (about the Anisazi) and Joan Wolf's "Reindeer Hunters" books scratching the same itch.

(Disclaimer, I haven't read any of these books in a solid 15-20 years, so I am not claiming they are good. I mean, I was also reading a lot of V. C. Andrews at the time. So accept these recommendations with caution.)
posted by Stacey at 7:14 AM on September 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

Seconding Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson. I listened to the audiobook and there are a lot of descriptions of the basic daily life and occasional seasonal ritual.

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
posted by carrioncomfort at 7:18 AM on September 11, 2014

I seem to recall that Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell had a great deal of information on making English yew longbows, which will come in handy if you ever need to invade France.
posted by Soliloquy at 7:19 AM on September 11, 2014 [2 favorites]

Gary Paulson's Hatchet/Brian series. I only discovered a few years ago that he wrote several sequels re-imagining that the protagonist wasn't rescued. They are about 95% how-to survival guides in Canadian wilderness.

Another YA title by Scott O' Dell that hasn't been mentioned yet: Sarah Bishop (includes cave dwelling, complete with a pet bat).
posted by susanvance at 7:49 AM on September 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

The Tracker by Tom Brown Jr. My husband was inspired enough by that book to take wilderness survival school and it was amazing. The book is a fictionalized account of how Tom Brown Jr. learned his skills. And yes, we had to forage and set up traps and build fires and shelters in survival camp, too. Good times.
posted by Ostara at 7:52 AM on September 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

- My Side of The Mountain is the high-water mark for this.
- Julie of the Wolves
- Island of the Blue Dolphins
- Hatchet
posted by j_curiouser at 8:36 AM on September 11, 2014

Strongly seconding My side of the mountain, as well as all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, Hatchet and the swiss family robinson. All were favourites of mine as a teen - I loved, and still love this stuff.

I also really loved the Conrad Stargard novels as a teen, even more than the other books mentioned here, but if you're put off by things like detailed descriptions of 12-year-old girls' naked bodies and the sex they're having with the unrealistically clever, "flawless" protagonist (an adult modern-day man), or things like super-advanced time-travelling men being waited on by gorgeous naked women that are basically genetically engineered mindless drone slaves, you may want to give it a pass. I couldn't get through the first book when I tried to re-read the series recently. It's a really blatant wish-fulfillment fantasy written by a guy with uh...questionable fantasies. Much less creepy when you're a young teen, I guess.
posted by randomnity at 10:59 AM on September 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

2nding My Side of the Mountain, Tunnel in the Sky, Gary Paulsen's stuff, and Island of the Blue Dolphins.
posted by Aizkolari at 12:52 PM on September 11, 2014

Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth set in 12th century England, about the building of those huge gothic cathedrals. Lots of trial, error and heartache, and more that one lifetime to figure out how to stop them from falling down. Good story with lots of royal and political intrigue as a backdrop. Not primitive skills on display I guess, but they had to learn, often painfully, as they went.

It was an Oprah Book Club pick I believe, but don't let that stop you. Almost everyone I know that read it really liked it, but maybe that says something about the company I keep.
posted by PaulBGoode at 1:19 PM on September 11, 2014

You need Always Coming Home by Ursula Le Guin. It's an account of a fictional ethnic group from California and their cultural practices, written like an anthropology text. (Except ten million times better, because this is Ursula Le Guin writing and not whatever professors write anthropology 101 texts.)
posted by ActionPopulated at 5:10 PM on September 11, 2014 [3 favorites]