we saw claude davis’s “lost roads” being widely advertised and bought a copy. It has some interesting articles and many recipes. In general we do not recommend it. We’ll explain why and share our favorite books.
review of the book the lost roads
the lost ways books bills itself as a survival book, teaching you how to live like a pioneer or native american. actually, it reads more like a collection of blog posts, with modern technology sprinkled throughout.
You are reading: The lost ways books
is incomplete, inconsistent and definitely not off the grid. (Immersion blenders don’t belong in a book that claims to teach “the old ways.”)
the book of lost roads is not as good as carla emery’s encyclopedia of country life, and it is more expensive.
(read our review of the encyclopedia of country life here).
We liked the information about the bailiffs, the smokehouse, and the box in the cellar, but it took about 40 more articles like these to compete with Carla’s book.
The Lost Roads is about twice the price of the Encyclopedia of Country Life, with less than half the pages. the encyclopedia of country life is also a very dense book by comparison. (there is much more information on each page).
for about the same price, you could get emery’s book and another and have much more value. (See the list of the best family farming books for more of our favorites.)
so while the lost paths book is fine, it’s not on our list of recommendations. needs more info on building/building, skinning, and other traditional skills.
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warning: if you choose to buy the book “lost ways”, be careful with the payment process. it’s easy to accidentally order more than one copy or order packages, or order the electronic version and not get the paper copy.
Also, since we originally published this review, we’ve had readers leave comments stating that they paid for the book, but never received it. buy at your own risk.
see also “the review of the lost book of herbal remedies – is it worth the money?“
Our short list of preparation books includes the following:
- carla emery’s encyclopedia of country life
- the farmer’s herb companion
- the boy scout handbook (1911 version)
- the sas survival manual
- where there is no doctor
- where there is no dentist
- and if you are really focused on medical preparation, lange’s medical books (for reference) our cardiac surgeon friend recommends these: surgery, orthodontics, pediatrics, etc. : The Complete Photographic Guide to Cruelty-Free Slaughter and Butchering
You can also access electronic copies of out-of-print or vintage books at books.google.com. some of them are pretty good, including:
- original boy scout handbook (ebook)
- henley’s cookbook (how to cook just about anything ebook)
more information about housing
You can access our homesteading articles, all sorted by category, on the Common Sense Homesteading page.
We also have dozens of book reviews on the homestead library page.
who is claude davis?
After this review was originally published, we took a closer look at “claude davis” and the team behind the Lost Roads book series. it seems that claude doesn’t really exist, and is simply a registered trademark. “the name(s), portrait(s) and/or signature(s) that appear on the mark identify claudiu giurgi, whose consent(s) for registration is recorded.”
On the about askaprepper dot com page, it describes the alleged background of mr. davis, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere else on the internet. the about page is about a mindset, not an individual, targeting your target customer. there are no details, such as education or places of employment. he does not teach or present, it seems that he only sells books and prepares content.
If we look at the privacy policy page of askaprepper dot com, we find that the site is owned by global brother srl. further investigation reveals that global brother srl is registered in romania. We don’t have a problem with international business, but we think it’s inappropriate to present yourself as an American while working from Europe.
some notes on recent Lost Roads announcements
One of the reasons we’re writing this review is because of the “hype” the Lost Roads Book Team is putting out.
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One of their ads features wild lettuce as a pain reliever. the instructions in the book of lost roads for making wild lettuce extract are likely to produce a truly putrid concoction.
For more information on how to identify and use wild lettuce safely, see “Wild Lettuce: Sleep Aid & Pain Reliever: Weekly Weeding #24”.
another advertisement is for biscuit, where it is promoted as a “superfood”. hardtack is flour, water, and salt, baked until completely dry.
the reason it’s civil war biscuit is that, to quote crocodile dundee, “well, you can live with it, but it tastes like shit.”
If you’d like to read about storing foods people want to eat, see:
best non-perishable food (for household use or donations)
food to stock up (for daily use or emergencies)
We also have over 100 gardening posts, listed by category on the gardening index page, and dozens of posts on home food preservation.
Originally published in 2020, updated in 2021.
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